PROVEN: MINI Is Twice As Friendly As Any Other Car

The MINI has always been a “driver-friendly” car, but now it has been documented to be at least twice as “people friendly” as any other car surveyed.

Credit (or blame) it on Facebook. According to actual research published by Carcraft, the UK’s largest used car chain, many thousands of car owners are joining Facebook groups set up specifically to exchange messages and advice with fellow owners of the same make of car.

Mini Cooper drivers were the friendliest of all, according to the Carcraft survey, with more than 20,000 drivers networking across more than 300 groups. That’s more than twice as many as the next “friendliest” vehicle!

Mike Walsh, sales director at Carcraft, says: “It is interesting to see that cars are not only viewed as a symbol of wealth and status but they are increasingly becoming a crucial part of people’s identity and social life. This is reflected online with large numbers using sites such as Facebook to network with like-minded drivers.

“The website is even encouraging the trend by introducing a ‘garage’ application, which allows users to publish the make and model of their car on their personal profile page.”

One female user defends this: “Facebook groups are a good way to chat to like-minded people and to discuss different car makes, as you can read about people’s actual experiences. They can help you save money and keep you up to date with new launches. I regularly post messages to other Mini drivers in the group to share information on anything from repair costs to different models and new accessories.”

Kind of like what we do on this site, but with less “what’s your sign?” and a whole lot more actual vehicle information.

So here they are. The top 10 ‘friendliest’ cars according to Carcraft’s research based on the top 30 makes and models of car and figures calculated in January 2008:

Car make and model
Number of fan groups
Total number of fan group members (approx)

Mini Cooper
301
23,756

Honda Civic
165
9,974

Ford Fiesta
134
2,905

VW Polo
77
1,541

Ford Ka
73
1,902

VW Golf
56
1,559

Vauxhall Corsa
28
1,869

Renault Clio
27
1,343

Toyota Yaris
17
1,869

Audi A3
12
1,610