Sounds like a good idea. I'll pack tonight and sneak out while Hubby's at work.

Actually, I have done this in various parts of the country--met people in a car club. I belong to the Porsche 356 Registry, and there are folks all over the world. MOST of the time Hubby was with me, but not always. They're nice folks, too!

 

Excellent... can't think of a better time of the year for a visit out here. If you get lucky, the daffodil season and the cherry blossom season might coincide. It can be quite gorgeous.

Let us know if you want to visit and we'll make sure you're well taken care of. Hubby, too, if he can make it.

 

I downsized from a lifted '94 Jeep Cherokee to an '04 MCS for daily driving. The Jeep only gets used when I need the extra cargo/towing capacity, or when the road conditions are really bad. Not that the Mini can't handle it - I'm just more afraid of OTHER drivers when the roads are icy/snowy. My Cherokee is much easier to replace/fix - I simply wouldn't trust anyone in the state to touch my Mini!

Anyway, I've noticed that I get cut off a lot when I'm in the Mini, especially first thing in the morning. Doesn't matter if I've got my turn signal and/or lights on...it's like people just don't see the car! Definitely very infuriating!

I'm sure it doesn't help that I live in Kodiak, Alaska - a fishing community where the majority of people seem to drive fullsize 4x4s...like 4dr Superduty pickups and Tahoes/Suburbans.

Even more insulting is the fact that half of the people who have cut me off, looked right at me or my car! Ugh.

Just thought I'd vent... you guys definitely aren't the only ones suffering from this problem.

 

I've had that problem with every small car I've ever owned, starting in the early 70's with a SAAB Sonett. I think the problem is they don't believe the car is really moving that fast, or is that close. Lights help, but it's not the complete answer, as you've mentioned. Bright colors help--mine is really, really, red. Maybe we should petition MINI for a transformer--big on the freeways, and small in the twisties!

 

Picked up my son from school a couple of days ago. Enjoying hearing about his day, doing the mom thing. Suddenly a full-size sedan decides its time to make the dart across the 4 lane road we are on. She almost t-boned us. Thank God for the nimbleness of the Mini. I was able to swerve out of the way. It was so close that I had to pull over because I was shaking so hard. Made me very glad to driving the Mini and not the huge Suburban I used to drive. Had I done that swerve in my old lifted 4 x 4, we would have flipped over. I really think the car I was driving saved us.

Maybe karma really works. I try to be a nice driver and not get too upset at other drivers (I do use the word IDIOTIC when kid is in the car, I'm bit more colorful when alone).

My biggest pet peeve is when you do let someone cut in, etc... and they do not even aknowledge you with the "hey, thanks" wave.

 

I've been driving my Mini for 3.5 years now, and a Honda Del Sol for 10 years before that (it's even smaller than the Mini, vertically).

My theory for the ever-worsening driving habits of others is a combination of two things:

1) People are just getting more and more selfish and inconsiderate. For this I mostly blame parents who raise their children to believe they're the most important thing in the world and give them everything they want. Then many of them carry this attitude into adulthood.

2) Cell phones. a LARGE percentage of the times I almost get creamed on the highway, it's by a cellphole (my own sniglet - you figure it out).

If there was a device that would jam cellphone transmissions for a 1 mile radius around my car, I'd buy it in a heartbeat. My ultimate fantasy device would be a remote control that would not only end the phonecall I pointed it at, but cause the phone to emit an ear-splitting screech into the driver's ear.

Ah...I feel better.

 

*gasp*The dreaded "Always Superior Syndrome?"
Fabricate something like a roo-bar across the back, and get back to us.

 

I'd buy one in a HEARTBEAT.

 

It happens to me on the "Autobahn" very often, that people with "larger" cars think "that car is small, it's slow!!", so they drive like 5m behind me, trying to make me change to the left lane...'ya know what I do?? Use 3rd or 4th gear, push the pedal to the metal, and the problem's gone, including some strange looking driver with the "This can't be true"-looking in the car behind me...

 

Ditto. I've had many close calls with people who were too busy talking on their cell phones to notice the road around them.

 

Just leave out the ear splitting screech part. No doubt that would startle someone enough to cause any number of stupid gyrations or accidents on the road.

 

I swear they dont see me either.. and I'm bright PINK! geez. Non MINI drivers ... sheesh.


Scooter- One of our customers has a little jammer in his car, I'll have to ask him about it for you

 

Seriously? I'm extremely interested. Please PM me with any details!

 

Are you serious ? They make a cel phone jammer? tell me more....

 

It's certainly illegal to jam any public airwaves, but I'm still interested in buying one. If I ever got caught with it, when I got to court I'd claim it was self-defense against these morons who can't stay in their own lane while they yak.

 

Interested here too!

 

Same here. Very interested!

 

I am also intersted in this newfangled anti-cellphone device but only if the ear-splitting screech emitted into the offenders ear would be as loud as an airhorn (you know the kind you hear at a football game)

 

Type "cell phone jammer" into google...there are many options. None legal, but many options none the less.

I've considered getting one to end the check-out persons conversation, so I can go about my business in an orderly fashion

 

Hmm..after googling it as suggested, it seems that a small jammer will only jam a radius of 30 feet max.

This would probably make the situation worse rather than better. As the driver plays with his phone to figure out what's wrong (paying even LESS attention to the road), I'll be less than 30 feet away. Not good.

If they someday come up with a pocket jammer than can jam for a mile radius. I'm there.

 

Or just a directional amplified antennae. I'd aim it in front most of the time but still be able to zap the calls to my left and right.
The checkout lines on post have signs telling people to turn off their phones since it may interfere with their scanning equipment. I doubt a cellular singnal has any effect on a bar code scanner but what a great way to get people to hang up by telling them they could be overcharged because of it. Maybe we can spread a rumour that cell phones can cause police radars to read 20mph higher.

 

boy this post sure has grown ..
and the disrespect is happening country wide

 

I noticed the "no respect" issue the first day I drive the Mini to work. Mentioned it to my wife and she laughed...until she drove it and got cut off! So, when I feel down and need respect, I drive the truck. When I want to have fun, I drive the Mini!

 

Yeah, but ya see, you'll be the only one to know that the person is gonna eff up, and you can be ready to honk at him when he does! Just kidding. Kind of.

Zip

 

There should be just enough room behind the front fogs to fit those Stingers . . .