Many thanks indeed for these additional reflections!
John, your point that not all flaws are endearing is very well taken, and your examples of what are "virtuous flaws" and what are not are compelling. I also certainly see your point that to a perhaps significant number of new (maybe, ultimately, short-term) owners relatively few of the flaws are experienced as virtuous at all!
Dave, that point about the obviously missing engine cover is an excellent one, I'm personally quite frustrated that there isn't an easy solution to this problem, and that I may be forced to what, pay someone to build it for me? Learn to be a mechanic? Or risk very serious engine damage? I agree that this is a problem that should have been addressed by the factory. It's crazy that, what, 2-3000 of these cars should be susceptible to big problems just because they got wet.
Fantastic mileages on those cars Rich! I will feel inordinately proud of myself if I'm ever able to put 100,000 miles on my car.
Simon, this is an excellent point: if one is to use the word "flawed", perhaps best to say "flawed by modern standards", but i really like "primitive" here. My Ford S-Max massively outperforms my Morgan in almost every objective metric you might care to imagine, but I now experience it as extremely dull in a way I didn't before (this came as a real surprise to me, I have to admit). "Primitive" somehow invokes "elemental", and Morgans do feel much closer to earth, air, fire and water than most cars, and perhaps we are drawn to the elements as primordially familiar. I fully take the personalisation point as well, where the owner can impose his (or her) personality on the car, so it's a two way street of car adjusting to owner and not just owner adjusting to car!
