Peter Hall gets in and out of the new MINI Clubman, whose extra side door has prompted some controversy
Sorry, I forgot
to ask the Germans why they chose the Clubman name for the new estate version
of the MINI, rather than
Traveller or Countryman (yes I know there was a wagon version of the old
Clubman, but the name really identified the
squared-off hood).
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I also forgot to make any jokes about the 1966 World Cup, or to mention the war.
Fact is, having
voiced the main British complaint about the latest MINI, that it has turned
its back on the British market,
I was too busy trying to understand the answer.
The question is
why the Clubman's extra side door (rear-hinged, so generically known as a
"suicide" door) is only available
on the right-hand side. That's the offside in Britain, so rear-seat passengers
taking advantage of the wider door aperture
must step out into the road rather than onto the sidewalk.
As I recall, the
explanation went something like this: "The driver doesn't have to walk around
the car to open what we call the
Clubdoor, which is more convenient." And more dangerous.
"No. Only the
driver can open the Clubdoor. He can see gaps in the traffic and control the
passengers' exit."
Not a suicide door, then, more an assisted suicide door. In London there
are no gaps in the traffic.
And how controllable are a couple of lively children?
"Because the driver's
door must be open, passing vehicles must give you space.
It sticks out farther than the Clubdoor, creating a safe area to step out
into. And the driver is always in control".
Maybe German Kinder are more obedient than British kids.
"And in Britain you can park on the other side of the road, which is illegal in Germany."
Have you tried it in London?
"If you are really
concerned, you can always tell people to get out through the normal door,
as they would in the hatchback."
Okay. Safety is the driver's responsibility. But then you don't have the
advantage of easy access, now that the Clubman's
extra length allows the rear seats to be set farther back.
"But it only affects
the quarter of British MINI buyers expected to take the Clubman. Britain
is the biggest market, but it is only
a quarter of the global total. Should we not make the Clubman at all, because
six per cent of buyers can't make full use of it?"
So it was a democratic decision?
"Having the Clubdoor
on the other side, or on either side, would have meant re-engineering the
whole chassis, moving the
fuel tank rearwards into a less safe position, redesigning the fuel system
and doing a whole set of new crash tests.
It would have been prohibitively expensive." So it really comes down to
cost.
"Yes." So why bother with a Clubdoor? A MINI estate would be desirable even without it. It would weigh less and cost less.
"But the Clubdoor
makes things more convenient, especially for access, now that the Clubman's
extra length allows the
rear sets to be set farther back." Except in Germany, the driver has to
walk around the car.
"Yes, but..."
You get the drift. It's a circular argument, evidently well rehearsed by BMW
men who expected criticism from
British journalists, not to mention British motorists.
But the unavoidable
truth is that those of us who drive on the left are in a minority, and in
the cold light of a corporate accountant's
desk lamp, we count for a lot less than the rest of the world put together.
Ironically, it is the structure of the British (MG Rover)
design of the 2001 MINI that makes it uneconomic to produce a Clubman tailored
for the British market, but then it was never
foreseen that the MINI would be quite so successful, selling more than a
million worldwide and spawning several derivatives.
At face value,
then, the Clubman is a useful small wagon that retains all the styling cues
that have made the MINI so popular.
From the driving
seat forward, it is almost identical to the three-door car, but the extra
3.15in in the wheelbase allows
more legroom in the rear seats, which can now accommodate three (slim) 6ft
adults without too much of a squeeze.
At 155in overall,
it is 9.5in longer than the hatch. And the extended luggage area will swallow
91cu ft of stuff - slightly more
with one or more of the split rear seats locked into an upright position
(acceptable for short journeys) - or 32.6cu ft with the
seats folded flat Even with another 50 litres of space beneath the boot
floor, this is not a massive capacity and the rear
aperture is shallow.
Yet this is the
first MINI that florists or computer salesmen might consider truly practical
(a panel van is not officially on the
cards, but don't bet against it). Access to the luggage area is via two
side-hinged doors (with apertures for the lights),
like the old Traveller/Countryman; the contrasting C-pillars even offer
a faint echo of those cars' decorative wood trim.
