In the 'No, I'm not making this up'--a thread about no one waving--in a MINI forum

[paredown]

This cracked me up-it's been too early for the annual Paceline equivalent.

Happy Easter, all:

Sorry if this is in the wrong place, but I have been pretty upset about the lack of enthusiasm from fellow MINI owners. When I first had the MINI back in '03, everyone waved back at me and there were a couple people that actually followed me to talk about the cars....so maybe there aren't as many enthusiasts? Or maybe they don't even know that they're supposed to wave? Does that happen to other OG's or is that just me in my area?

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...e-anymore.html

[csm]

There are similar threads on some of the motorcycle forums I frequent. Mostly about the lack of waves from the Harley crowd.


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[William]

Driving around in my FJ40 and FJ60 I would always get waves from other Landcruiser drivers, didn't matter if it was West Coast or East Coast. I figured when I picked an an Element it would be similar since it's a quirky vehicle...nope.

Oh well.








W.

[pjbaz]

Back in 00 when I bought my first-year Xterra there was a thing called the "Xterra wave" but it involved flashing your brights a specific way so that only one light would come on (like a padiddle)

It died out quickly LOL

[WNC rider]

We GMC Safari / Chevrolet Astro owners don't need no stinkin' wave. We just give each other the approving glance of knowing what's up.

[AngryScientist]

wife and i had one of the first [new style] minis on the east coast. waves were common back in the early days. it was a real driving enthusiast car back then. i had mine modified to the gills. it was low power but an absolute blast to drive on windy roads.


the cars are much more common now, and dumbed down from the early models.

[Idris Icabod]

I drive a Toyota Tacoma so I just keep my hand up in a perpetual wave mimicking Queen Elizabeth since every third car is a fellow owner.

[witcombusa]

Originally Posted by csm

There are similar threads on some of the motorcycle forums I frequent. Mostly about the lack of waves from the Harley crowd.


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I personally consider THAT a good thing!

Now as to the Mini thing. Had an early superchared S and a later turbo S. The fist few years the S cars in particular were mostly owned by car people. So they would wave. As thing wore on the ratio of car folks to people driving cars dropped considerably. The rest is history...

[Steve in SLO]

Agree with witcombusa. I’ve had a similar experience with the two Minis I’ve owned, both R53s. Bought the first one about 10 years ago and many people waved. Likely it was due in part to car people buying them, as well as the PR
/ brand identity push by BMW/Mini to be a friendly and happy motorist. I bought my present one about a year ago and only wave to fellow R53 owners. Nobody else even looks.
In a parallel, I have been a Porsche owner for 20+ years, and it used to be that flashing your lights to fellow owners was the thing. With the advent of the air cooled Porsches, particularly the Boxster, that seemed to go away with owners of the new cars. I am shocked when a Boxster owner actually flashes their lights at me. I have a 2004 GT3 and very few newer Porsche owners even know what it is.
Who knows, maybe the car culture is waning, maybe everybody is just too busy not noticing things, or maybe everybody is just thinking about the next text they have to send.

[Bruce K]

As an original new Mini owner I can attest to the fact that there was an old school car club vibe to owning one for the first couple of years.

That disappeared with the second generation where Minis started to grow and became more commonplace.

Those of us who still have first gen cars are kind of way over it by now.

BK

[Mr. Pink]

Originally Posted by paredown

This cracked me up-it's been too early for the annual Paceline equivalent.

Happy Easter, all:



https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...e-anymore.html

That's an excellent forum to frequent for mechanical advice if you own a Mini. I owned an '03s for four years, loved it, except for the labor costs. (Everything is crammed into tight places that require hours of work to get to) They saved me 800 dollars when my wipers went bad. Yup, 800 bucks to fix the wiper motor. It's a tiny BMW.

[scoobydrew]

This is similar to the Subaru crowd in the 2000s, but most particularly the WRX. When the WRX was brought over in the early 2000s, the owners were mostly car guys. During the 2000s, WRX owners would wave and/or flash the "peace" sign to each other and the enthusiasts were relatively tight knit. Sometimes, even if you had a different Subaru that was modified (Forester, Legacy), you'd get the same love.

[BobbyJones]

Maybe its me, but does anyone else find it odd that this is obviously an adult with a concern more suited for a child?

Can't help but wonder what the world looks like through this person's eyes.

Originally Posted by paredown

This cracked me up-it's been too early for the annual Paceline equivalent.

Happy Easter, all:

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...e-anymore.html

[Morgul Bismark]

I no longer have my original R53, but I do still own my 2006 Solar Red R50.

[72gmc]

I try to wave to other owners of old GM trucks.

Many of them are too busy doing yard work as their trucks melt into the deep weeds in the background.