So I've only been in my wee little car for 24 hours or so, but naturally, I've been driving it around, playing with the buttons, getting used to the feel of my baby.

It's the weekend. I live in the suburbs where traffic is usually very bad during the week. So today, it was pretty lax....

However, I've noticed a hell of a lot more people getting closer to me than I really like. To the point where, their front-lights dissapear from view in my rear mirror. I always go the speed limit or even a bit above, so it's not like I'm driving like a granny in her mini, but people are tailgating me and it's pissing me off.

Do people think that there's extra room because my Mini is tiny? I mean what gives?

My first, and only accident so far in my 6 years of driving was someone rear-ending me at 25mph when I had been stopped at a light for a good 20 seconds. Maybe this is my paranoia coming through because when you're rear-ended, there ain't a whole hell of a lot you can do to react and get away.

So you tell me, is this me freaking out just because it's my new car, or do you all have experiences where people just tent to drive like *******s around you?

Or maybe is my perception off? Do I not know the size of my Mini yet in relation to the other cars on the road? What do you think?

 

Most of the time its an illusion because the back of the car is so short.

 

ya no i think there not as close as u think i have the same problem i havent figured out exactly how close they are
but this is the only car where it seems like everybody is out 2 kill me lol by running me over or not seeing me and running me off the rd

 

+1. Also, you may become, as I have, more paranoid about people behind you because of this. Parallel parking with any regularity will help calibrate your sense of how close the car behind you is.

 

I've been getting tailgated pretty badly over the past couple of weeks, and it's really driving me crazy. I've had SUVs under 10 feet from my boot while on the highway going 70 mph, and that just isn't safe. About got rearended by a minivan that actually had to pull onto the left shoulder to avoid climbing up my a$$.

I don't know if it has anything to do with our cars. I really think people are just driving flat out stupid these days. And it makes me want to throw ball bearings at them like my biker friends talk about. Drive safe out there. Too many idiots on four (or more...or less, for that matter) wheels out there.

 

that is how I feel as well when driving the Mini. People are always way too close for my liking. This seems even worse when the weather conditions are really bad! I leave a lot more room when others are on my ***, especially when I come to an intersection that is all covered with ice.

 

If someone is too close for my liking for an extended period of time, I tend to use the opportunity to clean my windshield. The resulting overspray splatters the car behind you, with 90% certainty they'll have to turn on their wipers to clear off your spray. This usually makes them realize that had they been further back, they wouldn't have gotten your load sprayed in their face. Other than that, make sure you are either keeping pace with the car in front of you or allowing room on the left for the tailgater to pass. Not much else you can do without getting truly evil...

 

Try driving a Corvette. The short back on a 1998 Corvette makes it look as though the car in back of you is only 6 inches from your bumper. Of course this is not the case.
The Mini is just about the same way. It is short so the car in back of you looks close.
Your rear-ender accident probably makes you a little apprehinsive of it happening again.
Ronnie948

 

I also hate it when it seems as if the car behind me is just RIGHT there. I find it helps give me perspective to check the side mirrors because they tend to make things look a bit farther away.

 

I do think most of it is just how much closer to you the back end of the car is.

A good trick (I don't know if this works for R56s, but it does for the rest) is to turn your rear wiper jet around. You can spray them directly

 

I think it is a combination of a**hole drivers and the short back making it appear cars are closer. Since I have been driving a MINI (Aug of 2008) I found that other cars just don't like me. I get cut off much more, my lane is intruded upon by "drifters" much more than before and I feel like I'm getting tailgated. Very annoying. Luckily the MINI has enough oomph to get around these crazies.

 

I have found that tailgaters quickly back off when I touch the brakes and My MCS' third taillight flashes like a strobe, thanks to the GoMiniGO circuit board. This is a really effective mod at grabbing the attention of following drivers. Since I installed it (very easy and there is a helpful NAM thread, BTW) tailgating has ceased to be an issue. Highly recommended.

 

Love it!! Been driving for 50+ years including sports car racing in the earlier ones and I just learned something new. I can hardly wait to try it out.

 

++1 That little circuit has saved my bacon numerous times. It's really effective when at a red light and by tapping the brake it usually gets their undivided attention as they come barreling up.

 

Coming from a Pontiac Grand Prix, I've had trouble to adjusting to this as well.

 

+100. Worth the money. Even with the pulse timer in the new version I find many drivers do not enjoy seeing the flashing light when in stop and go traffic and they tend to either back off or move to another lane.

 

I kinda like the idea of using the rearward facing sprayer and the pulsing tail light! Is there any way to hook the two together?

 

There is a thread here I posted a decent solution.
I installed on-demand rear facing DRLs.
They work as intended.
I got them from here
www.plasmaled.com

the magnafying 3W fit exactly where the
backup lights go now. You remove those.
For backup lights you can use a standard
plug bulb with a side marker holder available
at any auto store.

PM me for the photobucket I dont want to keep
posting my liscense plate.

Usually turning on the foglight (the rear one) does the trick.
I replaced that with the super white.
I have the gominigo modulator.
I also replaced one brake light with super white
and one with super bright red (gives a contrast).
There are 4 bulbs if you didnt know.

I've had a big problem with people smashing me.
So I'm trying to be proactive.

 

A lot of tailgaters are so busy talking on their cell phones they have no clue what's going on around them. I hope some day there's a national ban on driving and yaking on a cell phone.

 

lol, I think you are just not used to small cars. With the exception of my Volvo, all of my cars have been small, and low to the ground. Hatch backs are especially bad about making everything appear too close. You'll get used to it eventually. Now, try driving a Mini everyday to work, and then driving a Ford E-150 Utility van for 10-12hours a day. If you want a skewed sense of scale, that'll do it.

 

Wow you must have had a bad experience to be so concerned about what is behind you.

Given any thought to a school bus strobe on the roof & repainting the boot day glo orange?

IMO your rear facing DRL's are likely to cause someone to run into you.

 

I'm new to the manual transmission in my car (getting used to it now, and loving it =) ) and it worried me at first when i looked in my rear view, but when i actually turned my head around to gauge how much room there was it seemed fine. When their headlights disappear it worries me, i just try not to stress about it.

 

I thought the same thing when we first got our MINI. It takes a while to get used to (even thought you never really do).

 

I feel the same way, and have also been rear ended (and t-boned so bad I had to be cut out of the car) but I think it probably is just an illusion. That said however, when people are on their phones, they tend to not realize how fast/close they are in relation to other cars. And also....I have seemed to notice that some drivers get really agressive when I pass them. Men in particular in their big trucks and SUV's. They are like, "What this little girl in her little car is gonna pass me? I don't think so."

 

I've had some tailgaters and some road bullies, but most of it is me not being used to the dimensions of the car. I'm still driving it like it's a large coupe.