2008 Clubman Caught Cold Weather Testing

Well the cat is out of the bag isn’t it! With only subtle camo covering the rear lights and handles……what more is there to see! All I can say is these cars are a pig to work on! We’re building an R55 CooperD tomorrow (Thurs 25th) and in house training for line workers will start next week, to introduce them to the vehicle and their new processes. Great pics.

can’t we get some more exciting colors than brown though? if there’s nothing better i spose i’ll settle for dark silver to match the r53.

It’s BMW you should see at least 4 or 5 types of ugly (silver) to choose from.

Tasty. Make mine a Clubbie D as well. That would be one sweet fuel sippin’ ride.

One can dream, can’t one?

I’m not liking it too much. I love my 2 door MINI but I might have to trade it in for something with 4 doors once the little one arrives. I guess I’m leaning towards a 4-door 1 series (if that comes to NA) or a Mazda3 Speed. That Saturn-esque half door isn’t working for me. Perhaps it won’t be so bad in person…

Yeah Tony. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure to pick you up on my next Clubman Motoring trip. Have you ever been smoked by a “hearse”?

“Looks like a hearse for dwarves.” – best comment on the nets today. :) (no disrepect for dwarves intended…)

“I often wonder what is the clusterfuck deal with these people?” – FrankinMiami

Wow, Frank, sit back and take a couple of deep breaths!!! It’s going to be OK.

Aren’t people entitled to their own opinions? And aren’t they entitled to share them?

Note: I too think the Clubman looks odd. I won’t be buying one. And no, I won’t begrudge anyone who does.

There are some of the subtle design elements it’s inherited from the R56 – obviously it would – that I don’t like. But otherwise, I really dig the proportions of the Clubman. It still looks unmistakably MINI but with a healthy injection of old school station wagon. It’s going to be cool the way it’ll open up every which way from barn rear doors to the coach side door. And I think the window tint is the trick that would make me actually consider the car with a door only on one side. My real “wish in one hand / crap in the other” thought is that this car would have been even cooler on the R50/R53 platform.

I cant wait to see the S version of this

This model is looking too much like the Cooper. Like a bad Photoshop job. The original concept car looked a bit more distinctive to me, as I remember.

I would jack up the suspension a bit, make it more like the Audi Allroad.

For the life of me, I don’t see any resemblence to an Xb box – that poor, lorn orphan was hit by the Sherwood Forest ugly stick, if ya ask me, and R55 has a nice evolutionary look to it, and does have a family resemblance to the original Countryman/Traveller, while throwing in a little hint of the BMW wagen family.

BCNU,

Rob in Dago

It’s a Pygmy funeral hearse. (no disrespect to our Pygmy friends) Fact is I like it. When it comes time to move to a new New MINI the Clubman may be it.

iNorris, Sie machen uns stolz. Ihr unveränderliches Überwachen anderer Mitglieder, die Meinungsverschiedenheit zum neuen R56 ausdrücken, soll kleinst bewundernswert sagen. Ihre Taktik von Gestapo, die Posten der vorigen Mitglieder umzugraben, geht, um die Leidenschaft zu zeigen, die Sie für dieses Auto und Ihren unbarmherzigen Antrieb zeigen, um seine Reinheit und gutes Image zu erhalten, selbst wenn einige Details umstritten sind.

Ok, news for everybody. It will look much better in person. There… I said it.

Point is, you don’t get a free ride to say what you want and try to stifle others from doing the same. Disagreement is expected. Ridicule and name calling is unneeded. Maybe you had a bad day? Your posts are usually polite. I think you should apologize to Gabe and the rest of us.

So Gabe, do you know German? I translated that several times and can’t tell sincere from sarcastic. Can you help me?

Also interesting, Gabe in German translates to gift in English.

I still say it will only fit 2 in the rear. There are only 2 rear headrests shown.

I think the clubman is cool looking and clever. It definately has the spirit of MINI and it’s design heritage. The proportions are much more fitting in the Clubman than in the Cooper for the 2007 model line, as i mentioned before.

I’d buy one in S or Diesel trim. I just hope they fix the center stack.

I think three will fit in back because the rear wheels are back a little farther meaning that the seats don’t have the wheel well intrusion. I doubt that the Clubman is any wider than the R56. Just for the record, I don’t speak German. :)

I went back and looked at the Clubman Concept…I definitely responded more positively to it. The lights are much more slanted, and really underscore the horizontal lines repeated on the car. The final production model looks like a Cooper stretch limo.

The Concept model had a chopped-off front which enforced the stocky, sturdy feeling of the car. The final production model shares the front end with the Cooper. Again, it is not distinctive enough.

Interesting. I too was hoping for something a bit “more” … probably the pricing will overlap with the 4 door 1 series (if it comes here) …

do like the barn doors though … would be great if they redesigned the dash/center console

To be able to seat six passengers, the Clubman would have to be devoid of a center console (I would not mind that at all, to be honest).

Will the seating configuration mimic that of the (Gasp!) Fiat Multipla?