Glad ur ok, damn deer.
crazy pic.

 

WOW!! So glad you walked away!! That would be my first instinct too, to swerve to avoid hitting the deer.

 

You should have hit the deer. After all it's not a moose, and the chances of it coming through the windshield are really small.

Ever hit a deer with a motorcycle? They (the deer) aren't that tough... You can cut them right in half and still walk away... Way better to hit the critter rather than a tree...

 

Wow!
I'm sorry your Mini got totaled, but I'm glad you're able to post about it.
A deer jumped the center divider today on I-395 in Ct. right in front of me.
Luckily I just had to wait it out.

 

Thanks all, avoiding the deer wasnt a financial or insurance issue. I have told passengers in the past to wear your seat belt in my car because I would do what ever I had to in order to avoid an animal. I'm more than fine with decision, all be it a quick one! Hips from seat belt and tail bone (not sure why) are pretty sore. The headlights travleled about 20ft into the woods (should have kept em for Craigslist, super expensive!)

I did a lot of research and put a deposit on a loaded Kia Optima SX (turbo). exact same car as this Amazed how much power it has from a 4 cyl, 274HP (34mpg hiway to boot) with paddle shifter and super comfortable. Gfriend has 2 kids and a pig of a Hummer H3 so when we go out its always the pig cuz Mini too small. Optima is really big inside so when we head to mountains will use half the fuel.

Oh and inside of car was without a blemish - doors opened and all. this was with cruise control set at 35 and no brakes!
Cheers to you all
Chris

 

Damn. Glad ur alright. i wouldve hit that F**kin deer tho . DIBS ON THE RIMS!

 

Should have hit the deer....no question about it......

 

Good to see your morals didn't change in a time of hardship.

that being said, I'd have hit the deer and then punched it in the face if it hadn't ran off yet.

 

Glad that you're ok. I'm sorry for the accident, but glad some good will come of it. Hopefully you enjoy the new car just as much as the MINI.

 

Damn deer killed a longtime family friend on a Goldwing this spring. You should have hit the deer. Next time that deer crosses the road it may be in front of a motorcycle and that just aint good.

 

Boy is that a poor choice... You hit a tree at 35 mph... Good thing it was head on. Try saying hello to a tree sideways...

Hit the freaking animal It's comprehensive and doesn't hurt your record. (unless it's a human....) If you hit the tree, it's a collision, and it does count against you.

 

Very true. It's considered an "act of God" (yes it's actually an insurance term) and won't hurt you. I hit a deer about 10 years back in an Inifniti J30. The deer did over $6,000 of damage to the car. It's a wonder they didn't just total it.

But as for hitting the animal, the idea is also to not slam on the brakes, just hit said creature since the nose-diving action of hitting the brakes will lift the animal up onto the hood and through the windshield.

 

The problem with hitting a dear is as has been mentioned more than once, they can come through the windshield.

Some of you may have witnessed dear that have been hit that don't die just straight away, they freak out from the shock and run off or lash out violently.

I was in Missouri where I grew up and came up on an accident scene with my Dad on a weekend night where the dear went into the windshield and then kicked the driver to death - made pulp of the guys head!

 

I've heard that there are more white tail deer in the U.S. now than there were when the Pilgrims arrived (due to the demise of their natural predators). I'm no hunter but I'm glad the hunters are out there thinning the herd. I'd rather see Bambi on some hunter's table than on my hood.

 

This is the most compelling reason for hunting, and one of the reasons I hunt. As it becomes more and more difficult to hunt in this country (diminishing huntable land) and fewer and fewer hunters (more wimps? some misguided "moral" argument? I dunno) we will really start having issues.

Deer without predators are deer that starve to death.

 

Glad all is well. Buddy of mine hit a deer in his VW Touareg, its a big car and it did around 9k in damages. Was in the shop for around 3 months.

 

looks worse without the tree.. inside only the secret compartment above glove box wouldn't open.





and again as far as the deer goes, we all have personal decisions to make and I'm more than comfortable with mine. Not to get too personal here with you all but I'm the guy that picks up an injured hawk on hiway to drive 90 miles to vet college/hospital, make donation and returned to get him 6 months later to let go where I found. Never drive by a stray dog and yes, just spent 10K on surgery/chemo on my 13 y/o cat. I don't really care to read "you're crazy" comments, I'm 45 y/old and not looking for advice on becoming your kind of man.. just hope if your dog ever gets loose in the road and its me, not someone more concerned about a car or its deductible that comes across him 1st! (remember I'd pick him up and find his home!)
not preaching, I did ask not to hear comments about the deer in beginning!



Cheers all, happy motoring & drive safe

 

I do have 4 almost new studded/mounted snows in basement that will be posted 4 sale

 

Glad your ok and i agree with you that life is life in which ever shape or form. Glad you came out with no serious injury


Heal up well!



PS: I was the Indy 500 this past wknd and coming back through the mountains of WV/Ohio all i was seeing on the road was splatter marks of road kill which had me terrified at 12:xx am

 

The end result is no major injuries. By the time you read the first two words in the first sentence the decision and outcome would have been decided.

Love the Hawk pic.

 

Glad you are ok!

 

Always teach my family to hit the brakes when faced with an animal - swerving into a tree or on-coming traffic or a ditch is plain stupid. Human life is a bit more important to most of us. Animals are unpredicatable and could just as easily jumped in front of the crash and been pinned between the MINI and the tree.



A MINI stops on half a dime with 4 wheel disc ABS .......at 35mph you could have avoided both the deer and the tree. Guess you don't love trees too, since you didn't brake for the tree either!

Then turning around and buying a Kia......

 

and it's always better to hit a animate object especially a deer than an inanimate one ( a tree no less) Look at it this way, we have an over population of deer and it would have been food for some poor family. I do remember that if you hit a deer and kill it, you are required to fill out a deer kill report with state troopers. If it is cold enough and it was a recent kill they put out a call to someone to pick it up. enough said on this topic Great choice of new car. I wanted one of those too but the seats didn't work on my back and there are no good Kia dealers near me. I was t-boned last year and my back needs seats like those of the MINI I am just waiting to place my order. BTW I need to find those headlights. Will make the trek up to NH next year after my MINI is built.

 

Glad to see your ok...

Enjoy the KIA....

 

And yet another former Mini owner yields to the age old "buy a bigger back seat" mantra. My advice is to get another Mini and continue to take the GF's H3, and chip in for gas. After all, you don't have 2 kids now do you, you bought the Mini knowing full well the backseat was small. (NOOOOOOOOOOOOO......NOT A KIA!)