I have had my liscense for three weeks now and have noticed someting about my driving, since I have. I tend to drive more aggresively when I am in my car. Okay that's fine. What's not is i am to the point where I believe I am abusing my MINI. I do not want to do this. A MINI is a terrible thing to waste. Some of the reasons i believe is I am always in a hurry to get to the place I need to be. Secondly it is very easy to do in a MINI. Last night i was on the toll road going a cool seventy, went to pass a semi looked down at the tach, i was doing 101. NOT GOOD! Anyone have any tips for me?

Please I need to Control Myself!

Mikey

 

sometimes playing slower music helps. i guess it depends on what music u currently have.

 

I do not think that you are alone on this. I have been driving for 35 years and still find the urge to drive the MINI aggressivly. The MINI is just built for having fun and motoring. The only way to correct this is to get behind the wheel of a Buick.

 

Going 100 mph when you've had a license for three weeks is insane. Period. Go to a driving school, or just step back and think about what you're doing before you hurt somebody. You may not be abusing your MINI, but you are abusing your new driving privileges.

 

Do you drive aggressively when not in your car? Such as in other cars?

Most people drive fast because they are overbooked and in a hurry. But younger people drive fast because they are young (metabolism is faster than when old and affects desire to be active). Not much you can do about being young except to accept the inevitable. For a start how about trying to give yourself more time to get someplace? If you think it will take you 15 minutes then give yourself 25 instead. Give yourself even more lead time for longer trips. It should make you feel more relaxed when you get into the car and you might be able to enjoy more of your MINI than just straight line dynamics.

Drivers react differently to sounds, vibrations and sense of enclosure in their cars. The MINI is a solid little car. In a car that feels less substantial you might find yourself driving slower than you think you are. It would be scary to imagine how fast you would drive a big Mercedes sedan. After awhile you should get used to the way your MINI behaves at various speeds and ought to be able to guess fairly accurately. For now you should probably glance at the speedometer rather often.

 

You are not abusing your car. Trust me, I once had these "guilty" feelings the same way you did every time I would really "drive" the car. You just have to think. What is the mini made for? Its made to be driven, and its made to be driven hard. Its made to be thrown around. Also, if you havent passed through the stage where you dont want to put any miles on it-it will come. Cars are ment to be driven. I put 8k miles on mine in 2 months. Drive it hard. And enjoy it too.
(just as long as your not over revving, or just constantly driving stupid, its cool. there is a difference between driving stupid, and driving really fast though.)

Oh, and Chrisnl; I went over 100mph BEFORE I had my license.

 

I am worried my MINI, but I am worried that I will hurt myself or somebody else. i am just worried about my canstant 5000+ rpm shifts, thats abusive. I DONT break the limits normally last night was the worst it has ever been. It was the first time I have ever gone over seventy in any situation in my MINI. No matter if the speed limit was seventy.
HELP!

 

Has the car been broken in yet? I think everyone on this board hopes so!

Build your skill progressively. You should have a lot more experience under your belt before you start pushing the limits like that. The MINI is a very forgiving car, but if you push it too hard, you can spin it at high speeds - trust me. I came very close once on a track.

 

Ask your parents for advice :smile:

 

You need to slow down or you won't be around to enjoy that MINI

Lois

 

are you talking about around town shifting? In my S works i would shift around 3500. Hiway cruise I would cruise around 80-85. I honestly would never "race"' the car or never abuse it. I would just go for a spirited drive down the back roads everynow and then-but thats what the car is made for. Dont worry, I think you fine.

 

I'm not sure what else we can do to help this kid and all the problems he has been posting. Sometimes you just have to learn a lesson for yourself.

 

Too little driving experience + driving 100mph = death, injury, loss of license or at the very least incredibly high insurance.

I'm just glad I don't travel the same roads as you!!! You seriously need to slow down...end of lecture.

 

It's been suggested before on this thread, so I'll just second it. Get thee to autocross. It provides a safe way to go fast and learn the limits of your vehicle as well as your driving skills. I tried it for the first time a few weeks ago and loved it, however it was humbling to realize how little I know about "real" driving even after 12 years behind the wheel.

On the autocross course, you can hopefully get your desire to drive agressively out of your system. And when you drive on the street, take it easy. Use your cruise control, if you have it, and set it to a decent speed and keep it there.

 

Here's a few suggestions:

a) If you're not in a hurry, just sit back and relax. I used to always go like 20 over the speed limit, but recently I've realized that I'm not in a hurry, so why am I trying to get there so fast. There was jsut this constant mindset that I should get there as fast as i can, but now I just sort of listen to the music and take it easy.

b) get a ticket. This also helped slow me down quite a bit. I'm 19 and insurance is already expensive. The ticket with traffic school costed me about 105, and 4 hours of my time. If i get another one, it'll be 8 hours. And finally if i get one after that my insurance will go up, something I can't afford.

 

Mikey:

You're right to be concerned about finding yourself going over 100 MPH on the freeway -- under any conditions. In addition to the inherent dangers of driving that fast in mixed traffic, you haven't been driving long enough to developed the skills that might otherwise help if you find yourself in a dangerous situation.

On the other hand, it is easy to do in a MINI. I drive an MC, and found myself going 90 on the freeway without even thinking about it more than once in the first few months that I owned the car.

