A weekend of having to parallel park in an urban setting made me ponder what, if any, special etiquette we MINI owners follow? Are we obligated to find the smallest spots possible to leave the more normal-sized spots for the people that need it? If we do use a full-size spot, do we give more space to the car in front or in back, or do we strive for balance? If parking on a freshly-cleared street (perhaps because of street cleaning or such), do we try to block off some space so that, when we vacate, a full-size space is left?

Maybe the funniest thing this weekend happened as I left said urban setting. I had spotted a DS/W MCS parked in a MINI-sized space in front of my parents' condo earlier in the day. As I was getting ready to leave, sitting in the driveway of my parents' condo, I saw the spot had been vacated. In the few minutes before I left, I saw three cars try in vain to park in the spot. Poor guys.

(OK, so it's probably only amusing to me as I'm still a relatively new owner.)

 

You should take full size spots. Force the big cars to scrounge for a place. They need to learn that their cars are too big. Do not accommodate their over-indulgence.

 

We are cars as much as anyone else. Take the best spot you find.

I still want to get a personalized plate that says "SURPRSE" "PEEKABOO" "GOT YAH" "TAKEN". You'll understand if you're looking for a spot in a parkinglot and you think you see a empty spot between two large SUVs, and when you try to pull in...surpise, my car is there!

But that'll be a quick way to get key'd

 

Find a tight spot and handbrake turn into it. In front of a crowd. Then hit the remote lock and walk away, unfazed.

 

Check out video under( off topic - autos ), title (Have you seen this )for some very bad parallel parking!

 

I parallel park nearly every day at school and I take any spot I can get. Nice, full-sized spots are great (remember, the cars ahead/behind you may pull out when your MINI is parked there; more room = less chance of them bumping your car) but I have been known to shoehorn my car into spots.

What is funny/sad is when I am leaving mid day and someone is waiting for my shoehorn spot - I pull out and I can see the anticipation of someone waiting for my spot (especially at crunch time - 2 minutes before classes start) and then they realize how small the spot I'm vacating really is, and their larger car is going to be very hard to fit in there.

 

while i was in NY back in november me and my friend were riding around at 2am trying to find a convience store to grab some soda, when we found one open (in the bronx) parking was non-existant, except for a weee-little spot that my MINI barly fit in, but i had no problem slipping in it anyway

 

The etiquette is to practice common courtesy. Do what you would like to see others do, and the circumstances will determine what is appropriate. If I see a large space that can fit two cars, I normally wouldn't park right in the middle and prevent another car from sharing the space, but if there were plenty of other parking around, it wouldn't matter.

There are different levels of "urban". The nature of your questions (some flexibility in how/where to park) suggests the lower end of the spectrum. I'm often parking in parts of the city where the only strategy is to grab any spot you can find. As for front-rear spacing, the strategy is to give more space to the car that needs it for getting out. The easier that a car can exit, the less likely it is that it will bump you while trying to pull out. So look at how much room they have on their other ends and make a judgement whether you want to give more space to one or the other.

 

I never parallel park. Never. I will walk 5 miles through freezing pouring rain, meteor showers, and flying monkey poop to avoid parallel parking.

Ain't no way, no how am I ever going to attempt to parallel park Romi. It aint gonna happen. Pigs will fly first and my mother-in-law will become likeable!

 

Are door dings somehow more acceptible than bumper rash? I say, you should park just like you would if you had a "real" car. And take the whole space that you are entitled to so some nitwit doesn't try to squeeze in with you.

 

Skuzzy, tell us how you really feel. Flying monkey poop indeed. Parallel parking was easier when cars had fins. I've yet to try parallel parking Flo. But, hey, I've outlived my mother-in-law.

 

Parallel parking has never been easy. It is not supposed to be easy as it is something no one in their right mind would try to do!!

I will not torture Romi in such an abusive manner. I would rather have bamboo shoots shoved under my fingernails or a severe case of flatulence at a wedding!

And while flatulence is natural, there is nothing natural about parallel parking!! About as natural as Madonna's blond hair.

 

Yeah, well wearing clothes ain't natural either..... but sometimes you got to.

 

There's a 'tude we can relate to!

 

Actually, I was in a neighborhood where the parking situation is much as yours is. I've noticed, however, that there often tends to be at least one spot in which most cars wouldn't fit but the MINI could slide in without breaking a sweat. (I think that that observation weighed heavily in the MINI's favor when I was considering the purchase!)

There's also the sneak-in-next-to-the-fire-hydrant maneuver, where you try to find out just how close parking enforcement will tolerate you being next to the hydrant. (Equally applicable to intersections, stop signs, and crosswalks.)

Maybe it's an overdeveloped sense of consideration for one's fellow man, but I felt guilty taking up a full-size spot. (I'm Catholic, so I reserve the right to feel guilty about anything and everything.) Or maybe it's just that I like the challenge of trying to park in small spots... it's a nice change of pace from my normal routine of parking in predefined spots.

 

I actually watcfhed a mom parallel park a Honda Odyssey - a large vehicle, but reasonably easy to parallel park - we've got one - but I digress...

Anyway, watched her park in Marblehead, Mass while my wife and our family were eating at a sidewalk eatery. Never seen it donw better - she pulled off a textbook letter-perfect 3-step parallel parking maneuver: Sweep in with a gentle front sweep while signalling, reverse and pop the back wheels in exactly 4" from the curb, then a front sweep to BOTH put the fronts and rears 6" from the curb AND perfectly center the car in the parking spot. Never seen it done better. Didn't need any of that "jiggling back and forth" stuff, and only used Reverse once. Nicely Done.

We were done anyway, so I went outside and complimented her on it (she was pretty pleased with herself as well!).

As for the mini? Heck, it's short, park it nose-in!

 

If only we could all parallel park like Russ Swift.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=jhMq8jDr3...related&search=

 

Dang, I'm a hack. I need to practice that a bit...

 

MINI's are cars too...just petite. I've parked in the middle of a regular sized parking space only to find myself hemed in by large duelie trucks on either side, taking up not only their space, but encroaching past the yellow lines into my parking area. (I think large trucks and SUVs LOVE to cuddle with MINI's.)