Autoblog Garage: ’08 Clubman

Sections: In the Press | R55 (Clubman) May 27th, 2008 8 Comments

Autoblog.com recently posted one of the most glowing reviews of a Clubman I’ve seen. And, it was just a Clubman, not an S. A very favorable review.

The mini door is especially handy is if you have kids. I positioned my 2-year-old son’s car seat on the side with the Clubman-door, since that gave me more room to work with when it came time to buckle him in. My daughter, age 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 digging under the cushions is necessary. As a people carrier, the Clubman is a substantial improvement over the regular Cooper, whose back seats are sized for miniature pinschers and Micronauts.

Of course they have issues with the rear doors.

One thing that’s genuinely annoying about the Clubman is its rearward visibility (or, more precisely, the lack thereof). The barn doors look neat and all, but when closed, their meeting point obscures the middle third of the rearview mirror, rendering it essentially useless.

They did, however,like the way it drove.

Driving the Clubman is a great source of amusement. Give it a head of steam, hustle it along a curvy stretch of tarmac and watch the smiles come. It’s not all-powerful, but it’s wonderfully sorted, well-behaved and predictable, doing what you ask of it with little fuss. Torque steer is nonexistent with the base motor, which is just as happy to putter around in errand mode as it is for you to put the spurs to it when the road and conditions allow.

[ In the Autoblog Garage: 2008 MINI Cooper Clubman ] Autoblog.com

Written By: DB

ontheroadagain

I have the MCC – but the automatic in which the sport button really does make a difference. Hard to believe it doesn’t in the standard shift version.

Someday, I’d love to have a review about a really basic version – no sports suspension, etc., just the basics with the basic price. You can get a lot of MINI for a pretty reasonable price if you don’t add in extras, though I’ll admit it’s hard not to. ;-)

Thanks for posting!
C4

Hopefully, I’ll get around getting my review completed. I have a bare-bones basic ’08 Clubman S No options other than automatic, MFSW, rear fogs and metallic paint.
GregW

ontheroadagain – yes many people would prefer the choice of a Mini One Clubman, a basic version. This is not available in any market. Mini One coupe is available in most markets outside USA. The rear vision through the rear doors takes time to get used to. A good driver will also use the two exterior mirrors for rear view and reversing situations. If there are three people in the back seat your rear view is restricted anyhow.
C4

The rear visibility in the Clubman being a problem is a highly over-cooked claim made by some in the automotive press. I haven’t had any problems backing out of tight spaces in the Clubman, and the rear center pillar is not nearly as bothersome as the roll over bars of the R52 MINI Cabrio.

Within 5 minutes of my first drive in the Clubman, I was already used to its fairly good outward visibility.
rkw

DB, showing some bias here: “And, it was just a Clubman, not an S.”
http://dbmini.us DB

Yes, that is exactly what I typed.

Shocking since the R56 MC and Clubman don’t always review as well as the MCS or the Clubman S. I was amazed to see such a positive review.

‘Cause y’all know I’m all about the justacooper. Good chance when the times comes, this will be the next MINI in my driveway.
C4

I had a Cooper Clubman auto dealer loaner a month or so ago. Nice car overall, but the Cooper’s N/A engine does work a little overtime to haul the extra 200 or so pounds of added weight in the Clubman.

To me the turbocharged Clubman is a no brainer. The car simply drives better with the forced induction motor.

If you are going to drive your Clubman out in the highway 60%+ of the time, get the S. Worth every penny.
Winstons_Mum

I never had a problem with the visibility thru the rear windows. And, to make matters worse, half of one of the barn door windows was covered with my temporary Pennsylvania registration tag. What I did have a problem with was looking thru the front window. It seemed that the rear view mirror was extrememly large and blocking a lot of the view thru the front window. After 2 months, I’m used to it now, but it was bothersome at first.

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