76 replies to this topic

[Carlzilla]

I find it is worse thinking about it than doing it. The thought of driving our 850, with drum brakes and no seatbelts terrifies me, I think for good sound reasons, but once we're on the motorway it is fine. I have to say I find lorry drivers, and most drivers very accommodating. We try to take her from Oxford to Durham (to visit her previous owners) once a year and do other motorway drives too. We try to keep up with the flow of the traffic, which we mostly do.

You dont have seatbelts installed?

I know for a fact id install some, if you dont make an error when driving, somebody next to you might, and having belts could well save your life.
If its for the sake of originality that you dont have belts, youre saft. (but im just assuming)
Me, along with most others on this forum would urge you to get seatbelts installed, weve already seen a few nasty accidents involving minis last year.

Edited by Carlzilla, 04 January 2011 - 04:06 PM.

[Beej123]

I find it is worse thinking about it than doing it. The thought of driving our 850, with drum brakes and no seatbelts terrifies me, I think for good sound reasons, but once we're on the motorway it is fine. I have to say I find lorry drivers, and most drivers very accommodating. We try to take her from Oxford to Durham (to visit her previous owners) once a year and do other motorway drives too. We try to keep up with the flow of the traffic, which we mostly do.

You dont have seatbelts installed?

I know for a fact id install some, if you dont make an error when driving, somebody next to you might, and having belts could well save your life.
If its for the sake of originality that you dont have belts, youre saft. (but im just assuming)

If there are no seatbelts installed in the back then you don't have to put them in but im pretty sure you HAVE to have seatbelts in the front whether you like it or not

[minim@t]

being your typical white van man bullying other motorists can be very amusing/entertaining, especially when its some moron in an Audi on his laptop, texting on his phone whist in the fast lane, (true story)
lorry driver too also enjoy making other road users life awkward,
best tip I can give for driving a Mini on the motorway would be stick with the lorries, most have to drive a 57 any,

also put your head lights on,

also make sure your wheel nuts arnt loose, mine were, realized just in time before the wheel came off

[RobFox]

Just go out and do it I say. The more you wait and think about it the more anxious you are going to get and or be when it comes to driving on one.

Find stretch of moterway which isn't too long and that you can turn off at the next junction and still get home without having to think where you are. This will stop you from being worried about getting lost.

As said above just keep your whits about you. For the first time I would reccomend turning off the radio etc and just be aware of your surrounding. Just keep on the inside lane and plod along at whatever is comfertable ( I did 50-60 the first time ).

Once you have got off the moterway just take some time to relax and then if you are feeling brave drive back on there again

[Carlos W]

As you're asking the question you obviously have common sense, that's a great start!

I thought I was the best driver in the world when I passed! (11 years on I realise I wasn't then and I'm still not now)

Just remember, stopping distances, and keep an eye on guages!

Prepare the car by checking tyre pressures, fluid levels.

Good luck

[minim@t]

I find it is worse thinking about it than doing it. The thought of driving our 850, with drum brakes and no seatbelts terrifies me, I think for good sound reasons, but once we're on the motorway it is fine. I have to say I find lorry drivers, and most drivers very accommodating. We try to take her from Oxford to Durham (to visit her previous owners) once a year and do other motorway drives too. We try to keep up with the flow of the traffic, which we mostly do.

You dont have seatbelts installed?

I know for a fact id install some, if you dont make an error when driving, somebody next to you might, and having belts could well save your life.
If its for the sake of originality that you dont have belts, youre saft. (but im just assuming)

If there are no seatbelts installed in the back then you don't have to put them in but im pretty sure you HAVE to have seatbelts in the front whether you like it or not

depends on the year of the car, if fitted as standard then it has to carry belts,
on the original recipt for my 69 mini it states fitting seatbelts at extra cost,

[benb12]

Motorways are easy enough. I make sure I don't hang around alongside lorries, particularly alongside the cab as they really can't see a little min alongside them. Look far ahead and look over your shoulder when changing lane. I had a close call last week coming back from Minispares in the dark. I came up to a slow moving car, checked my mirror and indicated to pull out. Then a rover that was behind me started indicating too and pulled out. I looked over my shoulder to see what he was doing but of course the poxy estate windows had misted up! Checked my mirror and I thought he had moved over to the next lane so I could pull out, so I did... only to find he was still alongside me! Luckily I noticed in time but it taught me to not trust the mirror too much.

[Pooky]

One tip I learnt while on an IAM course:

Look out for foreign, left hand drive lorries. These foreign HGVs have a blind spot on the right hand side, reducing their ability to see smaller cars. This in turn means that they have difficulty moving lanes to overtake. Because they're sat the other side of the cabin they have a mirror above their right hand door facing down to help with this blind spot. If you are overtaking a lorry look out for this mirror and it should serve as warning that the driver may have difficulty seeing you.

The IAM instructor that told me about all this just said to get past these lorries as quickly as is safely possible, you don't want to be sitting in this blind spot for longer than necessary (he said even the police wouldn't punish you for breaking the limit past these lorries, his words not mine).

Hope this helps

[Tanya]

I find it is worse thinking about it than doing it. The thought of driving our 850, with drum brakes and no seatbelts terrifies me, I think for good sound reasons, but once we're on the motorway it is fine. I have to say I find lorry drivers, and most drivers very accommodating. We try to take her from Oxford to Durham (to visit her previous owners) once a year and do other motorway drives too. We try to keep up with the flow of the traffic, which we mostly do.

