107 replies to this topic

[1330RG]

I always had the same issue in my mini's. Especially people who pull out on the roundabouts! And had the same issue with my starlets but it was worse by far in the mini's. Now i have the Aristo (same as a lexus gs300 but with a supra engine) no one dares to challenge it on a road to be honest as its an absolute battleship of a car!

The frustrating thing is that classic mini's are far quicker than around 90% of cars on the road out of a junction.

[jamesmpi]

Ranger rovers and other large 4x4s that have large powerful engines annoy me. They sit 2 inches off your bumper trying to push you out the way and then look down like they own the road or something...planks the lot of them 😁

[cal844]

The frustrating thing is that classic mini's are far quicker than around 90% of cars on the road out of a junction.

Damn right

[Carlos W]

I've never driven a mini

 

However, driving standards in general seem to be getting worse.

 

Dropping the Mazda into 4th and giving it LOADS of right foot tends to release a cloud of smoke which means the car behind backs off a bit.

[blackbelt1990]

No one ever cuts you up when your car has faux bullet holes! Lol

Had my daily like this for a few days whilst fitting a snorkel.

[surfblue]

Ranger rovers and other large 4x4s that have large powerful engines annoy me. They sit 2 inches off your bumper trying to push you out the way and then look down like they own the road or something...planks the lot of them

When Im driving the mini I find that most people are courteous and happy to see a mini.

When I'm driving my Discovery I dont care, just bully em out of the way 

[Tommyboy12]

I have an issue with 4x4s not mounting the verge on narrow lanes and forcing you to even though your car is not an offroader! Bloody Chelsea tractors and their 'posh' owners have a total lack of respect to other road users. One old woman in her Defender even flicked the Vs at me because I stopped my Mini on the tarmac (jutted up to the verge) and she had to go on the verge!

Edited by Tommyboy12, 14 September 2014 - 09:13 AM.

[mab01uk]

Because of the way cars have grown in size and are marketed now I also think that many modern drivers increasingly unfamiliar with the classic Mini just see it as a very small old car driven by youngsters on a shoestring or as a 'girls' car and so treat them with no respect.......rather like Richard Hammond reported below when driving his wifes Fiat 500C.

 

Hammond on men in Fiat 500s

"Having borrowed my wife’s Fiat 500C for a recent shopping expedition into Cheltenham with my two daughters, I drove straight into a non-stop onslaught of bullying and harassment by other drivers. People hassled me from the rear, barged past my little white Fiat, brake-tested me and generally made me feel like a bullied kid in a playground.

On getting home, I asked my wife if she too was regularly bullied and hounded about the place in her Fiat. Nope, not a bit of it. Turns out that Mindy wafts about in the little Fiat in a serene bubble of happiness, causing not the slightest of ripples on the motoring pond. “But you’re always telling me how a lorry driver nearly ran you off the road or a man in a van cut you up.” Ah yes, but that’s only in the Range Rover. Never, it turned out, when she was in the Fiat.

Running back through the morning, I searched for a clue. The assailants were all men. And they were all men of a particular type: large-ish, balding-ish, sweaty-ish – very male, if you see what I mean. They drove vans, or BMWs or Mercedes or Astra vans or practical Peugeots. I was another man, but I was in a small, white Fiat with a soft-top roof. And two small girls in it. And then I ran through other times when I’ve driven the exact same route into Cheltenham with no such unwelcome attention coming my way. I’ve always been in the Range Rover or any other big, sporty or aggressive car. This was the answer, then; drivers were responding to the whole picture. A man in what they see as a man’s car: fine. A woman in what they see as a woman’s car: cool. But see a man in a girl’s car and lights go off in their heads, and they leap into action like confused guard dogs. See a woman in what they, in their reptilian way, regard as a man’s car, and their tiny minds order them to pounce, because they don’t understand."

http://www.topgear.c...rage-09-20-2011

Edited by mab01uk, 14 September 2014 - 11:51 AM.

[scrumpix]

Just come home from a 2000 mile road trip through France Switzerland & Italy with 8 other minis. On the whole found most european drivers quite curtious probably because we drove in convoy, even in Turin !

[jt19]

I find they give me respect in my clubby.
I even had a bmw pull over to wave me past round the lanes!
Had bus drivers checking traffic for me as I pulled out of a dodgy junction!
Maybe the clubman looks more aggressive than the round nose minis?

[Dusky]

We have a 67 mustang in the garage (my dad's) and the differance is huge. In the mustang everybody stops and waits, with my mini I experience people riding in the middle of the road soms I cant overtake them... Absolutely 0 respect.

[Gerbil367]

My daily is a beemer and I try to drive that and my Mini with courtesy, but I do get the feeling that people generally just have less manners, patience etc for any other car or driver these days. 

 

The amount of times that I go to overtake somone and then, even tho they have been driving miss daisy for miles decide to put their foot down so you cant pass safely.  That or when passing you look in your rear view and find that someone else has decided to almost join themselves to your bumper and you get the finger from both of them!  Had a few people seem to 'aim' their cars at me when Im going round roundabouts, it seems they forget what the Give Way sign and lines are for! 

[paulsmithlookerafterer]

I maybe getting older or grumpier or both, but I'm quite sure the standard of driving these days is getting worse. Too many driver aids, mobile phones  etc.. possibly. but its definately a distinct lack of awareness or attention. This seems to frustrate me most when it affects rights of way. E.g. A car in front is turning right into side road, they will let car in the side road come out before turning in themselves. A kind gesture perhaps, except that they've just halted the flow of traffic behind them, which could otherwise have continued on if you'd have just turned in. I'm not adverse to handing over a right of way, but don't make the decision for everybody else too. End of rant.

[lordyoung1980]

I used to notice this in Leicester back in 2003/4. My ex went to uni there and I would sometimes go in either my land rover 90, a real off road tool. Bull bars spotlight etc and a beefy sounding exhaust. And then there was my Mini Cooper, immaculate and well looked after. I had some shocking moments when driving the mini. People would shove their way in to traffic Qs,something they would never do when I was in the landie,but then I did have a sticker on the front that said "prepare to meet your airbag". I have to admit its one aspect of driving a mini again that I'm not looking forward to.

[cal844]

I have an issue with 4x4s not mounting the verge on narrow lanes and forcing you to even though your car is not an offroader! Bloody Chelsea tractors and their 'posh' owners have a total lack of respect to other road users. One old woman in her Defender even flicked the Vs at me because I stopped my Mini on the tarmac (jutted up to the verge) and she had to go on the verge!

Id get out the car and give them abuse!

Edited by cal844, 15 September 2014 - 02:07 PM.