I commute from Grass Valley to Rocklin 4 days a week for school. Everyday, I pass two MINIs in almost the exact same spot every time. Of course, we both wave, and it manages to put a smile on my face everytime. One of them is a nice looking purple haze cabrio, and the other is a killer all-white w/ black stripes Cooper S hardtop. If either of these are you, and you pass my Clubman on Highway 174 in Colfax daily, let me know!!

But I want to know, do any of you pass the same MINIs on a daily basis? Do you feel like you've almost "become friends" with these people, even if you've never met them?

I'll never get over how friendly the MINI community is! The people alone are a very good reason to buy a MINI!

 

I pass the same JustaCooper in my R53 everyday. She doesn't glance over, or take notice of my Cooper, so a wave isn't going to provide much assistance.

When I visited San Fran this Summer I noticed more MINI's then Prius's. I'm not sure why you'd ever bother waving, unless you planned on consistently driving with one hand on the wheel and the other constantly waving back and forth. Yes, there are *that* many MINI's out there.

When I owned my Volkswagen Corrado we all waved at one another. They were/now are quite rare--bordering on extinct. It wasn't often you'd come across another on the road for weeks/months at a time. It felt special. Unique. That being said, I can't say the same about the MINI. They just aren't that rare to see. A GP maybe, but not a MC or MCS.

 

Yup, my brother lives in San Francisco, and I'm actually planning on moving to the bay soon myself, and whenever I go down there to visit, I fit in just great. MINIs are by far the most popular car in the city, and I think it's obvious why.

Of course here in Grass Valley/Nevada City, they are slightly more scarce, mostly because they lack 4wd. However this is the home town of MINI Mania, so the people here that do own MINIs, are likely enthusiasts, and love to wave!

 

Ya - I even left a stalker-like note on a new MINI in the work parking lot. We've traded emails, even! (My name is worn visibly on my uniform, so it wasn't hard to find me.) But I think we've met once....

 

Hehe.. you should go to the Dragon one year. It's pretty much like that.

 

When I road bike from the top of *** Hill to the GG Bridge and back, I make a little game of it and count the MINIs I see.

There are the usual suspects, who are forced to park on the street, some of them brand new MINIs.

Then there are many MINIs driving by.

Last night there were events going on at the Fort Mason center. There were eight MINIs in the little lot, about four Prius [maybe about a 75 car parking lot, if that. So that's a significant proportion of MINIs and Prius's]

On my rides, on average there about 50 MINIs parked on curbs and I see about 10 moving about on the road. That's a huge number of MINIs.

There are so many MINIs that no one waves to each other and most MINI drivers don't even give a glance to each other. Could be any number of reasons, I think mostly that there's so many MINIs in the City that one would be waving at every intersection. Not only would that be tiring, but on the hills it would be unsafe.

Bottom line: In San Francisco, at least, a MINI is so common it's not a big deal. Literally on each City block around where I live there are at least two MINIs parked on each City block.

 

A few times a week, on the way home from the Park N Ride, I'll spot and thumb's-up a CR/W with an NYU sticker in the rear window, or a CR/W with a Rutgers sticker in the window, or another CR/W with bonnet stripes. I've spotted a CR/B with bonnet stripes around town too.

It's becoming a CROC thing I think.

CROC 411

 

We see 3 MINIs a day, all parked on a 32 mi r/t commute (mostly back roads). 2 out of 3 are at work (Marlboro, MA) in different parking lots filled w/100's of cars, the other at a school we pass.

There are 4x to 5x more Prius at work than MINIs.

Colors: M/Y, Red (justa coopers) and BRG (S) - all hardtops.

No Clubmans on the commute, only seen 2 (PW/B & HC/HC) on the road since we ordered in May.

1 Cabrio (Blk) sighting a few weeks ago too.

 

On the way home, I pass a PW/B with an older man driving it. The first time we passed, we both waved. The next time I saw him [maybe 2-3 days later], he had a female passenger. I waved, nothing from him. Ever since, he's never waved back.

I've seen the same CR/B on S15 4-5 times in the morning. He never looks over, so I stopped trying to wave.

 

+1 to that! There aren't a lot in my neck of the woods (near SF State), but near where I work (Fillmore), TONS. Though I did see my doppelMINI (just like my MINI, only not mine: PW/B w/black sport stripes - that was all I could see) go by me yesterday as I waited for the streetcar. Good point about the waving. I would probably have worn my arm off in the first week otherwise! (My MINI should be here by, oh, mid-late August).

Odd, though, once you get on the highway (doesn't matter, north, south or east - can't go west or you'd get wet ), you don't see very many MINIs on the road. Driving down to Mountain View last night (Police concert), I saw 1 Clubman (BRG/silver), 1 MCS (SS/B), one LY, and one CR.

 

I had to go in near to my work earlier than usual today, and saw not ONE never-before-seen-by-me MINI, but TWO! Since it was early enough/dark enough, the auto-lights were on and I blinked at them, but nobody returned the greeting...probably thought I was warning them of cops ahead (which I wasn't; there weren't.) Sigh.... One looked like a NFR w/ a roof rack, and the other was a silver. I keep trying, though...

 

I see no MINIs on my daily commute regularly, but now and again I do see one...and yes, I wave. Outside the work commute, I do see alot of MINIs when I'm running errands on the weekend, but living around the corner from a MINI dealership has something to do with that. The best ever, since I live near the test drive route, is seeing someone driving a MINI for the first time...they obviously aren't used to the controls on the car (lots of fumbling and fidgeting about) , but they are sure grinning!!!

 

not to many but yesterday after picking Apple up, There were 3 of us in a line for a good 5 miles made me smile ...

 

If I see any I'll be shocked. The walk from the kitchen to the study doesn't cross any roads.

 

I see five, always parked:
Lzr Blue/Wht R53
BRG/BRG R50
Slvr/Slvr R50
Hot Org/Blk R52
Choc Brn/Wht R55

I wave, but they don't wave back.