I used to live in L.A. where I learned to drive as a kid and everyone thinks he is Mario Andretti, so I am used to the games people play. I moved to placid, coastal Virginia many years ago and bought a MINI ('05 cabrio ...wonderful!). I loved my MINI so much that my wife convinced me -as if that was a challenge- to pick up an '04 MCS only a few weeks before the prices on used MINIs started their climb to the stratosphere. Lucky me.

I love my MINIs. The Cabrio is pure silver and the MCS is a pepper red number with a white roof. They are known in my family as Butch and Molly (that's Butch Murphy and Molly Pepper if you must know their full names). Couldn't be much happier with them.

So what's the problem? Simply this, I can hardly get on the road without at least a dozen people wanting to race or at least a handful of bubbas in big, jacked up pick-up trucks wanting to push me off the road!

Have you noticed this? You are driving along in the fast lane at say, 70, mechanically passing everyone on your right who just happens to be driving 65 or so, and you just happen to pass some guy in a big black Dodge RAM or Ford F-150 (usually chewing tobbacco and wearing a yellow "CAT" ball cap) who immediately jumps out behind you and tries to test the theory that a MINI can contain a full-size pick-up in its seemingly tiny boot? This happens to me almost every day, without fail.

Or how about this ...yer just sitting at a stop light in the middle of a sunny Saturday afternoon in your MCS on the way to the beach, minding your own beeswax ...and some guy (invariably in a Dodge Neon, or a Honda XYZ Something-Or-Other or a Scion Tc), trolls up, hunches his shoulders, drops his head and starts reving his buzz-bomb, after-market muffler at you.

What up? Can't a guy just drive to the beach on a pleasant afternoon or commute to work without having to prove something to every single self-inflated gas bag out on the road with a gas-guzzling Gigantotruck compensating for nature's having overlooked his fair share of testosterone production equipment or some kid in a toy his daddy bought him? Hey, man ...I am happy to blow these guys into the weeds if necessary, ESPECIALLY at the first little sign of a curvy curb on the edge of the road. But I don't really LIKE it. I don't see why I have to do it ALL the time.

What is it with these guys? Why is everybody always pickin' on me?

There are not a whole lot of MINIs where I live and drive. Maybe the novelty brain-state induced by the sight of a MINI is the "Hey, let's beat up on the little guy" conditioned bio-response in bubba and his tractor-pulling buddies. Maybe every 15-year-old kid who just got his learner's permit and the keys to his mom's Neon feels compelled to prove to the world that he actually does know how to put the thing in drive, push the pedal down and turn the steering wheel just like he pretended for so many of the preceeding years in the garage... But HEY ...I don't see the point either way.

We all know that the MINI pegs the cool meter and will routinely smoke the F-150 battle wagons and teeny-boper buzz bombs cluttering up the roads these days - and do it with a cheeky, friendly style and good looks that will remain forever unapproachable by the lowly common people. But why do they want to FORCE us into the act of their own humilation?

Wait a sec ...did I say I "DON'T like it"?

Well, to quote Arnold Schwarzinaeger in "Commando" (one of the worst movies ever made!) ..."I lied".

-B

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wow that was an incredibly long and pointless rant

 

I live in slowwwwwcala Ocala, yep, but if you hit the hazards, you soon find
out they have a bit of a shock, I do it and have no issues

 

Good one!

 

I would have to agree pretty Pointless

 

Stating the obvious isn't my cup of tea but I beg to differ about Commando: The movie is pretty decent. There are lots of movies that will edge out Commando for the "worst movie ever made" category.

 

I think you meant "Chili red" not "pepper red"

Since I took the time to read your complaint I thought I'd share my thoughts. I would bet that you bring this type of behavior on your self !

 

Tough room.....

He'll be here all week. Try the veal.

 

besides...
it sounds like you're the one compensating....not the truck drivers or the honda something rathers, or the tc's....
always trying to prove to them that you CAN pass them, race them, spank them, whatever...you could just let them have it and drive off...but that would be a shot to your ego wouldnt it bozo?

 

It's one of the best action comedies of the 80s. If you want to see bad from the same time frame, watch Cobra... Arnie at least could be funny!

Anyway I think you protest too much... if you pass a lot of people, you'll always get one of those types who thinks it's a race and has to show how little his equipment is, by bullying with his big truck. Doesn't matter if you're a Mini or something else.

 

cause of your internet handle....

Anyway, just don't rise to the bait!

Matt

 

Must be the car you are driving...

 

I would not worry about, and do not understand why everyone is saying your rant it worthless or whatever. I think it s pretty relevant and deserves a respectful response. I do not have any solutions other than let them be on there way and just move our of those pompous *** hol*s way. People will be people and we must all learn to face adversity silently. The second you put up any kind of fight is when people realize they have a gotten a reaction and want more. Of course when u have MINI they can have fun eatin" your dust. ;-)!

 

 

Pretty entertaining thread 'til I got to that little snotty remark. Didn't see any need for it since this isn't a ricer racer site.

 

Quoting faux pas no?

 

Blank post

 

I thought it was uncalled for until I saw the original poster's name: It's Bozo

 

It all starts with the name!!

 

Chill out!! You don't have to post a reply if you don't like what the OP is saying. I am one who has often said that "other" drivers are jealous of our cars...I've had the Tail Gaters, the ones who appear to be interested in racing you, and those who have to be a nose ahead of you. I don't play in those games, but I do know how to handle Molly and if necessary will put those in there place!!

 

Yeah actually, entertainment was kind of the point (after all).

Seems like some MINI owners actually need to buy a sense of humor. Maybe BMW could start to include that as an option...?

-B

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Good one. I think you are on to something in the way of a scientific explanation for the phenomenon.

-B

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'zactly amigo.

-B

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Shhhhhhh ...calm down Joni ...its okay ... Don't worry. Its just entertainment. Its not real.

-B

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