You are correct! The roads in Italy and Japan are pretty narrow, at least in Japan the big trucks have an interesting warning light system on their roofs. It is a toss up who had the worse drivers but I tend to think Italy after a trip to Naples....

 

Im from NJ and we constantly get disrespected on the road esp on the bigger highways ... only time people dont mess with us or are really feelin minis is when we are doing a rally or a couple of us are driving together. But thats because of the area of NJ i live in, not nice people.

 

Safety in numbers

 

Ha Ha hardly the worst car but I will admit it has many short comings get it short? I personally would put the Hillman Minx as a worser car. My point if I had much of one is we all pay a price for being different from the herd. FYI I am looking at a 2012 MCS dark blue with aero kit but I may not be worthy.

 

..lol, I agree...seems like many folks (not all) come across this way.

..down here in central TX there is an abundance of really large vehicles to watch out for....

pic taken a couple of years ago...outside the gym my wife & I used to go to:
(and all of this thing didn't even fit in the picture)

 

How rude that dude

 

lol, the angle of the pic (and size of truck) makes it look like it was up against our boot...but we could still open it

 

I've had my mini jcw since April or so. It's astro black, jcw aero kit, lowered and has various carbon fiber bits. I think it's pretty cool looking. I haven't had tons of comments but, the one's I had have been positive.

I've had a lot of cars. The worst one for negative comments was a speed yellow Porsche Cayman. That got a lot of negative comments, stares, etc. people seemed to make some very nasty assumptions about me since I owned a Porsche. Also, i think it stoked some people's jealousy enough to make them feel the need to say things. I did not enjoy the experience. The car was nice though.

 

There are occasionally some nice, friendly drivers who'll let you merge or even give you a wave, but I think the focus here are on the other type responses we get.

To me, it's very simple -- vehicles are extensions of ourselves, perhaps even our true selves because we are able to operate fairly anonymously. A docile soccer mom probably wouldn't cut you off in a supermarket line, but sitting in the driver's seat of a Minivan, late for work and without fearing a personal rebuttal, she'll cut you off in a heartbeat on the road and probably flip you the bird.

Mini's, to the rest of the world, look like fun cars, owned by silly people. Angry, busy, frustrated people (most drivers) resent someone having fun. Add to that the perception that a Mini is small, and so easy to bully.

I look at how dogs behave in a pack and think of my own. I have an Alpha-male Siberian Husky and a Chocolate Lab. Great dogs and they get along fine. The lab knows his place. When we're out running or playing, the Lab is all about having fun, fetching the ball. The Husky couldn't care less about a ball, BUT he absolutely does not like seeing the Lab having fun, so he does his best to interfere with the fetching and takes down the Lab all the way to and from the ball. I think these same primitive traits are evident on the highways.

 

This was taken a while ago. felt it was necessary to compare with the picture a few posts above. The Civic next to me is my girlfriend's so I intentionally parked very close to stay away from the monster truck

 

The coupe seems to attract a different kind of attitude. I've been a target for Japanese cars with ridiculously oversized aftermarket spoilers.

The best so far: when I parked wayyyyyy out in a grocery store parking lot, coming out to find that a Scion tc parked right on top of me, covered in racing brand stickers... with door-panel V-TEC stickers on both sides. Really, guy?

 

..yep, very true in many cases (I'm one of 'em)

the assortment of vanity license plates on a lot of MINIs likely playing right into those perceptions.

 

That is why I kept the plates assigned to the cars, even though they are different than average.

The first photo is kayak paddle, in case I get stuck up S*#@t Creek

 

Worthy only if you like fun cars