This is in response to the new "HappySwag" "Your SUV is a POS" shirts and bumper stickers.

I have been an avid MINI enthusiast since they were introduced in 2002. I had a 2003 S before my 2006 S, with a few BMWs in between. All my daily driver cars have gotten better then 20mpg. But we do always have an SUV in the family for those times when it is necessary to: move large furnitures/items, tow a trailer, drive through a bad snow storm etc.

We never bought one of them as a daily driver even though when other cars are getting fixed they are sometimes used daily. Also, I've been restoring a 71 Land Rover, which will get 20mpg, for the last year. I think the new HappySwag POS shirts and stickers are a little over the top and very "un-MINI". They are just is harsh and unfriendly. Anyone else feel the same or am I alone on this one?

 

I happen to agree, with you. Calling anything a POS just because you don't like it is very un-mini in my opinion as well. MINI people generally are very accepting and friendly people. Besides how many MINI owners out there have a truck or SUV that they keep around for those "needed" situations. It makes me just as upset when people call my MINI a POS, when all that is, is ignorance talking. I don't think a MINI owner should be that ignorant of SUV's or any vehicle for that matter. If you judge a vehicle judge it from what you know about it, don't ever just run up and call it a POS. It'll make you look pretty stupid.

 

I agree with you also. There is a time and a vehicle for everything. As much as I love my MINI, I am pretty sure it cannot carry 5 campers and all their gear through the forest. That is why I own a Yukon, for those situations.

I do have my horror stories also involving SUVs and my MINI too, don't kid yourself. People merge into me regularly while driving in traffic, and overall, not see me.

Thats just my two cents.

Medic

 

I agree with you. We have owned several SUVs in our day when our family size required more room. I refuse to enter into a "hate" campaign against SUVs as I know each car has it's place and it's family and I am not best to judge their needs.

 

For my family, the MINI just doesn't cut it in the cargo-capacity area. That is why my wife drives a Honda CR-V.

We need a family hauler. As it turns out, we've already outgrown the CR-V, and may have to go bigger. We've already bought a Thule cargo carrier for the roof, and still, we're maxxing out on space!

But, I can also appreciate the other point of view, when I see a huge Excursion or Hummer H2 out there, being driven aggresively. Sometimes, the drivers of these large vehicles get purposely aggresive towards me and my MINI. When that happens, I get P.O.'d, and I'd be more likely to write up an anti-SUV DRIVER post here on NAM...

 

Good point...."Some of my best friends drive SUV's."

 

We tend to take friendly swipes at SUVs because they are so big and oversized compared to MINIs. They also represent a bigger-is-better mentality that MINIs could be seen as the antithesis of. It is seldom serious, though, as we all know friends, folks, and family who drive them and even one or two people that actually need them. However, there is a basic line if civility that should never be crossed....and I think that does indeed happen now and again. Generally, those episodes tend to fizzle out because MINI owners are not haters....even of Azteks.

 

This reminds me of one particular experience in traffic when a Tahoe tried to cut me off. If I hadn't honked at him he would have merged right into. This was in bumper to bumper not moving traffic. He got behind, put his brights on, started tailgating, came onto the shoulder next to me, started screaming. I ended up calling the police.

We have a Yukon as well.

 

Now that's just too weird.

 

Perhaps do a search - you'll see reasons described.

(And, just as a note, I have no idea about any "HappySwag" stuff and don't support that myself.)

 

Strange we have this many people in agreement about SUV's this morning, as I too think that this board, at times, can be rather hateful and lump all owners into the same category.

Give it time the others will chime in, BTW isn't there a MINI owner that has a rather ugly antiSUV name and website? Or did he just visit?

For the record; I've had just as many small car owners drive like idiots as I have SUV owners.

 

I don't hate all SUVs just the bohemoth ones like Escalades, Navigators, etc...

I don't like the ginormous ones because I feel they are a safety threat to every other vehicle on the road. When they are in front of me I cannot see what is happening with the flow of traffic, when they park beside me I cannot safely back out of my parking space, & lordy if one of them ever loses control & barrels into me I stand a great chance of losing my life. For a while it seemed like everyone needed to drive a gargantuous SUV as a measure of of self defense against all the other ones on the road. Luckily the USA market appears to be changing with fuel prices & safety concerns dictating better gas mileage & a lower center of gravity so hopefully these ridiculously large & tall SUVs will become a thing of the past.

I don't consider my feelings un-Minilike at all I just don't feel like any Joeblow should be allowed to drive a vehicle that has the potential to harm so many others on the road unless they are required to get a special operators license w/special training

p.s... GrFa could you make that sig a bit bigger please

 

I think that statement could go for any car. Funny but the only close call I've had in driving was caused by a MINI driver who seemed to think their manuverability gave them the right to cut in front of me because they weren't smart enough to move to the right lane for their exit in enough time. Almost cost me my life and the life of my four kids. I was in an SUV, driving safely, within limits, not causing any problems. My experience didn't prevent me from buying a MINI when the time was right. So the issue to me isn't the car, it's the driver. Aggresive MINI drivers can be as dangerous as an aggressive SUV drivers. Maybe more people need to pay attention when learning to drive ANY car and realize that they aren't the god of the highway when on it, no matter what car they are in.

