Mini Clubman Six-door hatch-cum-estate signs off
Could Mini’s offbeat hatch integrate funk with functionality? Our luggage-laden photographer delivers his verdict
The Mini Clubman Cooper D is about to return to its maker. It’s an unusual car. We gave it threeand-a-half stars on our first road test – a respectable, if not outstanding, score – but were intrigued enough to consider it worth running one.
“It’s a bit of an imposter, a likeable rogue,” we concluded, I think pretty fairly. After all, in a class of similarly profiled cars with five doors, straight looks and conventional hatchback tailgates, it’s right and proper that a Mini – a car originally defined by doing things its own way – should treat things differently.
But, well, things have evolved the way they have for a reason, haven’t they? After all, nobody these days thinks: “I know, I’ll try making a wheel but chamfer a few bits off so it has some straight edges.” Wheels have stayed round in the same way that small-medium sector cars have become uniform hatchbacks – because that’s very sensible.
Well, sensible be damned. Having spent more than 10,000 miles in this Mini, with its funky interior and cute double rear doors, I’m inclined to think that more new cars should have some of its pizzazz, some of its willingness to be different.
This Clubman arrived in August last year, fairly fresh out of the box. It’s a Cooper D, meaning its on-theroad price back then was £21,810 before options (it’s £23,035 now). But BMWS and Minis are easy to option up should you want to, and the biggies on this one were a Media Pack (£1010), which includes sat-nav and enhanced connectivity, and the £2785 Chili Pack, which brings seat upgrades, climate control and separate drive modes. Other options important to me were a throughloading system (£200) and a luggage separating net (£155), given the amount of photography kit I carry.
First impressions were good from a fit, finish and design perspective. I’m a big fan of Mini interiors, with their funk and intelligence, but, from a ‘stacking-it-with-kit’ perspective, the Mini, as you might expect, lags behind those class rivals.
Its boot f loor is a touch high and the roof a touch low, and, at 360 litres with seats up, the luggage capacity is smaller than I was used to. But, then, I had at the time just stepped out of a Skoda Superb estate.
But over time, the more cars I try, the more respect I have for the Mini’s entertainment, communications and sat-nav systems. You get a speedo and rev-counter in front of the diddy steering wheel, while the navigation and other infotainment options take up position in the centre of the
❝ More cars should have some of its pizzazz and its willingness to be different ❞
dashboard. They are bespoke Mini items but the controller is very clearly derived from idrive system of Mini’s parent company, BMW.
Which means it works splendidly well, and is a lesson in how you can get a system to work without reverting to a touchscreen set-up, thus leaving no grubby finger marks on the dashboard. It integrates really well with a smartphone too; or at least it seemed to with mine. Some cars disable their own navigation when you hook up a smartphone – basically admitting yours is better, which it will be, but it might not be free. Anyway, the Mini let me access my music app but still use its other systems, which seems ideal.
There are also cool ambient lights in the doors and trim. You can choose your hue to make the Mini’s interior feel very special. Although one thing went slightly wrong with it: the collar around the base of the gearlever, which is a switch for the variable drive modes, developed a slight rattle.
Just as impressive is the drivetrain. Obviously, a Cooper of any sort should be brisk, so it gets a sprightly 2.0-litre diesel making 148bhp and, more crucially, 243lb ft from just 1750rpm. The engine has a broad powerband, too, and a slightly rubbery but positive enough manual gearshift. Mini claims all of that is good for a 0-62mph time of 8.6sec, which is utterly believable.
Certainly, it was good enough to keep on top of the chassis, which is in ‘good enough’ territory: the ride’s a bit brittle, the steering nervous, but generally it feels sound.
But the better thing about the engine is how quiet and refined it is; relatively hushed at idle and quite capable of revving out. It was rather frugal, too: right from the start of our time with the Clubman Cooper D, it looked like it was going to return in excess of 50mpg, and so it did. Sometimes it dipped under on the occasional tank, and it was hard to persuade it to do much more unless you drove very, very carefully, but in everyday, often brisk driving, I reckon that’s pretty good. Having a 500-plus mile range on a car like this is terrific.
So far, then, so good. But that, finally, brings us to the Clubman’s reason for being: those wacky/funky/ cool/clever/retro (delete depending on your mood) rear doors. I’m going to cut them some slack. Sure, you can’t see out of them properly. Yes, I don’t doubt they’re heavier and more expensive than the single hatch you’ll find on many of this Mini’s key rivals. And, yes, it’s possible to box yourself in between them if you’re parked tight against something. But they also make this car one of the more interesting small cars to look at, so to hell with functionality.
If you fancy one like it, there are plenty of Clubmans around, with a big price variance because of the options you could squeeze on it. Given this one was optioned up to nearly £30,000 means that it’s worth around its non-option retail price on a forecourt. But you could get this style for less. And, if I had a proper job, I might do just that.
OWN ONE? SHARE YOUR EXPERIENCE stan.papior@haymarket.com