Mini Clubman Cooper S Review 2008 What Problems

"You want a big for $.25 more?" That's what the popcorn drone behind the concession counter asks when you order a medium Coke at the movies. You may not demand it, but hell, it'southward offered, so you pull the trigger. The aforementioned matter is happening in auto showrooms. Why settle for just an Escalade when you can have the ESV? This year, even BMW-endemic MINI is getting in on the act. The result is the MINI Cooper Clubman, which your local MINI salesperson will happily offer for just $ii,000 more than than the regular Cooper.

So, what does that extra ii grand (before options) actually get you? Subsequently all, the regular MINI Cooper is a tidy lilliputian bundle; information technology'southward great looking, fun, and economical, while offering a high level of mill customization and/or personalization. Want more operation? Buy an Due south. Want even more than that? Get the JCW. If you lot wanted more room, nonetheless, you had a problem. Until now. Enter the Clubman. MINI has decided to aggrandize the niche information technology occupies past combining the ruddy meat its core customers want -- the cars' signature styling and entertaining nature -- with more room for people and stuff. Simply not also much more, because then it wouldn't be a MINI. The idea was to get bigger while remaining pocket-sized. What a puzzler. Get too big, and you lot squash brand identity, don't go big enough, and the whole exercise is a waste material of everyone'southward time.

All photos Copyright ©2008 Alex Núñez, Weblogs, Inc.

Our tester was a standard non-turbo Clubman finished in Pepper White with a blackness roof and black rear-door trim. Appearance-wise, it just looks like a bigger Cooper, which is the general idea. The Clubman half-door on the passenger side and twin barn doors in back are the model's obvious visual cues -- in that location's no "Clubman" badging on the outside at all. Inside, information technology was embroidered on the floormats. Additional length does piddling to lessen the MINI's squat, eager stance. Sitting out in the driveway, it looks like a wheeled version of the Pokey Piffling Puppy, and people always smiled at it. Considering actually, who doesn't love a puppy?

Notable additions to our tester included the Sport Parcel and Premium Package ($1,500 apiece), the latter of which includes a pretty impressive panoramic roof. Both panels tilt upwards, and the forepart drinking glass slides back. The Clubman is a total ten inches longer than its little brother, and it sports a three-inch longer wheelbase. This translates into a back seat that'south really tolerable for adults, bold neither the front nor rear occupants are peculiarly alpine. I'grand 5' 9", and I was able to sit down backside the driver's seat in a state of reasonable comfort. With a taller driver, probably not so much, and every bit I said, tall backseaters are probably going to accept a hard time getting settled in unless the person in front is of Ewok stature. Accessing the back seat requires yous to flip the front seatbacks forward, even on the passenger side where the then-called Clubman door lives. That spare door makes clambering in back substantially easier, and why MINI didn't put 1 on both sides is a bit mind-boggling.

The mini door is particularly handy is if you accept kids. I positioned my 2-twelvemonth-one-time son'due south motorcar seat on the side with the Clubman-door, since that gave me more than room to work with when it came fourth dimension to buckle him in. My daughter, historic period 5, was fine climbing through the driver's side and getting herself strapped into her booster. Parents still using the LATCH connections will find the anchors easily accessible through plastic tunnels in the seatbacks -- no earthworks under the cushions is necessary. Equally a people carrier, the Clubman is a substantial improvement over the regular Cooper, whose back seats are sized for miniature pinschers and Micronauts.

In addition to legitimately carrying 4 humans, the Clubman can also booty more of their stuff. Walk effectually the back of the car, pull open the side-by-side barn doors, and you'll notice ix.two cubic feet of storage behind the second row. If you're thinking, "that's non that much," you're right, but information technology's nonetheless a sight better than the 5.7 cubes the regular Cooper has to offer. The Clubman's cargo expanse doesn't incorporate the minivan-like recessed tray the modest Cooper uses. Instead, y'all take a flat load floor with a cargo net to secure loose items. There'south some boosted storage under that floor and the befouled doors themselves are equipped with small, map-pocket-like bins. I had to take Millie, my 52-pound border collie mix, to the vet in the Clubman, and she was content sitting on a beach towel in the standard cargo area behind the back seat. She did her usual matter there, peering out the windows and barking her damn fool head off at every living being that crossed her field of vision. If you're planning on throwing a purse of golf clubs or any other particular larger than my domestic dog in back, you lot're going to have to flip down the second row (or at least role of it). With both rear seats dropped, total cargo chapters increases to 32.8 cubic feet, a decent crash-land over the Cooper's 24 and change.

