[solent60]

Georgie wrote:

“Yeah, a drop of T-Cut and she’ll be just fine!“. “Don’t worry, mate – It’ll buff out.” Poor little car. I saw the pictures after my sister hit a truck side on and the airbags deployed, so I can imagine the bruises. Major ‘Ouch’! {{{ Solent60 }}} Did you replace it with another Mini?

No I didn’t. The thing is Georgie… I really enjoyed the 15-months I had the Mini Cooper. It was a fun little car and great to drive. What I found really annoying though was the amount of ignorant & arrogant drivers on the roads who, when I was at a roundabout or junction for example, would look up… see a Mini… and think instantly “girl/woman driver”… and just pull straight out in front of me. I don’t know if any of you with Mini’s have the same experience? For me it was a constant hazard & I eventually got p*ssed off with having to slam my brakes on or take avoiding action. Of course, it happened once too often & eventually it was written off by the Volvo XC90 as per above. In a way, it didn’t come as a total surprise to me. I always had a strange feeling that “One day”…

Anyway, when I was driving the brand new Merc C-class courtesy car that RSA had provided me with & I was thinking about which car to replace the Mini with – I thought ‘If you can’t beat them – join them’… and chose something much higher & a bit chunkier in order to avoid idiot drivers. I chose the Toyota C-HR which I’ve now had for over two and-a-half years and guess what? Barely anyone ever pulls out in front of me! Added to that the fact that the C-HR has been a superb, comfortable car & I really haven’t got a single complaint to make about it!

I’m due my next car come December & have shortlisted a few. I have even considered the Cooper S/Cooper Countryman… but with the appalling standard of driving on UK roads these days Georgie, I’m probably going to opt for something a little bigger/taller/chunkier again!