 

I agree that those statement are a bit harsh. I know people that have valid reasons to own a SUV. But I do have a problem with things like the new Hummer commercials: A kid cuts in line so the mom goes and buys a Hummer to solve the problem. Too many people drive SUVs for their size and status symbol. Only buy a SUV if you are regularly going to use the hauling capacity of it. What I save in gas in the MINI is more than enough to rent a truck for the few time I need it.

 

I think you guys are taking this a little too serious. I didn't see anyone complaining about the motoringfile badge with the red circle with a slash thru the SUV outline. I think it's just good old fashioned all american satire/poking fun.

Personally, I've had 3 separate occasions where huge suburban/tahoe type SUV's have tried to run me off the road.. and once directly head on into oncoming traffic. I'm not anti-suv... I'm anti stupid not-paying-attention drivers. SUV's don't kill Minis, people kill Minis.

 

 

I think the problem we have is not so much with the vehicle but the typical SUV DRIVER that is the problem. Few people who drive those behemoths recognize that they are driving a vehicle that is twice the size of a normal vehicle. Rarely do they recognize how much of a hazard they are creating, simply by doing what you can do quite safely in a mini.

On the whole, SUV DRIVERS are some of the most unsafe drivers on the road, oblivious to their surroundings, apparently unaware that their braking power lies somewhere between inadequate and dangerous, feeling as if they are invincible b/c they are surrounded by 3 tons of steel. This is not to say that there aren't some safe SUV drivers, but I see a lot more SUV drivers doing unsafe things with their vehicles (b/c more things are unsafe in an SUV, due to the lower performance capabilities) than any other category of driver, and often times, it comes down to the type of people that buy them, not so much the vehicle themselves.


Personally, I see no reason to ever buy an SUV. My wife and I, instead of owning an SUV, own the mini, my mazda (a 4 door), and a 1997 beater ford ranger. All are 4 cylinder, all get better than 25 mpg, and I can haul people, lumber, my dog, even my dads boat, all without the need for a single gas sucking, V8 powered vehicle over 4000 lbs. Any person who purchased an SUV could have easily taken the same approach. Take the premium associated with an SUv over a comparable 4 door, and spend that premium on a used, beater truck instead. No need to take that capability with you every day on your drive to work!

 

I agree about the whole driver thing but all I was saying is...if speed is constant & a Mini or any other sedan T-bones a sedan vs an Escalade T-boning a sedan which do you think is more likely to do more damage & possibly cause death to the sedan driver?

 

Probably is related to the tailgating aggressive drivers in them. A recent study compared driving tendencies between Minivan drivers and SUV drivers, because they basically are the same market segment, people needing room to haul kids, dogs and all the rest. Hands down the SUV drivers as a group displayed the classic symptoms of the aggressive driver many times over than the Minivan drivers, aggressive tailgating, frequent lane changes, stoplight to stoplight mentality. These are the same market segment, "family haulers", it's just the SUV driver wants to own the road rather than live with the rest of us.

Look at the Housewife-Hummer commercial, where her kid at the playground gets pushed aside in line so she goes out and buys a Hummer.

We travel to Mexico City a lot, the home of the traffic jam, it's different. Everyone there seems to know they have to cooperate with each other to keep things moving. Crazy crowded but I did not think it was nearly as aggressive as in the good ole USA.

 

And when was the last time you saw more than one person in that SUV that was cutting you off?

That's my biggest complaint. Justifies buying a Tahoe for the capacity and then the wife is the only one that drives it. We get along just fine with our wagon and small pickup thank you.

 

Too many opinions to address individually ............ but man are you guys generalizing.

Typical
On the whole
Any person who purchased an SUV could have easily taken the same approach. So sure yours is the right approach for everyone?
Rarely do they recognize
special operators license - I think that MINI owners could benefit more from this requirement. Or at least a physics class or two

Off to unsubscribe from this thread - don't need (or want) to know how many people dislike me merely because of my work/recreation vehicle. Extended family of 7, try and put that in a 4 door car and drive 1000 miles.

 

Source please?

 

This was a line from my senior project in undergrad in 1977 about our American transportation "system", "One person in One Car going One Place."

Did you know in post WWII USA that the auto industry actually lobbied major cities to rip up their trolley tracks and reduce their bus services, then in 1970 Congress allowed the railroad co.'s to abandon commuter train transportation and created the horrible Amtrak? Our only real transportation system besides the airlines is the single person automobile.

 

I absolutely agree with you. Around here, the typical large SUV driver is either a soccer mom with a Starbuck’s latte in one hand and a cell phone in the other who thinks that her car is large enough that she doesn’t have to pay attention to her driving, or the total meathead who tries to prove his dominance by intimidating others on the road. And as if they aren’t dangerous enough, the trend of either pimping them out with oversize wheels or raising them ten feet in the air make them absolute road hazards!

Another issue is the typical SUV driver's over inflated sence of importance. Regardless of a person’s ability to afford gas to put in these behemoths, they are 1) using a disproportionate amount of natural resources at the expense of others, and 2) causing a disproportionate amount of pollution – every gallon of gas burned creates a by-product which directly affects our environment. I’m not a confirmed tree-hugger but you would have to be an absolute moron to not recognize these issues when our streets are crowded with these 6-mile-a-gallon monstrosities.

 

We had a family of six with several kids pushing six foot by age 12. We lived 1500 miles from family.... Oddly enough tying the kids on the top didn't appeal to us...... With the SUV we could at least put them in it and have a little space to separate them after the 700 mile itches set in ("she's looking at me mom! make her stop!")