The vertical strip that splits the driver's rear view is less of a problem
than might be imagined, although on a straight road
it could obscure a motorcycle or more distant car dead astern.
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The infamous Clubdoor
is actually very useful where you have a driveway or other traffic-free space
to work in.
It may only be opened (by means of a handle on the inside edge) when the
adjacent front door is also open, and with a
folding/sliding front seat it gives much improved access to the rear seats
and any child seats thereon.
The front seatbelt
is anchored to the bottom of the Clubdoor (which incorporates the B-pillar)
and looks like a trip hazard,
but presents no obstacle to a sober adult; a less coordinated child might
find it more of a problem.
On the other,
"normal" side, passenger access to the rear seats is no more difficult than
in the hatchback, but attending to
a child will be more difficult because the seats are farther back.
As for the driving
experience, it feels very much like the three-door MINI, pleasantly refined
but slightly lacking the much-vaunted
"go-kart feeling" of the 2001 model. With its longer wheelbase, the Clubman
feels slightly less nimble on really tight bends.
But the Cooper S versions available at the launch (all with locked rear
differentials for "maximum sportiness") still felt
impressively powerful and responsive, despite being some 200 lbs heavier
than the three-door (more or less the weight of an
adult male passenger); the top speed is unaffected, but 0-62mph acceleration
is slower by half a second.
A small performance
penalty likewise applies to the Cooper and Cooper D (diesel) variants, but
by way of compensation,
all are now equipped with BMW's latest brake energy regeneration system
and an automatic stop-start function, which cuts
the engine when the car is stationary (restarting when the clutch pedal
is depressed). As a result, fuel consumption is significantly
improved; the six-speed automatic transmission option is slightly less frugal.
Another small but welcome tweak is the addition of
a digital speed readout on the rev counter, in response to complaints that
the large central speedo can be difficult to read.
Although the Clubman's
suspension is more compliant than the hatch, buyers would still be well advised
to think carefully
before specifying the ride-stiffening sports suspension and low-profile
tyres, which seem particularly inappropriate on a
load-carrier.
The tempting options
list is also dangerous territory, given that the price of even the cheapest
(Cooper) Clubman starts at C$28,000
with the Cooper D at C$30,000 and the Cooper S at a hefty C$34,000
But just as the
new MINI has outgrown its cheap, utilitarian roots, the new Clubman cannot
- and does not - claim to be the last
word in practical workaday transport. For that reason alone, the offside
Clubdoor conundrum may be regarded as slightly academic.
Patriotic gearheads should perhaps take more comfort from the fact that
the British-inspired, British-designed, British-built MINI
is such a roaring success all over the world, and look forward to the next
development. In a couple of years, we should see a
four-wheel-drive MINI SUV, for example
- although with the Oxford factory working to capacity, it might have to
be built in Eastern Europe!
You can imagine
the headlines if that happens. Isn't the MINI supposed to be British?
Well, maybe. But don't forget that it's built by BMW, not BMC.
MINI Clubman
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Engine/transmission:
1,598cc, inline four-cylinder, turbocharged petrol
with DOHC and four valves per cylinder; 175bhp at 5,500rpm, 177lb ft of
torque from 1,600-5,000rpm, 191lb ft from 1,700-4,500rpm with overboost.
Cooper, as above but naturally aspirated; 120bhp at 6,000rpm, 118lb ft at
4,250rpm. Cooper Diesel, 1,560cc inline four-cylinder diesel with four valves
per cylinder; 110bhp at 4,000rpm, 117lb ft at 1,750-2,000rpm, 192lb ft with
overboost. Six-speed manual or automatic gearbox, front-wheel drive.
Performance: Cooper S/Cooper/Cooper Diesel top speed 139/125/120mph manual or 136/121/117mph auto, 0-62mph in 7.6/9.8/10.4sec manual or 7.8/10.9/10.9sec auto, fuel consumption 35.3/39.8/57.7mpg manual or 28.8/30.7/42.8mpg auto,
We like: Extra space.
We don't like: Not everyone drives on the left.
