Had to add my two cents - When forced to park in the crowd, I like to not pull all the way into the spot. I have seen too many time when a driver in a hurry will start to pull into my spot beacuse the MINI is hard to see when fully enconsed.

Al

 

I have a personal rule against parallel parking , but I can do it with the MINI. Couldn't believe the first time I tried--made it feel easy! (I was expecting a crowd.)

 

when i lived in San Francisco, I had to parallel park my car on the street everyday. I learned pretty quickly that just because you can squeeze into a tiny spot, it doesn't necessarily mean that the car behind you can squeeze out (or that they even give a sh*t about hitting your car). I think I went through 3 bumper covers before I stopped caring and just slapped some skate stickers over the holes...

 

x2. i parallel park everyday, and i just figured, the $400/month parking fees i'm saving can buy me several new bumpers if the dents start bothering me. after a while, the dents are like badges of honor.

anyway, i can't stand bumper badgers or bullies or the likes, so i did get this:




also, my nice wide angle back-up camera makes for some speedy gonzalez style parking.

 

what is the purpose of the clear plastic? does it work?

 

it's a thick rubber bumper gaurd i got from amazon.com that i just placed in the center mainly to help protect my bumper mainly from front license plate screws. haven't had any such dings or chips since i put it on. you can see in my pic some old ones that i had covered with touch-up paint.

 

You know they also make a removable bumper protector....not sure if it fits in the boot of a mini but I see them all the time in NYC...

 

yeah, as i mentioned, i never cared for the looks or hassle of bumper badgers or bullies. i'll get tired of having to open the trunk, flip it out, and the put it back. funny seeing people driving on the highway with them hanging out. either they forgot, or they just get lazy and don't care.

 

Me too...I don't know why this is...I usually attract big SUV's or Trucks

 

I think the big SUV's and trucks park by us to just pump up their ego cause they're so BIG (big on gas too!) I really hate when they do that - I too park in the back 40 - then when I'm returning to my Cricket, I can admire her from afar

 

I am one of the 'park out in the boonies' people too. People have no respect for other's property anymore.