You have to think of the Mini-14 as a fairly well made sporter, not a military rifle. It will not take the hard abuse of the AR design, and of course the accuracy isn't in the same league as the AR.
But it's a decent rifle that will do most jobs you ask of it. I've never missed anything I aimed at that was the fault of the rifle.
The traditional stock design of the Mini makes the rifle a bit more compact (height wise) than an AR. To me that's the most attractive element of the Mini-14.
But when you consider cost, it just doesn't make sense to buy a Mini 14 these days when the cheaper AR's will out-perform it in just about every category. For the price of a new Mini-14, you can find a Colt AR on sale, and the Colt AR will FAR out-strip the Mini-14.