Manner rules all in the passenger cabin. This is evident the moment your glutes dent the pleatherette-shod sport seat. From this well-bolstered and comfortable vantage indicate, you tin have in the environs BMW'southward interior designers came up with. A dainty, meaty steering bike is complemented by a cavalcade-mounted tachometer with an integrated multifunction display. Very nice. A glance to the correct brings the speedometer into view. Given that information technology'southward the approximate size of the 2d Death Star, it's sort of difficult to miss. I mean, people three cars back in traffic can't miss it either. The giant speedo is also home to the warning lights, fuel gauge, radio display and radio controls, the latter of which look elementary, just are less than intuitive -- call up, the MINI is brought to you by the aforementioned people who invented iDrive. I ultimately got acclimated plenty to configure my presets, and one time I found the AUX jack and had my iPod plugged in, I never bothered with the bodily radio again anyhow.

The HVAC controls come next, and their central display and outboard buttons form the shape of the MINI logo. Cute, but information technology's also piece of cake-to-use. An array of diverse toggle switches finishes off the stack. All are clearly labeled and caged off from 1 another, considering heaven prevent yous accidentally plow on the rear defogger. A like organisation is mounted to the ceiling, where you'll find the sunroof controls. The rest of the interior is comprised of good-looking plastics highlighted with shiny piano black trim. When yous have in all the interior elements as a whole, the system comes together well visually.

One matter that's genuinely abrasive almost the Clubman is its rearward visibility (or, more precisely, the lack thereof). The barn doors look bully and all, merely when closed, their meeting point obscures the middle third of the rearview mirror, rendering it essentially useless. Whatever'due south directly behind you is either partially or completely hidden every time you glance upwardly to check your surroundings. This begs the question, were the barn doors really necessary? I know they're a nod the same-style doors establish on the original Mini Traveller, but one of the benefits of hindsight is that you go to learn from the past. A regular liftback would non have diminshed the Clubman's looks i chip, and information technology would accept let you lot encounter out the back of the car.

Stick the flying saucer-shaped primal play a joke on into its in-dash receptacle, press in the ovoid clutch pedal, and hitting the get-go button to bring the MINI's PSA-sourced i.6L four to life. Rated at 118 horsepower, the French motor isn't one to set your pilus alight, but it's plenty good at motivating the Clubman. Information technology emits a throaty rasp every bit you work the six frontward gears, a job fabricated easy cheers to a tall shifter that falls right to manus and is piece of cake to row through the pattern. I pressed the Sport push located ahead of the bezel that surrounds the boot and a little dark-green light illuminated, letting me know I was now in Sport mode. Skilful thing, considering I probably wouldn't have known otherwise. I later cracked open up the transmission, which informed me that the Sport setting delivers better throttle response and more than direct steering. These changes are far from dramatic, and if you're interested in the real Sport style offered by MINI, y'all tell the nice homo at the store you want the Cooper Due south Clubman and go from there.

Driving the Clubman is a peachy source of entertainment. Give information technology a head of steam, hustle it along a curvy stretch of tarmac and lookout the smiles come. Information technology's not all-powerful, only it's wonderfully sorted, well-behaved and predictable, doing what you inquire of it with little fuss. Torque steer is nonexistent with the base motor, which is simply as happy to doodle around in errand mode as it is for you to put the spurs to it when the route and conditions permit. The break keeps yous solidly-planted without existence harsh; the slightly longer wheelbase probable helping strike this comfy balance between refinement and sportiness. Not only is the car a gas to cycle around in, it also earns its chops as a commuter averaging 31 mpg all-around in a mix of local and highway driving, with a off-white allocation of crummy stop-and-go Merritt Parkway traffic thrown in. That kind of mileage with gas at four bucks a gallon works for me. That information technology comes in such an entertaining little box is gravy.

So, getting back to the original question we started with, is the Clubman worth the price premium over the regular Cooper? If you're shopping for a MINI and need a little more utility, drive with more than one other person in the automobile, or have kids, choosing the Clubman over the regular Cooper is a total no-brainer. It puts all of the good stuff from the smaller motorcar in a more useful, yet absolutely quirky bundle. "Quirky" is charming to some and off-putting to others, though, and our car's $25,450 equally-tested price as well puts it solidly into the "you've actually got to want it" category. You can certainly spend less and go a car that's every bit or more than practical in terms of packaging, and that's what some potential buyers will undoubtedly choose to do. Not anybody thinks that way, though, and this is where the MINI wins fans. It's a premium vehicle that has brio many other compacts lack, both visually and in the driving feel itself. With the Clubman, current MINI drivers are given something to trade up to if they outgrow their Coopers, and people like me, who would accept otherwise never fifty-fifty considered a MINI in the first place, now have a reason to stick their heads in the door. The Clubman isn't perfect, but it pulls off the pull a fast one on of existence a genuinely useable large MINI without sacrificing any fun along the way.

Click here to view the 2008 MINI Cooper Clubman's tech specs at AOL Autos.

All photos Copyright ©2008 Alex Núñez, Weblogs, Inc.

livengoodthoice.blogspot.com

Source: https://www.autoblog.com/2008/05/23/in-the-autoblog-garage-2008-mini-cooper-clubman/

Share this post