In the 2-3 years in which I've driven my mini, I've noticed some disrespect towards minis on the road. Granted i'm 20 years old and have a few mods done to my mini, I follow the rules, never street race, rarely go over the speed limit, and try to be as courteous as I can in regards to other drivers on the road.

Bigger cars such as Hummers, Escalades, etc. see my car as negligible and I have been cut off many times by them for no apparent reason. Also, I've noticed other drivers give me a look/smirk as if to say "look at this guy, he thinks he looks so cool in his mini." I love my car, but certainly did not buy it to simply look "cool" to others.
Of course, there are the women who think the car is cute and the middle-aged men who think minis are original and will give kudos for having a different, classy, sporty looking car. These people are the small exception.

This is my experience at least. I'm sure location plays a role in this as well. Does anybody agree? Disagree? Share your experiences/opinions!

 

I know where you're coming from. My first R56 justa got a lot of flak from people, but the new JCW is a bit more respected. Some people who know nothing about cars see my baby as a ricer. But those in my home town know they can't make fun of the car because it'll blow the doors off anything they drive.

My favorite is when people say tricking out a mini is "overcompensating" I think they have no idea what that word means..

 

Where do you live? remind me to never go there.. ive gotten at least 10 complimenting notes on my car and ive had someone just ask if i wanted to get in front of them... literally they asked... no turn or anything

 

I live in Boston MA. Consider yourself incredibly lucky! Then again in this city, everybody thinks they own the road for themselves and tend to not care for others. Don't get me wrong, I have gotten LOTS of compliments from some really nice people, but normally I get treated pretty badly on the road by others.

Robinson you are also very correct in terms of the modding aspect of minis. If my mini wasn't modded I don't think I would get it as bad. But for some reason people throw my mini into the mix as a "rice" and think I live for speeding, getting tickets, getting arrested, driving dangerously, and boatloads of other garbage stereotypes that are incredibly false. People who actually know what a JCW is love my car. The people with no car knowledge (majority) will think I bought a mini and did a bunch of mods such as put a bodykit on it to make it look cool. It just irritates me!

 

In fact, about a year ago I was out in the city on a Saturday night, stopped at a red light. Across the street was about a 26 year old "man" walking who decided to call me out in front of his friends saying things like "You're not cool! Get a real car! That car is for girls!" He laughed and walked away. I don't care what opinions people have about the car itself, but why the disrespect?

Not the best example, but you guys get the idea. I've gotten some pretty immature/nasty comments about my car from some people.

 

That is just lame. I've heard about the "M*******s" from other Bostonians but that just takes the cake. While I've not had any over-courteous offers in traffic, I have had some great compliments. I pulled up to a now defunct video rental place just as a woman came out. When she saw my car a big smile came upon her face as she asked "do you love your car?". She caught me a little off guard and all I could do was say "Yes, I really do".

 

some people... shoulda said "thats why your walkin pal... get outtttttttaaaa here" in an italian gangster voice lol



jk who cares


I get pictures taken, hand shakes... even some escalade thug compliments. Even had a FFX police officer pull up to me(i thought i was gonna get a tint ticket) but him and his partner just gave a thumbs up and sped off, never really had any haters. A couple of "heh its just a min..... what was that" reactions when i get on it

 

My story is pretty much exactly the same. Except I do get a lot of people trying to race me, especially GTI's.

 

thats what i knida like about NOVA.. very rich area so alot of people know there cars

 

Oddly, I've never had a bad experience with my MINI. Generally I get a lot of waves and compliments. Granted, where I am, there are a ton of MINIs, so they are more the norm than the exception.

 

I am an old guy that still likes to drive fast, when it is safe, on empty roads and not in residential areas. In the Puget Sound tailgaters seem to be the biggest problem, although there are some exceptions. On roads that I know and I am traveling a few miles above the speed limit I love to get a tailgater behind me. I slow down enough so they can drive around me and IF THEY JUST STAY THERE I slowly speed up and suck them into a corner at twice the speed that they can take the corner. It usually stops the tailgating by that person!

 

Mini's get the love here in CA. In my Challenger group, half our "other" cars are Mini's. My wife's MCS is the "other" car that I proudly take care of as well as I take care of my R/T. Both have names and both get thumbs up from people. Never had a nay-sayer here.

 

interesting responses guys. I'm happy to know mini owners get treated well in other areas. Perhaps it is the cold-hearted Bostonians in my area, or the uneducated low class, or just the immature men/kids that tend to hate on mini's. Either way it makes no difference to me, I enjoy my mini very much and couldn't imagine driving anything else.

Oh and drewstermalloy, it's funny you say that because I'm in the same boat. I can't fathom the amount of GTI's, s2000's, and miatas that have pulled up next to me wanting to race me. On the track, I would be happy to blow their doors off (clearly they don't know the power behind some minis!). On the street however, I rather keep my license lol

 

We were just talking about that. We have had our mini for a month and we were commenting on how there is only 2 reactions to the car. Some smile, and others try to run you over.

We have a convertible, and it is even worst with the top down. With it down most people give us the nastiest looks. Especially when it is a dude in a minivan or other kid hauler. Yah, I know that driving a minivan filled with brats sucks... but why throw the hate our way? We did not make you have the kids.

I almost want a bumper sticker that says, "Yes... it is as fun as it looks"

 

Down in FL I don't really get made fun of because of my car, (I've had the few "That's a girls car" or "Cute car bro"), but I have even gotten a thumbs up from a mustang driver :O!
But other than that it's no biggie...strangely though, the only people that seem to "try" me at a stop light are those in F250 or larger pickup trucks... Quite a few times they seem to have floored it off the line(Billowing a black death cloud of exhaust fumes), then I just catch up to them without trouble and go past them laughing...

