If you don't want to go broke, buy an old Honda Civic hatchback. Not quite as teensy as a Mini, and very reliable. I went through a slew of them when I was commuting a 100+ mile round trip each day. Bought them for about $2,000 with 100,000 miles, put another $500 in to bring them up to snuff and drove them for 2 - 3 years, ie 60 - 70,00 miles. When they needed something major, I dumped them for another one. The best one cost me $1,400 and I put 90K miles on it before the engine blew. Didn't owe me a dime.