My suggestion would be to ignore those drivers who are trying to provoke you into doing something you'd rather not. Just drive, and don't give them the satisfaction of engaging you in a pointless and foolhardy race.

Not surprisingly, I never get challenged in my "Justacooper" but I used to get nagged by other drivers when I tooled around town in one of my Mustang GTs. I guess people get bored and want to liven things up by challenging others.

 

 

I think people think what other people are doing are directed at them more than is really the case. I know of a lot of times when I'll take off from a light normally and whatever's in the left lane will take off at full throttle. I'll think for an instant "Is this guy trying to race?" but then realize, he probably just drives like that most of the time.
Same with vehicles tailgating, they aren't trying to run me off the road so much as they just aren't aware of how close they are, if they don't back off I just slow down a bit more until they get the idea or pass me.

And I'm sure it works the other way too. A while back I was in heavy traffic sitting at a light. I wasn't paying attention so when the light turned green I sat there for a moment and wasn't in gear. To keep from holding traffic up more I got on it a little and caught up to the car in front of me again. Well, this kid in a newer Golf apparently thinks I'm showing off and nearly rearends the car in front of him trying to show me how fast he can accelerate from 30 to 33mph.

 

Yeah - there's that too.

 

Indeed. That's exactly what I do ...most of the time.

I am just trying to figure out WHY this phenomenon exists (or even IF it exists) around MINIs in particular. I have owned and/or regularly driven some pretty quick cars in my day (An Alpha Romeo, Mustang GT, Porche, even my Dad's Ferraris) and rarely noticed this problem. But ever since I bought my MINIs, I have to drive for my life just to get out of the way of people who want to prove something (apparently that MINIs should not be on their road).

-B

.

 

I think it is jealous truck drivers that get less gas mileage going 65mph than we do going 100mph while they take twice as long to enter a freeway.

Secondly, I think everything appears to be closer when it's behind you in a MINI. I am 6' tall and I can reach back from the drivers seat and almost touch my rear window. Tailgating trucks are only 6-12" further back than that window. If they are lifted, all you can see is truck behind you.

Use MINI drivers also need to consider that large vehicle drivers may not see us. I've had 2 delivery trucks now merge from the middle to slow lane while I was in the slow lane without using blinkers and almost running me off the road. Luckily both times I was able to just downshift and launch by them.

LOL. I have straight up mini-vans and pickup trucks try to race me. I've came to the conclusion that they KNOW they are going to lose; they just want to see ME fly like a rocket. haha I just ignore them now. "It isn't worth the $0.25 in gas" is my new motto. haha

My new favorite is this guy in a Chrysler 300 Hemi C. Those cars are insane and would own a MINI any day. Well he kept launching off green lights and hitting the next red. So on the 3rd light I pulled up to his right because I had to make a right hand turn. There was 1 right turn lane that went into 2 lanes. He looked over as if he was going to race me, the light turned green, and he launched while putting his right blinker on. He totally cut me off, but here's the funny part. He had so much speed going into the right turn, that he had to swerve pretty far out and ended up in the left lane of the road we were turning on to. I saw this happening before he even hit the turn and got a HUGE smile on my face and launched into the turn and cut HARD into the right lane. There was a bit of traffic ahead of us, so he couldn't go anywhere and I flew by him for about 50 feet and then looked back with my big smile. The guy got SOO PISSED OFF that he drove into the center turn lane (suicide lane) and LAUNCHED up it, passing 200ft of cars and getting up to probably 65mph. haha He was so MAD that my little MINI did that. haha

 

Hey Bozo-
Do you enjoy flagging the competition? Then keep it up. If it bothers you, don't do it. 'Nuff said.

 

That's quite a story. And while I posted the OP here mostly just for entertainment, it really does describe a problem for MINI owners.

I think your analysis is spot on. There are many factors that contribute to the attitude of non-MINI owners towards MINIs. One of them is some misguided sense of the Nietchean "will to power". I honestly think that your 300 hemi story is a perfect example of the extremes to which some folks will go just because you are driving a MINI. I mean ...had you been driving a Toyota Camry or a Ford Fusion, the guy would likely have not acted out as you described (though I am only guessing on that).

-B

.

 

I love this story! I think there are few cars that can handle turns like our MINIs. I scooped a Boxter this morning on a 2 lane on-ramp with a swooping right turn. He was ahead of me going in, then I saw his brake lights and knew he was going to see my pipes before the end of the turn. Sure enough, I didn't even come close to touching the middle pedal and blew past him on the right.

To those of you who don't like the rant, just move onto another thread. There's no need to be nasty.

 

Rant? Nasty? But if they can't be miserable and make all others miserable to, life isn't worth living!

 

I constantly have this problem with pickup trucks (& sometimes 1980's model camaros). It's like an assault to their masculinity if a MINI passes them. If you are lucky enough to pass one of these egos in a pickemup on a curvy road it's lots of fun though to see the look on their little redneck faces in your rear view mirror at the precise moment the back of their pickup truck starts to fishtail in a curve & they realize they have been pwnd


p.s... I love it too when my dog stares them down as we pass them in a twisty cause the curve isn't even enough to make him lose his balance in the seat

 

Mayby you should tint your windows...it may not be the car...

 

I don't think it's the car, at least half the people around here still don't know what it is.

"So, what is that."
"A MINI."
"That made by Volkswagen?"
"No, the brand is MINI, it's actually owned by BMW."
"Where are they made?"
"England."
"Is that one of those electric cars?"
facepalm

I never had this problem before moving here though so your results may vary for your area.

