cannot wait for that one!

 

My mom used to drive a vette. Every vette we passed did the secret wave. Are you ready??? Here it is...

While keeping your hand on the steering wheel, lift 4 fingers (no thumb, one hand only).

 

OK - I've been a MINI owner since August 2003 and I remember the "good 'ol days" when we all waved, blipped, beeped or flashed each other whenever we saw one another out on the road. In the last year or so, I've noticed that doesn't seem to be happening any longer... Why Not?

Have we dilluted the MINI owner's gene pool so sufficiently and completely to have just become yet another car owner's group? ..What happened?! We were all tight!!

This morning for example, I merged onto a major interstate on my way to work and HOLY SMOKE, I merged right in between a chilli red S w/bonnet stripes and a silver S with Black roof. I honked, I waved, I crained my neck around to try to get some kind of response... nuthin. Both people just looked at me like I had three heads and a bad case of foot fungus.

- - m

 

Hey! Im sorry to hear that! I wish I coulda been in the sexy MINI sandwich! Too bad about the other drivers! I dont even have a MINI yet and I have beeped and waved to MINIs but they just look at me like I have 3 heads too! Im thinking about making a sign saying "IM NOT CRAZY IM GETTING ONE SOON!" Oh well what can you do? I'll keep beeping and waving, eventually I'll find someone who waves back!

 

It's about 50/50 here for those who wave and those who don't in Austin, Texas. I always wave no matter what.

 

I’ve been waving, flashing for almost 4 years now and always will. Sometimes people are distracted and may not see you and some people just don’t care. But there are us who will always give a wave if we see another MINI.

 

I still wave Every now and then I miss someone waving or flashing me, and I feel bad, they must think I'm rude. Always going the opposite direction though. I won't stop flashing or waving............. Some just don't get it .

If I see you I'll wave, I promise . ............ Um, your kinda far away from here..... This will have to do for now..............

Nik

 

I wave, but most of my commute is on a highway so I may not see if you wave back or miss you if you are on the other side. I stalk MINIs going the same direction.

 

Yeah!! Make that sign!! ...The world needs more people like YOU!!

 

We actually have one that lives down the street from us and she is oblivious to us .

I was waving at one in my Kia the other day, kinda glad i didnt honk then i would of gotten the three head look.

 

I don't wave because of fear of being rejected and not wave back. There's just so many of them. Honestly, I only wave to MCS or a MC if its modded in anyway. Say vanity plate, or different antenna, or just something different than the usuall MC. I would then wave.

 

This has been discussed before. There are 2 kinds of MINI drivers: wavers and non-wavers. I think the "non-waver" category is even larger here in CA, where people are more likely to make spur-of-the-moment car purchases just because something looks cute, or they saw someone else with one, and have no clue whatsoever about the history of the Mini or the MINI lifestyle and community.

There are still LOTS of wavers, and sometimes I think I encounter a non-waver and win them over when I pull in right behind them and smile and wave until they finally see me in their rear-view and wave back. Don't give up. Some days it's a 1:3 ratio of wavers to non-wavers (or worse), but as for me personally, I promise...

 

WHen the wife steals the MINI, I tend to for get that I am not in the MINI and wave. So if you see a big black SUV with MOVE OVER writen backwards on the windshield wave back.

 

Thanks, Nic!! - Yeah, seems like most of you good people who still acknowledge a fellow MINI owner's presence are in California!... New Jersey seems to be getting populated with "Johnny-come-lately's" who weren't 'brought up right' I guess and just jumped on the MINI bandwagon!

I mean, it used to mean something when you bought a MINI... It was a thumb of the proverbial nose to SUVs!!... It was a blow of the 'ol raspberry to low fuel effeciancy!!...it was a virtual 'dis to poorly-handling, badly-made GM crap!!!

I hope this is just a local phemon (it IS New Jersey afterall!!) and NOT a nation-wide epidemic.

- - m

 

Back in 88 I owned a Suzuki Samuri (my friends called it a "flip-it"), when Samuri owners would encounter each other the beep and wave would happen. After a couple of years the interaction disipated: became about a 50/50 response.

More recently I've owned a Jeep Wrangler and about 33% of Jeep owners have waved at me... and the Jeep, as a vehicle, has been around for decades.

The Mini, as great as we all think it is, is still "just a car" to "some" people.

Some of us, people that belong to this forum (and others), will probably always wave. Others, sadly, never will. IMHO

 

There's no doubt that the increased sales of 05 and 06 MINIs seems to have introduced many more "non-wavers." Here in Albuquerque there are very few who even see me, let alone acknowledge my headlight flash and wave. I am getting tired of it, but will continue to do it, conditions permitting, as I feel it's part of MINI motoring etiquette. I was talking to the local dealer, who's been selling MINIs in Albquerque for nearly 2 years. He's sold over 500, with only 5% going out of state. There's probably at least double that around from previous years and those brought in from out of state. With all those MINIs you'd think there'd be a few friendly people, but I know most of them as fellow members of the NM Mini Motoring club.

cheers,
phil

 

can I ask if these people were woman or not? I only say this because this happened to me the other day..and both were older woman...I'm thinking they might not get it like some of us - the ones that bought the car because they think it was so cute are mostly the ones who just don't get it

 

I usually wave, but sometimes I don't see other MINIs until I'm already passed. I always feel weird when I wave and the other person does not wave back - I think maybe they think I'm trying to hit on them or something...

When my BF had his Corvette I drove it a lot and I remember lots of people waving - I thought they were trying to hit on me. Then I noticed when my BF was driving it he'd get waved at too....

 

YES! (End of thread . . . or at least it should be!)

 

Owner since July 03 - I agree there's a noticable reduction in wavers. I'm at 78K miles and about 75K of them are highway miles. By far, most of the non-wavers I encounter are women on the highway. Don't know why.

 

Yeah waving in Los Angeles is met mostly by foolishness these days.
Sometimes it's funny when you do encounter a waver and we both stare at each other as we pass, looking for who's going to wave first! Yesterday I came face to face with a MINI, she was on the phone, I gave her a small wave, and surprisingly she waved back. It's rare, very rare.

On the other hand, I have also been met with really cute new owners on the freeway screaming at me that they just got their MINI and love it--something that can be done on our packed freeways. LOL

 

Hmmmm... That's interesting.... Selective waving based on a car's pedigree.

- - m

 

Wow - I guess that kinda makes you the MINI anti-christ then?!

 

...or more simply, they just plain didn't read the owner's manual.... Mick

 

One was a man - aged mid-thirties... The other was a woman - aged somewhere in the mid- to late-twenties. Mr. Man had bluetooth-thingy in ear, but did look at me while I waved. That's kinda when I got the 'foot fungus' look.

- - m