which is best?

My daughter is 13 and wants a convertible for her first car. I really like the looks of the MG but have no knowledge of them whatsoever. Whot would you guys recomend. Or would I be better of with something like a Chrysel Lebaron Conv.? Ultimetly, she will have the final say, but I want to help her make the wisest choice (and I think MG's are just plain kool!)

Go for a ride in a Mazda Miata MX-5.

They don't lovingly call them "Fidgets" for nothing. Wiring and hydralics on them suck!. The 1275cc engine is vertually bullit-proof and the tranny's and rear ends aren't bad. DON'T get a 1500cc! Then you get the worst of all worlds. It's a Triumph Spitfire motor, tranny and carb. Its like a type "A" organ donor giving a liver to a type "AB-" body. The car actually rejects it. The motor mounts on the "Standpart" motor are the ones they used on the "Spit." They will actually fatigue and let the motor fall to the crossmember. The Stromberg carb is good for a small bludgeon or a paper weight but its not a carb. Tempromental in all but moderate temperatures (approx. 70 - 80 F) it will load up in hot weather and not start in cold if its equiped with an automatic choke. The wiring was improved on these cars by using sealed quick disconnects instead of the old bullet style. The bullets were made from some kind of pot metal and corroded. This set up high resistance causing shorts or stopping current flow all together. My 1275 drive train has over 500,000 hard miles on it and I can't mic out wear on the motor. I give credit to this longevity to Kendall Motor Oil. Infact all of my cars have reached over 400,000 miles. The most unbelievable...but true....story is the 80 Corolla SW that has over 635,000 and is still running the original timing components!!!! The oil's got to have something to do with that. I've replaced 8 clutch assemblies in the "Fidget" since 1970. And you do have to pull the motor at least, to perform this opperation. I pull both eng. and tranny. The Fidget's not real bad for rust if the car has been protected. Look for it in the foot wells and along the rocker panels on the inside, under the car, as well as in the trunk (boot if you speak British). The car itself handles like its glued to the road. Steer away from wire wheels. They look good, cool the brakes well, and will save suspension components to some degree in an accident. But they are held on with a bunch of little splines that correspond with another bunch of little splines on the axle hub. During the course of time, braking wears these splines out. The hub has a tendency to stop before the wheel. That's just physics. This sets up a wear pattern. This is compounded by ignorance of wire wheels. People rotate tires and wheels. This takes a wear pattern and moves it to another wheel and the results is 4 hubs and wheels getting prematurely worn. This is first noticable by a deffinate "Pop!" when braking. When they let go its a bone grinding ripping sound followed by the wheel leaving the car and speeding down the road out of control on it own. Goerge Whitworth came up with this "DA" concept as well as the totally bastard "Whitworth Fastner." This pretty much proves if you have an idea and your the first to the patent office you can get rights to it. No matter how stupid the concept is. If I haven't scared you away from this car by now I'll give you some of the good points. As I said they handle like they are glued to the road. They get great gas milage. Mine still gets 35mpg on the garbage we now have to run. It used to get 40mpg. I've never driven a car that is more fun to drive. I've driven "B's", "A's", one "C", TR-6's, 3's, 4's, 250's, Spits, TR-7's (STAY AWAY FROM THESE at any price!!!!! Jags, Healeys (my second favorite), FIATS, Opels, and one DeLorean among other cars I used to work on. As far as pure driving pleasure the MG Midget, "Spridget" or "Fidget" is my choice for fun. You will hear a lot of people say, "Yeah but what about a collision with a truck?...." You will lose. But to those people I say you only count a statistic when there's an accident. I can't count all the ones I've avoided because of the nimbleness of the car. Neither can the statisticians. There's more pro and cons to these cars than you can shake a stick at. These are just some of the ones that come to my mind first. If you do get one it would be wise to get a tool box, a "Haynes Manual" and learn how to work on them.