They're a genuine bargain at the moment, I paid silly money last year for a real smart one with all the toys as a runabout for the missus and I really enjoy driving it.
It's not so smart now as I took it out for a weekend of laning in Wales and managed to remove most of the paint, bashed the spoiler and folded up the side steps 
I was impressed off road though - it's in totally road going guise with nearly slick tyres but it only got stuck once, and the terrain was like custard after a week of torrential rain. I did have to chicken out of one bit that my 90 would have got through though, but it was some very steep tall rocky steps and I didn't want to fold the tow bar up as well...
Went to Morocco with a mate who took his disco, and the only bit he struggled with was the dunes at Chebbi, but again he was on standard suspension and road tyres fully loaded with a roof tent etc.
Reliability - no reason they would be any different to a 90/110, most parts are the same - just don't start out with a nail in the first place and take sensible spares. There are probably a lot more breakdowns these days due to the massive amount of cheap parts available from suppliers like Britpart - ok to take as spares, but I steer away from anything other than genuine parts these days.
Either a three door with the seats removed or a commercial variant would make a nice project I reckon.
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