The Mini Cooper, or, Apparently Curb Feelers Never Went Out of Style

One thing I love about writing about car gadgets is that every time you think you’ve found the strangest thing ever, and no matter how much you SINCERELY mean that this (whatever this it is you’re writing about) is THE strangest thing ever, within a matter of days along will come something else to trump it.

You’re constantly surprised in this business, and in a way, that’s awesome.

So imagine my shock when I’m reading AskMen’s top ten useless car gadgets list (guys, come on–the Bose Media System doesn’t count as a useless gadget because you’d rather listen to ENGINE NOISE) and I come across a real shocker.

Apparently, curb feelers never went out of style, and they’ve gone digital.  Called the Park Distance Control, it basically helps you figure out when a space is too small to park your Mini in or if you can hack it, and once you can, gives you some help in getting in safely.  As we all remember from driver’s ed, parallel parking is an epic-scale pain in the tukhus.

I can’t imagine anyone, however, having this much trouble parking a Mini Cooper.  Now, some van or pickup or LeBehemoth-class SUV from GM might be a different call, but a Mini Cooper might well be the class of vehicle that LEAST needs parking help.  It’s like putting a second story on your pickup bed.