Category: Superminis 
Price Range: £13,290 to £17,530
Great fun to drive; looks good; fuel-saving tech; it's the latest must-have Mini.
Not particularly practical; expensive; poor rearward visibility; hard ride.
Form over function. Flawed - but immensely desirable.
The Mini's underlying stability, and the electronic aids to support that, should mean no nasty surprises if you overdo it on a fast corner - but if all does go horribly wrong there are six airbags, with the roof-mounted curtain airbags extending further rearwards than in the hatchback. All seats have three-point seatbelts, there are Isofix child seat mounting points on the two outer rear seats, and the front seats have seatbelt pre-tensioners and force limiters.
In a collision, the central locking is automatically deactivated, the fuel pump switched off and hazard lights activated.
The hatchback gets a five-star adult occupant protection score in the Euro NCAP crash tests, with three stars out of five for child protection but just two out of four for pedestrian protection. Despite the different door layout, the Clubman should be similarly solid in an impact.
Security measures include a Thatcham Category 1 alarm.
