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MINI One Clubman

Expert Rating: 3 out of 5

What is it?

The Clubman is MINI's quirky 'estate' variant with two doors on the driver's side, a single one on the passenger side and vertically split rear doors. It sits on a stretched wheelbase too, so there is tangibly more legroom than in the hatchback, while the boot is usefully, well, more useful. That's not to say it's a car for large families, but it is definitely more practical than the regular MINI.

Meanwhile, the One designation marks this car out as the entry-level version. It's powered by a naturally aspirated 1.4-litre petrol engine, which musters 95bhp and 103lb.ft of torque. That doesn't sound too dismal, but the on-paper performance doesn't make exciting reading either, with the indicative 0-62mph sprint taking 11.6 seconds.

Is it any good?

In isolation the MINI One Clubman is not a bad car. It offers fans of the Clubman a cheaper entry point and running costs should be quite low with CO2 of 130g/km and combined cycle fuel consumption of 52.3mpg. However, the much perkier MINI Cooper virtually matches the One in terms of efficiency, yet it's way nicer to drive.

The 1.4-litre engine itself is quite smooth and refined, but its relatively high-set peak torque is at odds with high second and third gear ratios, which just serves to make the car feel slow. Granted, buyers of entry-level models don't have drag strip performance at the top of their list of priorities, but we'd argue that most drivers would sway further from the One's quoted fuel economy figures than they would in the Cooper model, as the latter requires less effort to keep up a decent pace.

Leaving the engine aside, the One exhibits all the Cooper's driving dynamics, which is to say it can be a real hoot once you're up to speed and it has an uncanny ability to maintain its pace through a sequence of corners. The downside of this capability is compromised ride comfort, though on the One's standard wheels and tyres this isn't as much of an issue as it can be on bigger alloys.

Inside, the One Clubman feels like a higher quality product than many mainstream hatchbacks and it's a comfortable and refined car at a cruise.

Should I call the bank manager?

By all means, but (and I know we may have mentioned this) please ask him for the extra few thousand needed to trade up to the Cooper Clubman. If that really is too much of a stretch then we'd urge you consider the second-hand alternative. Performance/efficiency balance aside, buyers of the One won't feel too short-changed in equipment terms, though most MINI buyers spend several thousand on the options list...

Summary

If you were given the MINI One Clubman tomorrow and you had no choice but to run it for a few years there would be no reason to be anything other than delighted. It is a well made and acceptably equipped variant of the (slightly) more practical MINI Clubman. It is refined and has a great chassis and running costs should be relatively low. However, if you're considering buying this car from new, with your own cash, we'd strongly suggest that you find a way to get into the Cooper model instead. It's much quicker, which in turn makes it both more fun and more relaxing to drive, while it's hardly any less economical than the One. Good idea MINI, but the One is not distanced enough from the Cooper for it to make sense to us.

Shane O' Donoghue