MINI Clubman Cooper S 2016 review
I love the Mini brand, but wonder if the new generation of Clubman is stretching the concept too far from the original.
I love the Mini brand, but wonder if the new generation of Clubman is stretching the concept too far from the original - light, compact, and frugal to run.
It feels more ‘maxi’ at 4,275mm long, it’s stretched by 270mm - and it’s 900mm wider. Add 100mm to the wheelbase over the five-door Mini hatch and it’s certainly not living up to its name.
Park next to a VW Golf hatchback, and it’s 20mm longer while the VW is narrower by 11mm.
Don't get me wrong: it’s a vast improvement on the last generation Clubman, with the bi-parting Clubdoor. The double door dangerously opened on the road side for right-hand markets - not ideal for passenger safety.
At the time when that Clubman series hit the local market, a Mini person told us it that the costs to re-engineer the fuel filler and pipe to the other side for markets like ours were prohibitive.
Was broke, now fixed
So while the last Clubman generation had a club foot, the new one does not. It's a vast improvement and more likely cost other European brands sales in its segment.
It’s more people-friendly, with exit and exit far safer. Retaining the barn doors gives this modern take on the shooting brake more character - and a feel like Mini’s vans and wagons in the 1970s.
One of the Clubman's rear barn doors can now be remotely opened - very useful with racing to the car with an armload of shopping. And with a 360-litre luggage compartment, with the rear seats up, that swells to 1250 with them laid flat, adds up to a very generous load-carrying set-up for a small wagon.
People-friendly interior
The mixture of cloth and leather upholstered sports front seats for the driver and passenger have a heating function and are very easily adjusted, as is the steering wheel for reach and rake easily accommodating 95th percentile humans inside.
Mini retained the large circular screen in the middle of the dash, housing navigation and audio controls, but still reminiscent of the classic Minis’ speedo.
Below that are three small dials, including climate air and ventilation, and underneath, the classic line up of chromed toggle switches.
Mini’s version of BMW's i-drive technology continues with a circular dial - with audio, navigation, Bluetooth and other car functions.
While it might look like a busy dashboard and console thanks to the lashing of chrome and glossy surfaces, the switchgear is all very intuitive and easy to use.
It needs to be. Otherwise, the touchscreen generation would have difficulty getting their heads around it.
Green, Mid, and Sport?
Most manufacturers have three driving modes, Eco, Normal, and Sport, but Mini prefers to call its adjustable settings Green, Mid, and Sport.
In relaxed, fuel-efficient Green mode, the Steptronic automatic engages a coasting function to save fuel further by decoupling the drivetrain between 50km/h and160km/h whenever the driver lifts off the accelerator pedal.
Employing Mid mode is best in daily urban driving, but occasionally flicking into Sport livened up performance and revealed its Jekyll and Hyde character.
Under the bonnet, a 141kW two-litre four-cylinder turbo petrol engine belts 300Nm of torque on overboost through the eight-speed transmission.
Sounding markedly more aggressive than the other settings,
Sport mode unleashes the engine and suspension’s dynamic capability and feels faster than the quoted 0-100km/h time of seven seconds.
Still a go-kart
Mini’s heart and soul has always been its go-kart-like handling and responsiveness to throttle and steering, and the new Cooper S Clubman does not disappoint.
Despite being front-wheel-drive, there is almost zero understeer when cornering, proving an engaging drive on winding rural roads at pace. The wider stance, coupled with the extra length means even pushing it through bends comes without issues.
A torrential downpour on the wildly fun back road between Tuakau and Pukekohe, couldn’t dampen our enjoyment of the very tight and nimble chassis.
This, coupled with some very grippy low profile run-flat tyres, surprisingly didn't transmit much noise, vibration or harshness into the cabin.
Boxes ticked?
Very rarely do you come across such a thing as a bog-standard Mini, with the brand offering one of the highest levels of personalisation available in the new car market. It’s very easy to see how people can spend up to five figures on extra cost options for their new car.
Our 2016 Mini Cooper Clubman had more than $8,550 of additional options fitted which included the $5k ‘Chilli package’ with 18-inch star spoke black wheels, a JCW leather steering wheel, and a Harmon Kardon audio system.
Its chrome line interior and exterior package were $300 each, the metallic paint was $800, a sports automatic transmission was $500, and heated front seats $600.
Mini’s ‘Your Interior’ carbon black was $750, and the contrast roof and mirror cap paint were $300. These options took the price of the car from the standard window price of $49,400 to $58,450.
Conclusion
Despite my initial misgivings, the new Clubman quickly won me over by retaining the brand's quirky design and fun-to-drive character in a much bigger package than ever before. The Cooper S-spec Clubman isn’t just Mini that's grown, but it's also now far more suitable for grown-ups.
Note: This was reviewed as a new vehicle.
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