Ill give my 2 cents. I own both. I carry an AR at work and personally own a new 2009 Mini 14 Ranch Rifle. Either will work fine. I never owned a mini until this year and i heard about the bad accuracy issues. The new rifle shoots excellent, no complaints at all. No function problems with the Mini or my Rock River AR. Granted i have had more trouble out of the ARs Ive owned over the past 10 years, but I have only had one Mini.
Get one of each and have fun!!! Why not, 2 guns is always better than 1.