Wil Wheaton, whose wife, Anne, bought a Mini Cooper last year, blogged this morning about the Secret Mini Owner's Club.

 

 

good read

 

It does make sense though.

 

That was sooo awesome!

 

I've gotten waves from a few women lately. Being a woman myself, it really surprised me.

But yeah, this girl waves.

 

Ha, that's great.
.. and just for the record, I'm a girl and I wave. I love our secret MINI society!

 

That was cute...

For the record I wave, but these days I rarely get a wave back, it's so sad...

It's funny the other day, me and another SCMM'r were driving up PCH and there were 3 motorcyclists in front of us. One of the riders waved to an oncoming rider who did not return his wave. It was funny watching the rider, he kept on waving but the other guy would not wave back, finally he gave up, threw his hands in the air and shook his head in total dejection.

I felt so bad for him because I knew exactly where he was coming from, so I pulled up beside him, turned my head in his direction and gave him a really big wave, which he returned immediately with a huge smile on his face...

 

I was out with a co-worker last week going through town and got the wave from a fellow female Mini driver. I waved back and my friend was like, "What was that?" I told her it's like a club. She said she was going to start one with her Camry!

 

I'm sorry but you girls are the exception not the rule (hell your posting on a car forum), My experience in 1 year of ownership is I have yet to have a female Mini owner return a wave, guys usually return them 75% of the time.

 

Girls also dont respond to my club's spotter cards. Whenever I see sorority letters on a Mini, i dont bother putting our card.

Great Read! I hope my wife accepts my nerdyness when it comes to Minis. I have over 30 Mini hot wheels, RC cars, and Models along with my large MINI flag that hangs by my window. I guess I will know my future wife when she walks in and doesnt bust out laughing.

 

I always wave... but then again, I've been riding sport bikes, Harleys, Hummers, Corvettes and Jeeps.

ALL of those people do the wave.... (for the most part)

I always wave at minis.
I always allow them to merge in front of me or make an extra effort to give them morethan normal room.
I'll hold traffic back if they are turning and could use a break.

I try to be courteous while driving but I definitely go out of my way for fellow mini owners.

They may not always wave... I will.

Mark

 

That's funny orangecrush...my SO drives a Mazdaspeed 3 and the other day we were driving along in it and slowed down to make a turn onto a street. I noticed that a car waiting at the stop sign was also a Mazda 3. I said 'Mazda!" (not out loud, the other driver didn't hear me) and my SO waved at the Mazda. The guy driving the other Mazda had a "WTH, do I know you?" look on his face and slowly waved back. I told Jeff that it only works for MINIs and 'Vettes (his old car), not Mazdas!

I've noticed that I'm getting a higher percentage of wave-backfrom other MINIs now that I drive a convertible. I guess it is easier to notice a wave when my whole arm is out of the car and sticking up over the roof.

 

I dunno - around here there are more guys who own MINIs, so more of a chance the person driving will be a guy and be too cool to wave at me. There are quite a few friendly chicks who wave back at me. And a few who don't.

Great read, though. My boyfriend thinks the wave is stupid and refused for the longest time, now at least he points out other MINIs and when they wave at me.

 

One thing I've noticed is that the further away from a mini dealership you are, the less likely you're to get a wave.

I had to take my clubman in for some repairs a couple weeks ago. They gave me a loaner. I was bopping around the dealership for a few minutes and as I drove off I ran into a couple other minis, and got waves.

I get back to my neck of the woods, which is close to 30 miles away. I get right up next to another mini, and the crazy woman didn't wave back. Ran into a guy on the way to work the next day, no wave.

Heading back toward the dealership to get my car back, I filled up with gas about 3 miles away. Pulling out of the gas station, I got an overy enthusiastic wave from a very nice yellow hardtop driver.

I go from Tampa area (dealership in clearwater, 30 miles away) to Orlando where there is another dealership... the closer I get to Orlando, the more waves I get.

Go figure.

 

I would estimate down here in San Diego I get a wave for 1 out of 30 MINIs I see. I love that my girlfriend gets it though. She's always pointing out other MINIs on the road to wave at

As for my Jeep, the ONLY time I ever get a wave is when i'm out off roading.

 

First, I want to say that Wil is a surprisingly good writer, not that he shouldn't be, but I guess I just didn't expect that from an actor. He has all the little nuances down that make for a good read, I'm jealous. As for the MINI wave, it really is kind of dead. Years ago it was different, I would see maybe one or two other MINIs a month, so it was an event, and we would always wave. I went for a drive on Sunday, and saw four other MINIs within about two miles, in fact the only cars I saw for those couple of miles were MINIs. I usually won't wave to women, because I know they won't wave back, and now a lot of men don't wave either. I pretty much only wave to people I know from the local club, or modified MINIs, because I know they will wave back, or maybe even wave first! I don't know why it bothers me when people don't wave back, but it does. I just feel like such a dork, and I'm thinking the person in the other MINI is like, "why is that dork waving at me? Do I know them?"

 

I always wave or flash my lights at every Mini I see hoping they'll get the hint of the club or at least in the spirit of friendliness, wave back. We're just getting too wrapped up in our own little world & are forgetting the simple courtesies like a little wave. I, too, show extra courtesy to another Mini driver if I get the opportunity. I am my own goodwill ambassador for Mini & always tout it's joys

 

Just to be fair, though, sometimes I miss seeing other MINIs. When I'm out driving I get busy, well, paying attention to the road/traffic and cr@p like that. My SO will say "MINI" and it is already passed.

And I try not to assume that just because I don't get a wave back they driver is being snobby - they might be driving/watching the road/paying attention to traffic too!