>>I'm usually the one pulling in front and cutting people off. I especially target SUVs because SUV drivers usually think they own the road, but they get real nervous in their "big rigs" while trying to drive, drink coffee and talk on the cell phone at the same time.
>>You gotta show 'em who's boss!
>>

Why not just show them respect? That's someone's momma driving the SUV. Do you want her to spill her coffee on her lap, get into an accident and leave a pack of orphans behind just so you can show her who's boss?

 

>>Funny, but my experience in the MINI is the complete opposite.
>>
>>People are much friendlier, let me pull out in traffic, wave me to go ahead.....ALL THE TIME!!
>>
>>Maybe it's because my Silk Green is just a pretty little non-threatening vehicle. HARMINI plates don't hurt either.
>>
>>There have only been 2 rude drivers I can think of. Everyone else has been sweet as pie.
>>
>>I also think that it's a bit of you-get-what-you-give. I try to be curteous and thoughtful when it comes to other drivers. We all share the road and if I can help to make things flow a little smoother out there, then I have done my part.
>>
>>Cheers,
>>Kim

Sometimes what you see, is what you're looking for. Having said that, there are a lot of rude drivers out there, and some of them may also be IQ challenged, but we can't 'cure' them. Just have fun, watch your tail, and try not to lose your cool (not always easy).

 

Most everyone around the great "non-prejudice-about-anything-state of Tennessee" (sarcasm) likes the MINI unless they are ricers, huge SUV drivers or the ridiculously jacked up trucks (I think 5 foot lifts are standard issue in TN). But, when it comes to some cars/big trucks i don't drive around them, I motor, leaving them in a stupor (I think that is a word). Oh, and I always watch out for the minivan moms going a controlled 90MPH in a 45 while trying to lace up their kid's soccer cleats, put a straw in a juice box, and rewind the spongebob DVD.

 

>>I also think that it's a bit of you-get-what-you-give. I try to be curteous and thoughtful when it comes to other drivers. We all share the road and if I can help to make things flow a little smoother out there, then I have done my part.
>>

Harmini/Kim, I like your attitude! I don't have my Mini yet, so I'm hoping all will be well or I'll just drive it like a motorcycle and get around the jerks. I have noticed that I get around more bad drivers on my bad days. I study philosophies that point out how powerful the attraction between like and like, and the power of our perception. We subjectively create so much of our reality, it's up to us to create a joyful one!

But for those days when I really really really want to flame someone, here's the automobile weapon I wish I had - FLAME THROWERS! They really exist - as a deterrent to car jackers. Check out this page - there's a video even.

Flame Throwers for Cars

 

>>Sorry to disagree but I don't think the MINI brings out the worse in people I think you just notice it more. I travel a lot for my job and drive about 40k a year in either my dodge dakota 4 door or varius rental cars.
>>
>>Stupid drivers are in all class of cars, all age groups and genders. It does not matter what you are driving you will be cut off, merged into, have people speed up pass you and then slow down to turn, you name it will happen.
>>
>>I think I just notice it more in my MINI because its my baby, when I am in the truck I think I take it more in stride because I don't have an emotional attachment to it.

I would agree. When you have a new car you care about and people drive like they always do- not so great, then you do notice how bad things can be. So to protect your MINI you may need to drive defensively and assume that the other folks have no idea what they are doing and that they don't SEE you. An accident avoided is always the best option in my book. Be safe and courtious like those drivers I saw in Scotland.

 

I recently went home to visit family in Pittsburgh. This unfortuately involves driving on the PA Turnpike. Truckers think the MINI is a soccer ball...to be batted from one truck fender to another. I had a semi, fully loaded, screaming down a mountain-side, to rest 6 inches from my rear bumper. I sped up to elude this troglodyte....and so did he. Here's a fool, driving a flatbed, loaded with tons of steel rebar, goin' 80mph, just to harrass me. He then gets on his CB, to let his equally troglodyte buddies know that I'm coming. They tried to box me in. Mind you, this is on very twisty roads, and going mostly downhill at highway speeds...so I'm praying like mad that their brakes work. I finally lose the wolf pack on the last climb into the last tunnel before Pgh. I was so rattled that I was shaking, and had to pull over for like 20 minutes at a rest stop. They were all independent truckers, so I couldn't call a parent company to ream them a new one, and I was so busy trying to stay alive, I didn't get a chance to write down their plate nos.
Geeeeze louise...never mind SUVs....watchout for semis!!!!

 

>>>>I'm usually the one pulling in front and cutting people off. I especially target SUVs because SUV drivers usually think they own the road, but they get real nervous in their "big rigs" while trying to drive, drink coffee and talk on the cell phone at the same time.
>>>>You gotta show 'em who's boss!
>>>>
>>
>>Why not just show them respect? That's someone's momma driving the SUV. Do you want her to spill her coffee on her lap, get into an accident and leave a pack of orphans behind just so you can show her who's boss?

Of course I would not want to leave a pack of orphans. Gotta use common sense around kids. But really though... If she's driving a poor-handling, long-stopping SUV and drinking coffee at the same time, SHE's the one who has no concern for her kids.

 

>>After about a month of ownership and almost 2,000 miles, my only complaint is the lack of respect the MINI gets where it comes to drivers pulling out in front of you, cutting you off, etc, etc.
>>
>>Today, my wife and I were going to stop at Target which requires a left-hand turn off of the street. For people coming out of the same entrance and attempting to make a left-hand turn, it can terriby difficult to get out of the parking lot.
>>
>>I was about the third car in line to turn left and I can only guess that the driver in his Ford pick-um-up-truck was tired of waiting because as traffic cleared, he decided to pull out.
>>
>>Mini-be-nimble-Mini-be-quick, Mini-turned-around-the-Ford-pickup-*****.
>>
>>Guess I could have taken the high road and given way to him but dammit, guess I'm tired of giving way to larger vehicles. If he had kept coming, as my wife always pointed out, the accident would have been his fault but I would be with a damanged Mini. She hates it when I do that and I know she's right....be safe out there!

Up here in New England, people actually think they have the right-of-way when making a left turn out of the parking lot and that drivers turning left off of a public road are supposed to let the people pulling out turn IN FRONT of them. It goes beyond a disregard for the law. They've been doing it wrong for so long, they actually think that you are supposed to do it the wrong way and if asked will tell you that's how they learned it in driving school.

I no longer let SUVs, vans, or minivans in front of me because a) they block my view which endangers me and b) neither are roadworthy vehicles and thus present a danger to me and other drivers in general by their mere presence on the road. SUVs are fine for 4-wheeling in swamps but should not be allowed on public streets.

 

<<Sometimes I can see them waving their little cell phones at me in anger. >>

Hehehe, that's hilarious.

Yes, its true that dangerous, rude and stupid drivers can be found in ANY vehicle, however I feel that the problem is compounded 10 times when you get this type of driver behind the wheel of a monster truck or SUV where they can't even SEE what's in their surroundings. Why would one want to drive a car so large with such an obstructed view that many, many people have actually RUN OVER THEIR OWN KIDS backing out of the driveway?? It happens! Wouldn't you think that America would wise up and realize that these cars are killers? Not only that but they put many other drivers on the road in danger- an expedition in a head-on with a MINI = complete carnage.

Then you get the SUV moms with their cell phones and Starbucks and TVs on and kids screaming etc... I mean come ON. When behind someone like this, I can't see what's in front of me. And momma can't see what's behind or to the side of her because she's a little lady sittin up way too high in this huge car! DANGER DANGER!