Ya know... I suppose I'd like you all to think that I'm a very aggressive driver, one who always takes my MCS to the limit... but in reality I'm usually more conservative than that. Every few days I'll get inspired and remember to have some real fun, but then I slip back to "normal" driving. Although I do enjoy my MINI very much everyday!

Godspeed.

 

I believe you.

Funny how I find that MC drivers drive quicker than MCS drivers.
Maybe I just get passed by more MC drivers?

Most of the time I drive easy, knowing that there are times I do drive quite a bit harder. That is why I go to autocross and driving events/driving school.

Times when I go easy-
When the police are out to play and I don't want to paint a target on my MINI
Under very bad weather/storm conditions when I cannot see 10 feet in front of me.
When I go to a car club rally and we are all in a group
When I go out on the track for the first few laps for warm up and mechanical check.
When I have lots of time to get somewhere and I'm early (never happens)
When I am in heavy traffic.
When my wife is in the car.

 

:smile: Mike is definitely the more aggressive driver between the two of us.:smile: I'm pretty laid back - once in a great while, depending on the circumstances, I get aggressive. But there are too many darn cops around here - a ticket is really not what I want to spend my extra money on...

Chow!

Donna

 

When I commute on the highway I tend to be a model citizen.In the city I some times"zip" around,but stay within speed limits,and don't break any laws.
On the gravel back roads,with nobody to be seen for miles in any direction,
remember I live on the bald a$$ prairie,Poco and I let go,and motor hard

 

You'll get to see my driving-style first-hand on Monday, CooperBeagle! Muwahahahahaha!!!

I am a spirited, but very watchful, driver. I've had a speeding ticket with each MINI and LEARNED MY LESSON! (Don't be the leader of the pack!)

My favorite place to cut loose is when I enter the freeway! I REV it up and get going FASSSSSSSST! All within the speed limit, of course!

Sometimes it's really fun to motor along gently, windows down, sunroof open, enjoying just being in my Wanda and counting and waving to all the other MINIs on the road!

Clover

 

I guess I drive like you would expect an old guy to drive. I even do old-fashioned stuff like always using my turn signals (yes, I turn them off after the turn ) and not flooring it to get though the stoplight, in many cases after it's turned red. On the interstate I drive maybe 5 mph over the limit and try to stay out of the way of those doing the more normal 10-20 mph over. I don't want a ticket and it's just a lot more relaxing not to be "wound-up" all the time, as so many of today's drivers are. I remember when courteous driving was the norm......



R.E.

 

I have brief moments of spirited driving....an entrance ramp here, a left-handed hairpin there (there's a fine one on my way to work!), but overall I tend to shun the unfriendly, "it's all about me", racer-wannabe thing. I think my MINI has definitely contributed this...the whole "let's put away the middle finger" thing, you know. I tend to let more drivers into traffic now, and willing yield to pedestrians and small animals. I also generally frequent the same roads so I don't want to drive in such a way as to **** off my neighbors (...or their car keys, if you catch my drift ) I spec'd my Cooper as a little city car and with its cheeky '03 styling, its pretty benign and will probably stay that way. No performance mods, no stickers, no stripes.....but it does stay extremely clean.

 

Depends on whom you ask:

My Girlfriend: I'm a "scary road-rage" driver
My Mom: I'm a "wreckless" driver
My Dad: I "drive too fast"
My Grandmother: Just perfect - "I like going fast and I love that little car"
My Nephew: "He drives cool, like a maniac."
My Business Partner: "Too damn slow, let me drive."

 

Most of my driving is just commuting to work and back on the freeway, but when I'm not commuting, I like to drive more spiritedly and not take the freeway. But that does not necessarily mean speeding (I just keep up with traffic), as I like to use the manual shifting on my CVT and have fun going through the gears and downshifting. Downshifting is as much fun as upshifting. :smile: As I live in the big city, I am usually in some traffic.

 

I try to drive responsibly – because – and when the roads are congested.
On the open country roads I have seen 125 mph several times.
Many people in various types of cars challenge me to a race, mostly stop light racing, but I never race because of the congestion and the responsibility of driving with others on the road, there are many innocent people that don’t need to be subjected to little cars zipping around, there are already too many of them out there and I don’t mean Mini’s.
If I could afford the time and money I would auto-cross, and perhaps its in the books for next season to do some auto-crossing, just to see how the car does.
But when it’s all said and done you will find me most of the time on the right lanes traveling a hair over the limit out of the way from the others.

 

Now THAT would be a fun to change your driving mode. CVTs sound like a blast!

 

I drive toooooo fast (and I have the tickets to prove it )

Earl

 

I like to drive fast yet responsibly. In some ways, I describe it as conservatively fast. I'm normally about 5 to 10 mph over the speed limit tops when conditions are favorable (not during fog or rain), but it's really the acceleration and ability to pass slow SUVs that gives me the most thrill, i.e As in barreling down to a sweeping 180 degree turn on the freeway, and accelerating into the 45mph rated turn, while all the other cars are stomping on the brakes.

I always keep a good amount of personal space. I don't cut off people, although people still get pissed off at me for getting in front of them. Can't tell you how many times I've been flashed.