I'd second the advice to give yourself plenty of time to get to your destination, and to check your speedo regularly. This is a good time to develop that "rear mirror, side mirrors, speedo" routine. You can also spot-check yourself regularly: what speed am I driving? what is the posted speed limit on this street? (Info you should know anyway in the event that a trooper decides to pull over that nice new red car.)

Here's a thought that might help: California's highway patrol is now using lidar that allows them to determine how fast someone is going from 1/2 mile away! By the time you spot that officer standing at the side of the road, it's wa-a-ay too late to slow down. So when all else fails, think of what being clocked at 100MPH would do to your driving record!

 

You should always worry about this......always. My kids were great drivers when they started out because they were extremely watchful. But once the confidence kicks in (which is a good thing) its not a time to slack off. No, no, no!!! It's time to purposefully kick in some extra vigilance!!! Motorers can never, ever afford to disengage in their efforts to motor safely.

It takes time and experience to really ingrain the instincts that make all these things more or less second nature. But even then, the big lesson of good driving is this: to learn (deep in your soul) that it always matters and that one must always be aware. There's too many innocent people's welfare at stake.

It is fun to push your MINI, and there may be times when you can blip the throttle now and again. But it's also fun to let other motorers into traffic and be a very good citizen out there on our shared roadways. Build good will and people will love seeing you and your MINI motoring about and respect your wisdom and maturity. Very rewarding.

Let it loose on the track if you must. Personally, I question the wisdom of having new drivers behind the wheel of an MCS. That's an aweful lot of MINI, my friend! But if that's what you have to drive, so be it. Its very good that your conscience is telling you to "watch it!" It's a very good sign.

 

This is all I care about^

 

I wish those who are not interested in helping me and others (Squirlz) please do not reply.

I have made one mistake in my three weeks of driving alone, this was it. I do not normally go over 5 over at the MAX. Ask all my friends they kid me about this all the time, call me "GRANNY". I just wasn't paying attention, I should have been. But I know one thing for sure I will no longer voice problems such as this or maybe anything else on this forum ever again.

Peace

Mike

 

Don't be too put off by comments which seem "overly harsh"....they're only meant to help. If you're a good driver, that's super...keep it up (...remember, I don't know you personally)! All we really want is your safety. Unfortunately, we have seen a few wrecked MINIs (including mine!! ) and even lost a motorer or two...and we never want to see that again. We've also had loads of discussions before on unsafe driving at club events. Then there was the VW caravan story... . We all know how much fun MINIs are...and they are very potent little machines!

Whenever safety comes up maybe we do overreact, but its because we want to keep each other safe. Trust me, I haven't seen any advise here that didn't apply to me as much as it might to you or anyone else. As long as you're being safe, just keep up the good work and have fun!!!

 

jeez kid. its a car. you drive it. if u dont want to drive fast, PAY MORE ATTENTION! YOU are in control. only YOU. nothing anyone here says is going to help you slow down. If you are cruising around in your car thinking about what someone on NAM said for you to do to drive slow then sadly you have more problems then NAM can solve. IF anything you should give your keys to me and Ill take care of it.

SEE problem solved! no more needing to think about how you might drive too fast because your not paying attention....are you paying attention??

 

I just reviewed the responses and the constructive advice outnumbered the negative dismissals by a very wide margin.

 

I think the main concern was he was speeding and didn't realize until later that he was speeding. Here's the obvious...if you see that you are constantly passing up cars, you're probably driving too fast! Also the on board computer has a speed limit setting. All it does is make a quiet chime and flash the speed on the speedo when you pass the limit. Maybe that will help out a little.

 

Unfortunately when someone starts a thread on NAM about driving too fast , most of us become concerned. We don't want to see anyone get hurt or even worse die. I spent 15 years as an ER nurse & saw the results of reckless driving many times too often. I'm not saying that I haven't been guilty of the same thing myself. I just hope our young friend is honest & that it was just a temporary loss of sanity from driving a MINI Too many of us are parents & spent many sleepless nights worrying about our teenagers when they were out at night. ChiliCooperS, enjoy your MINI, treat it right, be safe & have fun

Lois

 

I can relate to this actually. While I've had my license for a -little- bit longer than Chilli...ok, about 16 years longer... I still get that feeling too. My ""winter"" car is a Honda del Sol and its amazing the difference between driving that and my MCS.

Traffic through the city flows generally at between 70-75mph. Go any slower and you're going to have upset Steelers fans making rather rude gestures at you, know what I mean. In the Honda, I'm going from point A to point B and don't particularly care about the trip. The same drive in the MINI is an experience. Its not a reckelss experience, mind you. Just a much faster one. Too many people, not just on NAM, equate speed with recklessness. Obviously, I'm not advocating street racing or anything so utterly stupid as that. But we all know how freaky stable our cars are at speed. I'd hazard a guess that every one of us has looked down at the speedo and found that we're going a great deal faster than we thought we were. The first time that happened to me I was in Georgia, and trust me, that's not a conversation you want to have with a Georgia State Trooper.

Bottom line, know where and when you can and more importantly can not speed. Always have an escape route. If you think about going fast to show off or race, just remember that you, or someone who cares about you, spent about $25k on this car. And tickets are pretty damn expensive.


Beyond that, have fun and enjoy the ride. :smile: