I only ever had one negative comment, a couple of teenage guys pull up next me at a light in an old. ratty Trans Am, the one kid yells "your car is gay!", I smoked them from the light, don't want to go into too many details so I don't get in trouble. When they caught up at the next light, I rolled down my passenger side window & yelled "your car is slow!" That is the only negative comment I have received, honestly almost every time I drive my car all different sorts of people, from men to women, old & young, black & white, tell my how much they like the car. Went to get some new tires last Saturday first thing in the morning, and all the guys in shop came out to look at my car, that kind of **** always puts a smile on my face, getting respect from fellow car guys.

 

I may have told this story before but here it is. I picked up my MCS back in early September. The more I drove it the more fun I had in the corners. There is a 270 degree entrance ramp on a cloverleaf that is marked for 25 MPH that I took almost daily. I slowly increased my speed on it until I was taking it at nearly 70 MPH.

There was an extreme BMW snob in the office who drives a 2005 5 series. He immediately started deriding my new Mini and asked when I was going to get a “real car.” This went on for several weeks until one afternoon when I passed a group of cars and pulled over to the right lane to take that ramp. The last car I passed was “Mr. BMW.” He immediately accelerated to get within 10 feet of my rear bumper as we entered the turn. I pushed it hard through the turn and watched as he quickly fell behind. As I came out of the turn and accelerated he was probably 100 yards behind. In the mile and a half until our exit he maintained an almost 200 yard standoff and when we came to the light he went into the longer of the turn lanes so as to not be too close to me. I seldom saw him and never heard another word from him after that.

On the other hand, a lady at the office drives one of the little BMW Z roadsters. For several weeks she was angling for a way to get to drive my little Chiquita. After I let her take it for a spin she was telling everyone “I have GOT to get one of those!”

 

ladisney, that's such a strange reaction from the 5-series owner! All the BMW people I've met so far have LOVED the MINI! Some of them even plan on buying one when they open the dealership in town. I guess in your case, the person was just misinformed that MINI is a BMW

 

Bill Cartwright, a Chicago Bulls center from the 90's, is 7' at the least. During an interview, a reporter noticed he drove a Porsche and asked how he managed. The shot of the interior showed the rear seats taken out and the driver seat crammed all the way into the rear. Regardless, he still didn't look too comfortable.

Otherwise, I have not gotten any truly aggressve negative comments. I have had teenagers challenge me at a light, but I can never confirm their response because they end up so far behind.

Gentlemen, it was never the intent, but the ladies love the MINI and makes for a great icebreaker.

 

I work at an automaker, so my coworkers are all automotive engineers and have seen it all, thus have opinions about anything with an engine. Most of them love Lewis. I get a few comments from the hardcore muscle car guys, but I'm not too worried about changing their minds. Everyone who has driven or ridden in Lewis loves him. I love the people who call their spouse/friend on our way back from lunch: "Guess what I'm in?! A MINI! It's so cool, you'd love it!" Even my friend who has a Fiero, Corvette, and M3 thinks Lewis is super-cool.

 

I have recieved a few comments about it being a clown car, etc... but just my friends joking around, giving me a hard time. They have all admitted that they like it.

 

 

Most of the comments I get are positive, however , I have a couple of friends that live in England .. and one of them made this remark to me after I told him I had purchased one "In england Only gay men and hairdressers drive Mini's"

 

Well, if we were in England and that were the case, your friend might be onto something.

Here in the Colonies, things are different. We do not limit ourselves as they do. Gay men and hairdressers are not the ONLY ones fortunate enough to drive the Mini! We allow anyone to do so!

Long live freedom!

 

To tell you the truth, Ive never taken mini's as a serious car. I didnt know anyhing about them.
when walking through a dealership looking at a lifted Jeep, I noticed what I thought to be pretty cool for a mini.
Long story short, I bought it with a boatload of performance upgrades, practilly stole it at the price i got it for. And absolutely love to drive it. I have not heard anything but great comments wherever I go.
If I need to throw on my manly burly persona, I always have my 71 Bronco to roll in!

 

You are waaay to kind, I would just tell em to shut the hell up n mind there own damn business!
Sorry I guess thats a Bronx thing!

 

I've never had anyone say anything bad about Wensleydale, I have had:

1) You're gonna wash the paint off of that thing......

2) You're gonna wax the paint off that thing.....

3) You drive it too much

4) How's the BMW ?

5) European cars have the worst reliability.....

Aaaaaaahhhh whatever, let me continue my love affair in peace, she's beautiful, she's cute, I'm far from gay, and she's even gotta name "Wensleydale"

On the other hand, I've been nailed down in the parking lot with questions like how's it handle, do you like it (duh ), gas mileage?, Fun ? (another duh ) but all in all, good vibes

Cheers,

Mike

 

Though I do not remember the time my friends first saw my MINI, any new person I meet has there doubts wiped when I take them for a ride and we take our first corner.

 

I have had mine a week today. Here's what I've got. Mind you I am 36 married with two boys.

35+ generation
"When are you putting on the rainbow sticker"
"It looks like a PT Cruiser" Not a joke someone said that!
"You look like a girl driving it"
"That's a girl car"

20-30 generation
"You suck"
"Can I drive it?"

 

This thread got my wife and I talking about this subject last night. We've had out Mini about a week, and it's my car, she rarely drives it. This morning she took it to get some donuts and coffee, and was gone for about 45 minutes. She comes back...

-walks right by me, without eye contact.
-hands me the keys.
We sit down for donuts and coffee...she let the conversation settle with me little.

 

After I handed the key's of my 03 mcs with a pretty good list of mods my son added a few of his own...2 stickers on the back hatch window.
1. "Yes it's fast, no you can't drive it"
2. a do not enter circle with a line thru it with the word "Ricer" inside the circle.
After I saw the 2 stickers I had to ask WTF are you doing.. His response was...With all of the Ricers at his school, You know the little civics with 115 hp and the loud fart cannons on the rear he had to do something to shut them up. And after a few fun runs around the cloverleafs leaving the pathetic Honda's behind ( with me behind the wheel) not one word is said to him at his school.

 

I guess people look at mini's different here in AZ then elsewhere.
I have had mine for two months now.
Its pretty hopped up and looks fast just sitting there all lowered and wide tired. ive had everyone from little kids to hardcore burly construction workers take time to check it out and ask lots of questions, and the one thing that all seem to say within the first few minutes is 1) looks fast
2) looks like a fun car.

I have never yet experienced a negative word towards the car yet. guess it helps that im a 5'10" 200lb. body builder with tattoos.

guess im not your "typical" poster child for a mini cooper maybe that throws em off a bit.

needless to say, I wouldnt care what anyone says about the car good or bad, its a blast to drive! and thats all that counts!

 

Woah! Wensleydale is the code name of the MINI I ended up ordering after building a ton of them on miniusa.com and naming them after cheeses

 

Dont forget the stig as well... from 5th gear.

 

Er, Top Gear. Not Fifth Gear.

 

And of course, you MUST say Wensleydale as Wallace (Wallace and Gromit) would say it!

 

Well, when somebody calls my MCS a "clown car", I just take off my big, red, foam-rubber nose and say "Look you"...........


Jim

 

oh man... ooops. I had the feeling I was wrong. sorry... Any way, people who give you hate dont even know.

 

Precisely!

Windows are our speciality

 

So far I've received nothing but positive comments and I honestly think having a modified MINI doesn't hurt as well.

Although I've heard from couple of people (different age and gender), "it's not the MINI (car), it's the color. Avoid colors like yellow, purple, pepperwhite (buttery is what I heard many women say), etc. Darker colors on cars looks like a car a man will drive. For example, a man driving a "yellow car" looks more girlie than a man driving a black car."