Plus I've got to the end of the year before I can get another speeding ticket. I didn't have a ticket for over 10 years, then I was out driving and fell into a speed trap--going 54 in a 45 on PCH near Malibu--driving a Lexus--about 4 months before I got my MINI. So no tickets in my MINI yet, Knock on wood.

I honestly do feel that most drivers in Los Angeles, can't drive or shouldn't be driving. Have you seen the number of SUV's with LCD screens popping up?? They are everywhere, and make more of a distraction for people driving behind those cars than probably the occupants! I caught one guy on the 110 freeway reading a magazine while going 55mph.

I just adjusted my mirrors to this method:
http://www.cartalk.com/content/featu...ors/index.html
and can drive even more secure now, knowing that there isn't a car in my blindspot. Although the downside is that headlights from cars behind you have a more direct view to your face which can be blinding--and using them for backing up is more difficult.

I used to use a variation of this method without knowing it. I'd scan my mirrors, and keep track of what cars were where. I'd see a red car, a green car, an SUV, and an Acura in my rearview all 5 or 6 car lengths away. When I change lanes, I expect to be near one of those cars. While I still turn my head to check, I'm always keeping track of what's nearby. I also do this as a precaution--cause if I see a new car that looks like CHP, it's time to be more conservative.

So I think I'm a pretty good driver considering I haven't been in an accident in the last 20+ years I've been driving-well aside from being rear ended.

Oh btw, I've seen a whole mess of MINI's lately. I'm seeing an average of 5 a day on my commute, and most are MC's who drive in the lane next to the right most lane (we call it the slow lane). They drive at or below the speed limit, and seem to be having a good time of their own.

 

I drive like I'm driving an old man truck
I go real slow and I need a lot of luck
Cause I ramble where I wanna and I'm gonna be around
Lots of other people drivin' like they oughtta own the ground
Where I point my little pickup but they always find
That they can't stake a claim 'cause it's already mine

But in May I'll have a Mini and I guess I'll hafta change
Maybe be a little quicker when I'm driving on the range
As my smile grows ever wider and my right foot drops
On the pedal I'll be happy that I know a lotta cops.

 

Most of the time I drive pretty normally, almost old man-ish, sticking close to speed limits, signalling, etc. I have to, my insurance just went up for two tickets, one in 2001, and the other in 2003. Although I almost always whip around familiar exit/entrance ramps, as long as there is no one in my way.

 

I go no more that 5 over, if I'm the lead dog, during the commute or go with the flow. But on weekends or after work on a really nice day I'll take the car out for a, spirited?, run through the mountain twisties close to home. No one will go with me anymore, they say that I scare them , although I'm nowhere close to getting loose, well maybe a little close.I just don't understand. My Dad calls it a carnival ride. I couldn't agree more.

 

Looking at my front bumper after my last track event... out of control!

But normally, I'm pretty laid back in normal traffic conditions, to the point of driving my boyfriend insane (he's MUCH more aggressive than I and can't stand riding with me, I think).

 

My MINI is my everyday driver and to me my driving is normal, but my wife has classified my driving as borderline "race track" , to which I answer I am only utilizing the abilities of the MINI and I am completely within the legal limits

Not until I get into another car do I realized that maybe she might be right, and now that I only got about 17,000 miles out of the first set of tires do I recognize that I am having.... FUNNNNN !

 

I was the first person to have a MINI in my small town. I had to drive very conservatively - the car stood out like a sore thumb and if I cut someone off or took a corner too quick I'd hear about it in the market the next day.
Now there are around 8 other MINI's in town, one almost like mine (different wheels), I could start driving more aggressively - but I've gotten used to driving courteously.
On the freeway's I usually stick to the 3k rule - 6th gear @ 3,000 rpm = about 70 mph (but it is fun to downshift, punch the throttle and leave the jerk that comes up fast behind me, in the dust).
Now, on the back roads it's a different story!

 

Most definitely jds! To shift or not to shift, that is the question.

 

I drive at exactly 5 mph over the speed limit most of the time (in the right lane)...until everyone including me gets bottled up by 3 fn idiots blocking all 3 lanes driving at the same freekn speed for miles ...when the opportunity opens, I vent so everyone of them knows it by going third WOT(usually they're all at 70+-) until I'm way outta sight Then I chill and save gas Othertimes, out in the countryside, I'll slow to allow traffic to distance themselves from me when approaching nice curves then accelerate like hell to attack them at the speed that's appropriate for my Mini

 

I have only been the passenger in my MINI a handful of times,and when whoever is driving seems ready for it ,I get them to "go for it abit",and I can understand why folks think you may be borderline "race track".The driver has the steering wheel to hang on to,the passenger does not really have much to hang on to,and being so quick and nimble,the ride can feel abit SUDDEN for them,even at normal speeds.
Even driving like grandma is FUN in these cars

 

Im very relaxed when there are other cars around, but when the road
opens up and there is a s-curve expressway entrance or wooded area
with some nice turns, I try to enjoy it.. I don't speed on straight aways
though. Not really interested in going max speed.

 

I do have a long sweeping S that I some times go throught late/early in the day at WOT.200km is still good in this little guy.

 

I use to drive conservative in my last ride. In the MINI I am a maniac...it is just to painful to force myself to drive slow.