Thanks, Georgie. Your encouragement greatly appreciated. My Mini is the Cooper S two-door hatch. Love it to bits; most enjoyable car ever (after my 200SX). Does anything you ask of it and is ridiculously prompt. Sadly, suspension is similarly ridiculous in its hardness. Added the adjustable damper thing to help it, but it is effectively useless. If you DO choose a Mini then make sure they give you exactly the same model for a test. I had a four-door hatch for the test on the assurance the suspension was the same. He lied! Two-door much firmer.
Think I am coming round to the T-ROC as choice. It is effectively a Golf wearing a big frock. Advantage over “ordinary” Golf is a 2.oL engine giving 190bhp (not available on standard Golf) and 4×4, giving ability not to scramble for grip in corners. May also allow drifting, er, sometimes. I love the looks of the GTD but it’s nearly double the AP and the wait-time is 6 months minimum (T-ROC is 12 weeks).