Category: Superminis 
Price Range: £13,330 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 rear-hinged club door can only be opened, by internal handle, when the front door is open. It's on the right of the Clubman, meaning that in right-hand-drive cars it opens out on the road rather than towards the pavement if the car is parked in the direction of traffic. BMW says that redesigning this for right-hand-drive cars would have been far too expensive, given that it would have involved repositioning the fuel tank, fuel filler and other crucial components. In practice, this door barely adds to the Clubman's practicality: the wide left-hand door gives access to the rear anyway, aided by the forward-folding driver's seat.
Not that adults will be wanting to climb in the back. While it's roomier than the hatch, the Clubman's still pretty cramped, even in the two-rear-seat format, a no-cost option. The rear windows do not open.
Load space is more generous than in the hatch, with up to 260 litres in the boot, which has a roll-out load area cover, and 930 litres with the rear seats folded. But the Clubman is still no load-lugging estate car. Its roof is a little higher than the hatchback's, but the load bay is rather shallow, restricted by the rear suspension. The rear seats split 50:50 and fold flat, but are set high and do not tumble forwards, and the underfloor storage tray does not add much capacity. Still, whoever bought a Mini for its utility?
The driving position is good, the seats comfortable and supportive, and the controls well laid out, but the Clubman can be noisy. That's especially true of the diesel, a joint enterprise with Peugeot; BMW says it's working on the soundproofing. The ride is firm and unforgiving, especially in the Cooper S with its 16" wheels and runflat tyres. There's a sports suspension option, but even the standard layout is plenty low and stiff enough. The firmer upgrade, like the 17" wheel option, is strictly for the hardcore.
Not much kit is provided as standard. Everyone gets a single-slot CD, electric door mirrors and front windows, height-adjustable driver's seat and remote central locking, but air conditioning or climate control are cost options even in the Cooper S.
Other options include a full-length glass sunroof, satellite navigation, 12 different alloy wheel designs, bike carriers and, from 2008, roof rails. We predict many £25,000-plus Clubmans on the road: as with the other new-age Minis, money (and value for money) is not really an object when you want one of these badly enough, nor indeed do its shortcomings matter one jot.