 

I've had some great experiences. With my old Justa... Oxygen Blue and White, I was told by more than a few nice women that my car looked like a Tiffany Box.

My new MCS however gets stares from lots of people, I even had a young guy in a customized A4 slow down on the turnpike to give me a thumbs up.

Plenty of people wave and I get lots of thumbs up!

Now if only more MINI drivers would wave back I'd be happy!

 

Run off the road, swerved on, cut off, pulled out in front of, people have tried to pass on neighborhood streets, did get passed in a school zone, and brake checked for pulling in behind someone. Ya that sums it up for the most part. People are a bunch of D-bags.

 

hahha "cute car bro." I mean yea, mini's can look "cute" in their own way i suppose, but I think its mainly due to the fact that their small as well. However, i HIGHLY doubt anybody would say "cute car bro" to a person driving a BMW 1 series.

I'm not sure where the stigma of mini's being for girls came from, but I don't think that will ever go away as there are some really naive people on this earth.

 

No real issues over here in Toronto. It doesn't really matter what car you get people are going to cut you off, flip you the bird, etc. It's just life in the city I guess and it will happen to someone if they drive a mini van, muscle car....

I find trying to be courteous helps at least with people in front or beside me, but at least once every two weeks I'll have someone freaking out behind me because I don't attempt to gun down pedestrians who have right of way or drive into and block the middle of an intersection as the lights are about to change. Avoiding rush hour helps.

I do get a lot more looks and positive comments driving the JCW. Not sure if it's because it is a JCW, the JCW Aero or the red roof, or maybe the exhaust sound. I can't think of any time where my masculinity was questioned or I received nasty comments while driving my previous justa Cooper either.

Honestly the car issue is minor in Toronto. The problem I really have is with people freaking out every day over the fact that I have a dog. Either people incorrectly think it's a pit-bull (which shouldn't be a major issue but that is another story...) or they just think all dogs are unclean or dangerous.

Who could be scared of this guy???


20110724_0025[r]--TorontoHarbourfrontWaterfront.JPG by walk0080, on Flickr

 

+1 ! We do exactly the same thing.

Around here the tailgaters seem to be primarily angry drivers of large, lifted pick-ups, with oversized tires, who are obviously compensating for something. They think that filling our rearview mirror with their grills is gonna intimidate us. The MINIs apparently **** them off by reminding them of their "shortcomings".

 

You'd be surprised. There are some people who think that if it's not a truck with a V-8, at least 33-inch tires and a lift kit, then it might as well be pink.

Fortunately, it's not my job to educate them.

Seriously, I think part of the problem is that the U.S. doesn't have a long history of small, nimble sporty cars like the European countries do. For decades, the "cool" American cars were the 4500-pound behemoths with large V-8s, and they cornered on their door handles. If we had all grown up with American counterparts to the MGB, Porsche, Triumph, or Austin-Healey, then it might be a different story.

 

I think you're absolutely right Scott. Hit the nail right on the head. Another problem with America's mentality is that many men here are extremely insecure with their masculinity. Like you said, if its not american made, doesn't have a hemi, and isn't capable of putting 10,000 pounds worth of cinder blocks in the pickup bed, then it's not masculine enough and you are deemed feminine. Why can't people see the flipside of the coin AKA the mindset of Europe? Fast, nimble, sporty, classy cars that are simply FUN to drive! I suppose at least for now, stereotypes will remain as they are

 

To expand on my earlier post (and to be a little more charitable to my fellow Americans), another issue is that living in America is different from living in a small, densely-packed European city. It's not uncommon to drive several hundred (or thousand) miles on vacation, and not all shops deliver, so sometimes you have to haul a dresser home. Mass transit also isn't as widespread, and is often under-utilized even where it is available. All this means that Americans are more likely to buy "do it all" vehicles like crew-cab pickups or large SUVs, often with four-wheel drive. We acknowledge that the extra size and capabilities are only used infrequently, but like the saying goes, "when you need a truck, you *really* need a truck".

My wife and I both have convertible MINIs as our daily drivers, but we also have a 30-year old Dodge Ram that gets used about a half-dozen times a year for "truck stuff" that the MINIs couldn't dream of doing. So, I'll admit that while we love our MINIs, if we only had one vehicle between us instead of three (plus a motorcycle), it would probably be an SUV and not a MINI cabrio.

 

Certainly Scott. I don't mean to discredit Americans that choose to drive such SUV's. It's just the way some of these people drive that ticks me off and the disrespect they have towards MINI's because they're such smaller cars in comparison. Of course, not everybody with a pickup truck has this mentality. But for the ones that do....

 

[QUOTE=dj.papazian;3407317]In the 2-3 years in which I've driven my mini, I've noticed some disrespect towards minis on the road. Granted i'm 20 years old and have a few mods done to my mini, I follow the rules, never street race, rarely go over the speed limit, and try to be as courteous as I can in regards to other drivers on the road.

No S here, no mods, at the other end of the age spectrum and never before, have I put my hazard lights on to get someone off my bumper in a 30 MPH zone.
It is life in the city, more drivers, less patience but I have been driving in this area for over 30 years and never experienced this, until I got my MINI ( 2 years ago).

It has in no way diminished the joy that I have or feel for my car. It has just become very obvious that some people (not all) need to boost their egos and for some odd reason my little car, brings that flaw out.