Travel with added dash and style
Thinning of ranks means reintroduction is good news
Never underestimate the enduring appeal of the Mini brand, in particular the 2016 Clubman.
For a while it seemed that BMW’s junior division had jettisoned the Clubman for good — that it had been swept up in a general housecleaning that banished the two-seat Mini Coupe and Roadster after just four model-years. Also reportedly retiring is the Mini Paceman, which is a two-door offshoot of the Countryman.
The thinning of the ranks is lamentable, but the Clubman wagon’s reintroduction is good news for Mini fans. Compared with the basic Mini Cooper two-door, the Clubman is nearly 28 centimetres longer, eight centimetres wider and has a 10-cm advantage between the front and rear wheels. If you factor in the new-for-2015 Mini 5 Door, the Clubman still wins in the passenger and cargo space department by a wide margin.
Proportionally, the five-passenger Clubman appears significantly more attractive than its predecessor. It now has two full-size rear passenger doors, with exterior handles, which is considerably more practical than the single rear-hinged halfdoor behind the front passenger seat in the original. That logic-defying portal could be accessed only when the front door was opened.
In true Clubman style, the side-hinged “church doors” at the back have been retained in place of a more common liftgate. They might not be the most practical of entryways, but on the new Clubman they look pretty neat and help reinforce its distinctive character.
In Mini’s world, character trumps practicality every time and that extends to the interior, which is similar to that of the rest of the lineup. The speedometer is attached to the steering column, while the oversized oval pod that once housed the speedometer is now home to the infotainment, communications and available navigation systems that are controlled by a rotary dial on the floor console.
The powertrain choices are also shared by others in the Mini fleet. The base Clubman Cooper that rings in at $27,000 (including destination fees) runs with a turbocharged 1.5-litre three-cylinder that generates 134 horsepower and 162 pound-feet of torque. Moving up to the Clubman Cooper S buys you a turbocharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder with 189 horsepower and 207 pound-feet. For maximum performance, wait another year or so for the sportier JCW (John Cooper Works) Clubman to arrive.
With either powertrain, a six-speed manual transmission is standard. A six-speed automatic is optional with the 1.5, while an eight-speed auto box is available exclusively with the 2.0.
Mini reports that the entry-point three-cylinder Clubman can hit 96 km/h from rest in about nine seconds, two seconds slower than the Cooper S. However, when not hammering it flat-out, the turbo-three-cylinder earns ratings of 9.5 l/100 km in the city and 6.6 in the highway.
The Clubman comes equipped with the usual and expected basics, but option packages will take the car up several notches in content (and price). Likely one of the most complete groupings is called, appropriately enough, the Fully Loaded Package the bundles a dual-pane Panoramic Sunroof, sport front seats, rear-view camera, upgraded wheels, navigation and premium Harmon/Kardon sound systems.
For the JCW look (without the performance), exterior and interior packages add sporty bits.
Surprisingly, the latest in driver assistance and crash mitigating technologies are not yet available. Note also that, as with other BMW/Mini products, your bottom-line price tag will expand rapidly if you succumb to the temptations of the option sheet.
No doubt there are larger and less-pricey compact wagons to be had that will perform just as competently as the Mini. But for something with a lot more dash and style — something Mini does very well — joining the Clubman ranks comes with few regrets.
THE SPEC SHEET
Type: Four-door, front-wheel-drive compact wagon Engines (hp): 1.5-litre DOHC I3, turbocharged (134); 2.0-litre DOHC I4, turbocharged I4 (189) Transmissions: Six-speed manual; six-speed auto (opt. 1.5); eight-speed auto (opt. 2.0) Safety: Front airbags; side-impact airbags; side-curtain airbags; anti-lock brakes; traction control; stability control. Fuel economy, L/100 km (city/hwy): 9.5/6.6 (1.5, MT) Base price (incl. destination): $27,000