The 21st century Mini Clubman came to light in 2005 as the Mini Traveller concept car at the Frankfurt Auto Show, a follow-on (after some lag) of the 1950s Morris Mini Traveller.Compared to the current stable of Minis, this one is about 9 inches longer. The iconic side-hinged rear doors return from the '50s. The right side has a second rear-hinged suicide door and it's right side for all the world's models, meaning for most of the world, it's a passenger door, while for the UK market it's a door allowing the driver access to the less cramped, but still tight rear seat. Clubman is 156 inches, an increase of 9 inches. It's set to be available in the U.S. in late winter or early spring 2008 with the same engines as on the Cooper and Cooper S. Europeans will get a diesel option and also a start/stop feature that we won't. Estimates have the price at about a 15% premium over the hardtops. Mini isn't using the name Traveller because of same name-ownership issues around the world, and discarded another possibility, Countryman, because it conjured up the wrong image for where the car would be most used. Here's what others have to say about Clubman: Edmunds.com Car and Driver (First Drive)
My wife and I checked one out... We have two little kids, 1 and 3. The half-door would be great for getting them in and out. But with my current 02 MCS, I've developed techniques that don't require me to be that much of a gymnast. While there is a bit of a premium for the Clubman in base price, it does come standard with DSC, a $500 option on the Coupe. Also, as you add options the absolute delta remains the same, so as a percentage it's not that different on a well optioned car (and like all BMWs, even Minis can add tons of $ in options). Some of the other nice features not mentioned above are that the rear seats fold flat, and there is some storage capacity below the rear area, making it much more storage friendly. We priced a close to stripper out (not a turbo) at $22,600 MSRP. It should get in the low 30 MPGs combined, so the gas savings alone over our MDX should pay a good portion of the bill. Matt
Review . . . . . Clubman Review . . . . enjoy . . . . http://www.latimes.com/classified/automotive/highway1/la-hy-neil12mar12,0,7344945.story
Clubman S For the cost the Clubman S is a lot of car. Being able to outfit it with Nav, heated seats, bluetooth, ipod/MP3 and more for about 33k is not bad. Add the BMW turbo engine and almost hybrid like gas mileage this car is a great value. Too bad BMW does not provide any kind of BMW rebate for it.
