First, congrats on going car free! Great feeling, eh? Hope you get lots of money from selling your car to buy bike stuff/other things, which makes giving up the car all the more satisfying.

As for your boyfriend's predicament - I hope he understands that any vintage British car will require nigh constant maintenance to keep it running. That means a big time investment and, if he isn't a very competent mechanic will all his own tools, a lot of $$$ as well. Does he want to just get rid of his current car because he didn't like it anyway, or because he can't be bothered to fix it? If the latter, I'd point out the reliability issues of older cars (especially British ones).

Oh, the stories I could tell about the old Austin Minis... a friend of mine in England has one. I went to visit him and his family one time, and he said he'd let me drive it around (this was when I was still a sports car nut - before I saw the light!). Soon before I was going to take it out for a spin, both front wheel bearings melted and seized... LOL. And this was after throttle/intake/exhaust/body issues. You know the Mini engines have their oil caps placed above an oil-soluble seal?

If he's looking for something fun, and you want to suggest something that's also low-emissions and high mileage, an early 1990s Honda Civic (the rounded ones) could be a good choice. These are generally considered to be the most desirable Civics by the car enthusiast community, as they were light/simple/still had the awesome double-wishbone suspension before Honda canned it for "family oriented" struts. I used to drive a 1992 Honda Civic VX hatchback, the slowest and most efficient model, which only had a 1.5L engine. Still, it got 55mpg, would go 170kph (a bit over 100mph - I hope that's fast enough!), handled as if it were on rails, and had a surprising amount of storage capacity, owing to the hatch.

If he really likes Minis, you could even suggest he look for a used "New Mini" (made by BMW). The non-supercharged ones are pretty efficient, and are definitely more reliable than the old Minis.

I suggest doing a search on these forums for cost of owning a car. There are some excellent threads in which posters with a fair bit of accounting knowledge explain how the cost of owning a car can amount to a number with 7 digits in 30-some years Pretty significant retirement savings there. As the great 20th century philosopher, Bon Scott of AC/DC, once said: MONEY TALKS!!!

And you're right - the car shopping doesn't need to be turned into a confrontation. Just try to help him find what's best for him. He may not realize it yet, but what's best for him probably isn't a stinkmobile