You dont have seatbelts installed?

I know for a fact id install some, if you dont make an error when driving, somebody next to you might, and having belts could well save your life.
If its for the sake of originality that you dont have belts, youre saft. (but im just assuming)

If there are no seatbelts installed in the back then you don't have to put them in but im pretty sure you HAVE to have seatbelts in the front whether you like it or not

depends on the year of the car, if fitted as standard then it has to carry belts,
on the original recipt for my 69 mini it states fitting seatbelts at extra cost,

She is a 1960 and almost standard, well most people would consider her standard. We did think long and hard about the seatbelts and decided not to go with them. Most people do consider us 'daft' at best, which is fine, but we are happy with the decision. Unless you are detained under the Mental Health Act or are deemed to lack capacity, you are free to make 'unwise choices'. I have never and do not smoke (I don't have a problem with those who do so long as they accept the risks) and I feel that is probably a greater risk to me than not having seatbelts fitted for the limited journeys I do in her.

Anyway, back to the point. Although motorway driving lessons are valuable, I would urge people to take advanced driving courses on a regular basis. I did my IAM test quite quickly after passing my driving test, then did the RoSPA advanced driving tests. I haven't refreshed for a while, but need to and so you learn so much. I found it really helped me with defensive driving and my hazard perception and these skills are useful on motorways. The courses and lessons are fun too.

[1984mini25]

I’ve always treated motorways as dual carriageways; you’ll very rarely if at all venture out into the outside/fast lane.

The only thing that gets me is I find driving as a steady speed for long periods of time can become quite boring.

Just make sure the car is in good health to start with and if it’s a long trip stop off at the services, just to stretch your legs.

being your typical white van man bullying other motorists can be very amusing/entertaining, especially when its some moron in an Audi on his laptop, texting on his phone whist in the fast lane, (true story)
lorry driver too also enjoy making other road users life awkward,

As for being tailgated by the annoying lorries, on a past trip back from Yorkshire to MK. As I can get bored quite easily on motorways is if there’s a lorry tailgating me, I tend to ease off to about 50ish let it overtake along with any others that are behind that one, then when the last one has pulled back in I pullout and over take the lot in one go and pull back in front.

Middle lane hoggers on a quiet motorway are always another favourite of mine, even better if in a group of minis.
By pulling up behind them in the middle lane and then pulling out and overtaking in the outside/fast lane and pulling back in to the slow lane and letting them overtake you. Effetely circling them and then keep doing it until they finally realise there is no need for them to be in the middle lane.

[maggies_minder]

i was on the motorway yesterday, drove about 120+ miles in the mini in total. it was my first really journey not in a mini convoy.

it coped briliantly, i was a little apprehensive as the day before the car had a random flat battery.

i was in the outside lane over taking middle lane hogs, with no issues what so ever.
it was easily sitting at 70 and giving a little more when needed, this is true dispite the long running popular thread of the moment on here.
i could see the faces of people i was passing and there was some genuine shock.

id suggest you make sure you've got plenty of petrol, you'll be suprised how quick it goes down at high constant speeds.
make sure your water and oil levels are ok and your tires are pumped up.

the noise wasnt too bad, getting up to speed is the noisey bit, but once your sitting at a constant speed the noise is easily bareable so long as is accompanied by some music.

ill be going back on the motorway in mine without any worry next time.

best of luck

[1984mini25]

i could see the faces of people i was passing and there was some genuine shock.

You do get the, “what the ******* is that old, slow piece of crap doing overtaking” occasionally. But it’s simples; if you don’t like being overtaken, try pushing that pedal on the right.

[ap0llo_*]

the first day of buying my Mini I had to drive it back from Plymouth to Taunton and had to go on the motorway. I've had some pretty fast cars before and usually do just over 70, however in the Mini I was a little nervous at first and sat comfortable at 3000rpm or 56mph all the way back, peak mpg speed. Mines a 1275 injected cooper, but its suprisingly good on the motorway, has enough power to overtake and is fairly good on the fuel.

[Cooperman]

I drove on the M1 the day it opened in November 1959, 3 months after the Mini was first on sale, but not, I add, in a Mini.
I don't hesitate to drive my Rally Cooper 'S' on Motorways even though it is so low geared that 4100 rpm in top is just 60 mph. I usually cruise at about 4500 which is about 63 mph. It's no problem and easier than driving a loaded Transit, for example, and it's quicker than an HGV. Even an 850 will cruise at about 65 with no problem.

[TfcIan]

after all there isnt a minimum speed limit

It's 30 if I remember correctly from my theory test, though I've never seen anyone doing less than 40 on an open motorway.

Like everyone says, don't worry. The worst that will happen is you'll annoy a few people you'll never see again.

When did you take your theory? I did mine in the summer and don't remember reading anything on minimum speeds on the motorway. Although if there isn't, there should be with the exception of being stuck in congestion.

The motorways around my area are quite easy, the m42 is just an unrestricted dual carriageway but a bit more traffic and I spend most my time on dual carriageways so there is no difference there. When I get onto the m6 around Birmingham, it changes to a 3 lane motorway (there's actually a bit before that with 5 or 6 lanes which is a bit daunting, particularly as I have to move across 2 or 3 lanes for the sliproad off...). It's not much different and the only advice I can give over a dual carriageway is to be careful when moving into the centre lane to be aware of traffic in the other lane which may want to join the same lane at the same time. I tend to sit in the centre lane anyway so this isn't too much of a problem.