 

I'm amazed, most people from virginia absolutely suck at driving. They are constantly going extremely slow in the fast lane, and half of them simply aren't paying attention (lack of signals, etc.)

One thing about the area, people will squeeze into the smallest opening that they possibly can. It could be that the drivers of the big trucks that get up on your rear from another lane, are simply squeezing into the next most opportune space in that lane of travel...

I would suggest that if you have any space up ahead of you when you see this type of behavior from the trucks get the heck over. obviously you aren't going fast enough for them, so no need to block up the fast lane, you know, keeping up with the speed of traffic and all.

-Chase

 

Hehe, I was thoroughly entertained by your post Bozo. I have gotten the same thing over here from time to time. Usually I just let them by.

 

Nuff said?

Really?

Do I enjoy it?

I dunno ... I'd say I have a complex reaction to the matter - I thought I made that clear. The real question is, why does this happen to MINIs (and their drivers) so much?

Maybe it does not happen to you. It appears from other reactions in this thread that the phenomenon I described above is not exactly unique to ME.

-B

.

 

Yeah that's the problem, though. I am not out looking to show off or anything. It usually occurs when I just happen to be in the faster lane passing bubba right along with everyone else in my lane. But once the MINI goes by, you can see the rage in Bubba's face and driving reactions and then the punishment begins.

At that point, NO ONE can go fast enough to get out of his way. And when I do move over at the next opportunity, they guy blows by so hard it nearly wrinkles my rag-top (if it happens to be up - which is rare) and he jams right up on the bumper of the car that was only a few car lenghts ahead of me - as if that somehow got the poor guy somewhere

This happened just a few days ago, and this is the perfect example. The odd thing was that the lane into which I moved just happened to speed up a little after Bubba nearly became one with the pickup that was previously infront of me and I passed Bubba again, this time on the right without even really trying to - just staying with the flow. Guess what? He REPEATED the exercize: Step 1: jump on the rear bumper of that damn MINI and step 2: punish him with tailgating a foot off his rear bumber. You could almost hear him screaming: "NOBODY PASSES ME IN MY TRUCk BY GOD!!!"

Yer right about Virginia. I think part of the blame goes to the fact that the civil engineering in this state is horrifyingly bad. Most roads are only 2 lane blacktop which creates long lines of slow moving traffic behind the ONE guy who seems to think that approaching the speed limit is a hazard to planetary survival. And ALL roads of more than two lanes are divided. Thus you are channelized at all times and this creates a kind of tension that just cannot be avoided. The other thing is the bridges and tunnels here. Everyone seems to think that they are in a race to get to the tunnels first - as if no one is going to be there when they get there.

So maybe the "beat up on the MINI" syndrome is more or less unique to VA. I have not driven a MINI elsewhere.

see ya!

-B

.

 

Hey thanks ScottLes. Entertainment is really the point here! Its not like I'm going postal over this. Its just one of the many quirky, sometimes fun and sometimes frustrating things that goes along with being owned by a MINI or two.

-BH

.

 

You're right to ask why people behave this way. A curious mind is a good thing. I believe people wear their personalities on their sleeves. In the cars they choose to drive and the manner in which they drive them. An arrogant punk will drive a bomb aggressively, whereas a congenial person may drive a nicer car respectful of his fellow motorists. Perhaps the bubba in his good 'ole 'mericun pickup is simply expressing his displeasure with your choice of transit (and his own as well).

 

Before having my Mini I had a 1998 Corvette. It was, of course "RED" Every idiot on the road was not satisfied just leaving me alone. It was a PITA to try driving the speed limit.
Now I got a "RED" JCW and I guess (according to Bozo) I'll be back to the same problem.
Ronnie

 

Next time your at a red light with some kid next to you wanting to race. Provided there are no cars behind you. Put your MINI in reverse, when the light turns green floor it in reverse and he will for sure think he was going at least twice as fast as you as he pulls away from the light.

 

Heh, creative but I wouldn't recommend it. No one expects you to reverse in that situation and merging traffic might run into you

 

This is a really great post. I drive a pretty standard 01 Sentra SE (until Saturday!). Decent performance (really likes the curves) but doesn't go from 0 to anything in a hurry. I don't get the guy on my tail, but I drive a lot of the PA Turnpike and people will fly up behind you. When you move over, they pull in front of you and slow down!!!!

If you were just doing 80+ and caught me, why do you have to slow down when you pass me?

The other move that I hate is when they won't get out of the fast lane. I have cruise on and pass them on the right. They speed up!

Sometimes I think that most people just cannot drive.

Then again, I might be a little opinionated on how poorly most people drive.

 

They could drive a lot better if they paid attention.

When I'm driving on the road, I'm usually going faster than everyone else, but I'm paying 100% attention. At any given time I know who is in front of me, to my sides, and behind me. I actually think it is safer to drive faster than traffic if you are paying 100% attention because you can see everything in front and to the sides and don't need to worry as much about cars switching up behind you or entering your blind spots (unless they are going like 120mph).

Some people are just clueless and have no idea what's going on around them. TXTing, chatting, eating, drinking lattes... These are the people that you see start to change lanes and then yank themselves back into their own lane when they finally look over at the last second and see a car in their blind spot.

 

I couldn't agree more! I saw a guy texting while driving the other day... I wanted to run him off the road before he hurt someone. Insane! My wife asks me why I don't get surprised when someone does something stupid. I tell her that I look at all of the cars around me and expect them to do the dumbest thing - I am almost never surprised!