Rosie,Originally Posted by gudjeon
Since Gudjeon brought it up, I'll expand. He's right. There really is no better vehicle out there in terms of learning repair skills. Parts are cheap and readily available (for the most part). The design is simple and straight forward. You have plenty of room to work, and don't need to buy any weird tools (for the most part) to do repairs and maintenance. Armed with the green bibles, you can figure out (on your own), how to do almost any mechanical repair imaginable. Even if you have little to no skills, you will still be surprised at how much you can actually do yourself. If you get stumped, there are a number of us on this board that can bail you out (as you've noticed I'm sure). Some of what you read on this board may seem intimidating, but theres nothing requiring you to do a frame swap right off the bat. The truth is, you can go buy a reasonably priced set of tools at sears, and complete most repairs on your own without much trouble.
As for reliability, I can only say this. With every brit car I've owned, I've found a few things to be constant. While its possible to keep one from leaking fluids, its usually not worth putting yourself through the anguish of trying. Unless its excessive, just live with the leaks. You'll notice that people knock the electrical systems of most brit cars (rovers included). I've found that once you run through the systems and staighten out any problems, they can be very reliable. I have a buddy who has driven an MGA for the past 20 years as a daily driver. It has the original harness and electrics, and is as reliable as can be. It just requires some preventative maintenance (which is the fun part).