True that they're assembled in the UK (and USA) close to their point of sale and to minimize tarriffs, but they're designed by Japanese and composed of mostly Japanese parts (last time I checked), so let's keep build quality and design quality well seperated in our discussions.
I've owned Toyotas and one Infiniti (Nissan). Never bought a Honda only because I like the Toyota feel better... they're equally reliable. Hands down, the Japanese dominated all other nations' auto reliability and quality through the 80's and 90's. Just change the oil and keep on driving. My '94 Camry (soon to be my Winter car when my
MCS arrives) has 155K on it and it still just needs quality maintenance.
Even when working on the car (brakes, oil changes, struts, etc.) my mechanic brother always comments on how much better the design is on Japanese cars. ("On a Ford/GM I'd have to heat the brake caliper bolts with a blowtorch to get them off, on a Toyota I just use a ratchet.")
The MINI is quite a marvel of cooperative engineering with it's German design, 30% BMW 3-series parts, jointly designed engine, and British components. That sure sounds like a recipe for reliability disaster to me... but evidently not from what I've read on this board for the past months. The car is so precisely the kind of car I'm looking for (an economy car that's got an extremely fun, European driving feel) that I'm going to get one anyway, even though I know I won't be getting Toyota reliability.
... Sorry for the huge post... that's way more than my 2 cents worth.
