[robc]

Here's a good story for anyone concerned about the safety of Mini's.

Over the weekend, at the last two miles for a 700+ miles road trip from Seattle to Great Falls, Montana I hit a deer going about 45mph in my '05 Cooper S.

The highway was dark and I was approaching a construction area, so I was slowing down. All of a sudden a deer jumped directly in front of the car. Seeing the deer, hitting the brake (my foot was already hovering over the brake pedal ready to slow for the construction) and hitting the deer all happened in what felt like was a second.

The car of course came to a stop super quick. I got out to take a look to see what happened, but didn't see a deer in front of the car. A very nice couple in a huge pickup behind me also stopped to lend a hand. They said they saw the deer go flying up well above the car after hitting it. Turns out it landed about 40 feet forward of the impact upside down in a ditch.

The front of the bonnet had collapsed on impact, which ended up being a great thing. The engine stopped the deer from sliding up into the windshield and instead sent it flying forward into the ditch. The radiator and air conditioner condenser were both slight bent and the upper radiator hosed was squished against the engine...but nothing was leaking. Air intake plumbing was pretty cracked up and the small wiring harness that attaches to the front of the engine had been ripped out. The intercooler air diverter was slightly cracked, but the intercooler looked ok. The car limped home (or lurched at times) the last two miles to our final destination under its own power. Everyone (but the deer) was safe. Tough little car!

Mini had the car picked up on Monday and hauled all the way back to Northwest Mini (Seattle area). The dealership is now working with a local body shop to get the car fixed up. Expecting to here about damage estimates tomorrow. So far I'm extremely impressed by Mini's customer service.

All in all, very, very lucky. Pictures: http://gallery.mac.com/robiscool#100447&bgcolor=black

[Root Ginger]

Wow the damage is really minor for a deer strike.

I remember coming across a stag while doing about 40mph round a blind bend over a hill just the other side of Windsor Great Park. Had a very scary moment but luckily missed it.

I'm guessing the deer was pretty small?

[Derepente]

Glad to see that the car and you faired well. Nice picks, I hope the estimate isn't high. Best regards!

[Tommo]

I'm very impressed ! I hit a deer once at a lower speed of around thirty mph in a mk1 toyota mr2 and it wrote the car off ! Mind you the front of that car was very low and it rolled up the bonnet on impact and tried to headbutt me through the windscreen

[The Red Baron]

WoW thats pretty amazing

and i thought we were unlucky enough to get trampled on by a horse in our MINI...

Hope your MINIs back soon..

Jax

[Nath316]

Was it a buck with a good rack

If it was you were lucky as apparently you have a 50/50 chance it will either bounce forward (as in your case) or rise up and come through the window where you could end up impaled on the antlers.

Allegdedly in the UK if you knock down a dear and kill it you are not allowed to remove the dear for eating but the next driver along can

[Paul]

Ouch!

Could have been worse:

[McMuffin]

Glad you are OK, the Mini took it well, I know a freind who wrote off his car hitting a deer.

[Mister]

Glad to hear you're OK. Poor deer, though.

[badboyzbadboyz]

Sorry to hear about your MINI. I also hit a deer before in my old MCS resulting in very similar damage to my radiator and aircon condenser. After getting a quote from BMW to repair the damage I ended up just leaving it, as the car still worked ok. Are you getting the radiator and condenser replaced?

[Nebdingo]

Wounded!!

glad your ok tho!

[James]

Quote: Originally Posted by Nath316 (original)

Was it a buck with a good rack

Allegdedly in the UK if you knock down a dear and kill it you are not allowed to remove the dear for eating but the next driver along can

I was about to ask that, no sense letting it go to waste

[robc]

Quote: Originally Posted by Nath316 (original)

Was it a buck with a good rack

If it was you were lucky as apparently you have a 50/50 chance it will either bounce forward (as in your case) or rise up and come through the window where you could end up impaled on the antlers.

Allegdedly in the UK if you knock down a dear and kill it you are not allowed to remove the dear for eating but the next driver along can

It was a not huge doe... I have no idea what the laws are in Montana, although I guess it would've been a great use of the yakima cargo basket. Having my mom along for the ride would have precluded any attempt though.

Just got the damage estimate... $4,800. Damage was just what was visible, everything else seems ok. Should be ready to go in a couple weeks, just waiting on some random parts from Mini.

[robc]

Quote: Originally Posted by Paul Mullett (original)

Ouch!

Could have been worse:

Wow... yeah, i definitely wouldn't have wanted to cross paths with a rhino (or a horse like chrisandjax for that matter)!

[snapper]

Glad to see the MINI handled it pretty well. Deer are my #1 fear of death and injury, period. I've hit 5, 3 on a motorcycle, and they easily represent 80-90% of my close calls. I do, however, have to thank deer for my purchase of the MINI in the first place - it the only thing that I've found that can approach the fun of motorcycle, yet have the safety of a car in a deer strike.

Shoot all the deer!

[speed-e]

Glad your OK, you can always fix the Mini.