MINI Clubman : JOIN THE CLUB?

Only MINI could have brought us an estate like the Clubman. June Neary checks it out

More than most, I'm fed up with boring cars. I, after all, have to drive different cars day-in, day-out and over time, one tends to blur into another. This week's ride was a welcome change from that. MINI's Clubman, after all, is not a car you would easily forget. It would have been easy for BMW, when faced with doing an estate version of the iconic MINI, simply to churn out something slightly longer with a couple of extra doors. Instead, they've brought us the MINI Clubman. Many will hate it but I love the thing.

Interestingly, it's on the subject of practicalities that all the controversy with this car is based around. True, the Clubman is a five-door car but the doors aren't exactly where you'd expect them to be. It's business as usual at the front but access to the rear seating is through a single `suicide' door on the right-hand side. Hinged on its rearmost edge so that it opens in the opposite direction to the front doors, it's positioned on the right-hand side of the Clubman and there's no equivalent on the left. It means that rear seat passengers in right-hand drive markets like ours are forced to exit into the road. MINI recognises the problem but explains that shifting the rear door to the left would mean relocating the fuel filler cap, the costs of which would be "prohibitive". I was hoping for a more colourful reason - or simply an `if you don't like it, then don't buy one' kind of response but the truth is that it comes down to money. I continue to ignore all that and pretend that it's really down to this MINI's desire to be different. At the back, there's more access fun and games. The Clubman employs a pair of side-hinged doors reminiscent of the old Mini Traveller. These are a key design feature of the car and the one that does most to differentiate Clubman from MINI. They feature cut-outs for the rear light clusters that mirror those in the bonnet. With a longer wheelbase and around 2cm of extra roof height plus identical components as far back as the B-pillars, there doesn't seem to be much scope for the Clubman to dramatically exceed the interior space of the MINI - and it doesn't. Crucially though, it's 24cm longer overall thanks to the extended rear overhang and that has helped BMW squeeze in 8cm of extra rear legroom - which makes all the difference when lumping in a childseat. At the same time, they've upped the boot capacity from a paltry 160 litres to a respectable 260 which makes a trip to the garden centre at last a realistic possibility. The rear seats take the form of a three-seater bench in the standard car but the standard MINI's two-person pods can be reinstated as a no cost option if you don't need the middle berth.

If you like the driving experience of the standard second generation MINI models, then you'll like the feel of a Clubman since the recipe is exactly the same. The car uses the same range of engines and model designations as any normal MINI, which means there's a 95bhp 1.4-litre unit in the One, a 1.6-litre 120bhp engine in the Cooper, a 1.6-litre 110bhp diesel in the Cooper D and a 175bhp 1.6-litre turbo unit in the Cooper S, which also features sporty suspension settings. Despite the Clubman packing an extra 75kg over the standard car, I found that performance was very similar. The Cooper S is fast enough to give the market's more sensible hot hatchback offerings something to think about with a 7.3s 0-60mph time and a 139mph top speed. The normally aspirated 1.6 in the Cooper is more mundane but still respectably rapid on paper. 0-60mph takes 9.8s, which compares favourably with the diesel's 10.4s showing.

Prices start at £13,290, a premium of around £1,200 over models in the standard range. There's an initial choice of One, Cooper, Cooper D or Cooper S variants. The Clubman then, follows the MINI and keeps its model range simple but there's nothing simple about the vast catalogue of optional extras that customers can use to personalise their vehicle. As for standard equipment, all models receive air-conditioning, six airbags including curtain airbags integrated into the roof lining that protect rear seat occupants, ABS brakes, brakeforce distribution and cornering brake control. There's also the MINI Dynamic Stability Control system that incorporates traction control, stability control and hill start assist. The Cooper models feature 15" alloys and the Cooper S gets 16" items.

Because I like to be different, I love it but I could quite understand why others would choose something else. It's an estate that you would buy for totally un-estate-orientated reasons. Only MINI could build such a car.

Monday January 26