AUSmotive.com Clubman S Review

GregW May 24th, 2008 Link

A great review from Australia, if you didn’t notice.
Interesting comments about the Clubdoor which are applicable to most of the other RHD countries not mentioned.

lavardera May 25th, 2008 Link

Well this ought to solicit the usual grousing over the center stack, build quality, cheapness, being designed by accountants, blah blah blah…

Tit May 25th, 2008 Link

Guys, if you liked Liams review, I also reccomend you checkout his other site, http://www.ausringers.com; it covers his other passion - the nurburgring.

Also - keep an eye out for his review of the BMW 135i coming up on ausmotive soon…

Aussom May 27th, 2008 Link

Glad that this article picked up succinctly on the “Clubdoor”. In order to be useful for people to access the rear seats, you need to move or tilt the front seat forward. In Australia (and other right-hand drive markets) - this means the driver’s door. So when there’s someone in the driver’s seat, it’s impractical to use the Clubdoor. This factor was one which turned me off the Clubman purchase decision in lieu of a possible future MINI AWD variant with four doors for full front and rear seat access.

Once you start adding acessories, the Clubman S price jumps up into the AUD$60k-70k price range. Australia is currently going through an increase in the luxury vehicle tax rate to 33%, as well as increasing fuel prices (like the US). Add to this the current higher inflation rate, it will be interesting to see what happens to Australia’s MINI sales figures over the next year or two.

RB May 28th, 2008 Link

Good through review, nce read but long like that guy’s reviews over at TwistyBitz.

GregW May 30th, 2008 Link

Well said Aussom - the LHD market people just dont get the inconvenience of the Clubdoor or give a hoot.