2011 MINI Cooper Clubman

BMW LONDON 

Clubman is a Mini step toward maxi

The 2011 Clubman takes Mini on a minor step toward maxi without minimizing the fun-to-drive factor for which the little car is famous.

You might call this a two-and-a-half door model because of its “Clubdoor,” a half-door on the right side which opens the back seat to easy access. Or, you could call it a four-and-a-half door because of the two wide-opening barn doors that give easy access to the cargo area.

Any way you count ’em, the doors work well, although the centre bar of the rear doors limit visibility to the rear. That’s not a large price to pay for the convenience of a wide cargo area you can access from left or right—or both

Clubman is longer (by 24 cm) than the regular Mini and the wheelbase is eight cm longer with all of it applied to rear seat legroom. From front bumper to B pillar, it’s obvious this is a Mini, but from the B pillar back, there’s a longer roofline over a much-roomier interior.

Luggage capacity is 260 litres with rear seats up, 930 with them folded down. Two full-size adults can ride in the back in comfort and there’s still room for stuff in the back. With just two people riding, you can tote a sizeable amount of cargo.

All four seats are supportive and comfortable and those extra inches of legroom are appreciated by rear seat riders.

Up front, the Clubman is all Mini, from its round front-and-centre tachometer with digital speedometer display to the even bigger round information centre that’s ringed by the analog speedometer (so big, it’s hard to read). The info centre includes displays for things like vehicle data, phone, radio and CD/multimedia. It’s all accessed by using a small joystick on the centre console.

Toggle switches for windows, lighting, locks, climate control, heated seats and power windows are on the base of the centre stack. Overhead, there are switches for the sunroof, reading lamps and dome light.

Everything quickly becomes intuitive.

Just because it’s bigger, doesn’t mean Clubman handles like a bigger vehicle. It’s still nimble; it’s still quick.

It bears the Cooper badge, which means its power is supplied by a normally aspirated 1.6-litre four-cylinder engine rather than the turbo version in the Cooper S and John Cooper Works machines.

The little four-banger turns out 121 horsepower and 118 lb.-ft. of torque. It doesn’t sound like much, and it isn’t; but when you hook it up to a nifty short-throw six-speed manual transmission, the Mini’s familiar fun factor shows up. All you have to do is row your own gears at the right point in the rev band.

Handling is crisp and the steering responds instantly to driver inputs. This little car practically begs you to find a twisty road and have a ball.

The ride is firm without being harsh, but this isn’t the quietest cabin in the business. Road noise is always present and becomes annoying on an aggregate surface. It’s a good thing you can crank the audio high enough to drown it out. Of course that makes conversation difficult so the choices are: road noise with music or road noise with slightly raised voices in conversation. Either way, it’s a small price to pay for the fun.

Car companies talk about target market demographics, which in the case of Mini is the young, active crowd. At more than $30,000, the word “young” takes on a different meaning, because the audience that can afford it is well over 30 years old.

Not a problem, though, because it appeals to an extremely wide audience, from the very young (my grandson said it was cool), to a friend in a MUCH higher age group (who also thought it was cool).