hate is a strong emotion. Equally as passionate as love, it can take you to some damaging places – but it also has the potential to steer you, if you’re sufficiently open-minded, in wonderful new directions. “Honestly, I hated the new MINI,” Richard Everitt recalls. “Hated the fact it wasn’t Rover-produced, hated the way the brand had been taken, I had no love for the car at all. However, my mom was given an R53 Cooper S for a few days from MINI; I took the car out for a drive and that was me sold, there and then. The stiff shell, the feel of the suspension, the supercharger singing under the bonnet and the quirky interior meant that a few weeks later I had myself a 2004 JCW.” If…