It’s not cheap, particularly spacious, or even that practical.
Yet this is the car that the more style-conscious among us will be drooling over for the foreseeable future - or at least until the new Fiat 500 arrives in the UK next year…
The Clubman is the much-vaunted estate version of the hugely-successful MINI and its boxy, van-like look harks back to the wooden-framed Morris Mini Traveller or Austin Countryman of the 1960s.
This time round there’s no wood, but the doors at the back open in the same fashion and the Clubman adopts a number of styling cues from its forbears.
The new vehicle ostensibly sets out to address the main criticism levelled against the MINI hatch - its lack of space, both in the back and in the boot.
The theory was that a larger vehicle would make the MINI brand a more practical proposition for families, or those with active lifestyles requiring more room in their car to accommodate their gear.
So, the Clubman is 25cm (ten inches) longer than the hatch but the designers decided that it should be no longer than 4m in total so as not to impinge on the car’s traditional go-kart-style handling ability.
The extra room means boot space has been increased by nearly two thirds: there’s 260 litres compared with the hatchback’s 160 litres.
This may sound impressive but the original boot was so small that, in practice, the extra space is suitable only for a couple of holdalls. With the rear seats folded flat there’s a reasonable 930 litres - but this is no load-lugging machine.
While there’s more legroom in the back than in the hatch, claims that the rear seats will accommodate three adults should be taken with a pinch of salt.
We tried and couldn’t manage it - though a trio of size zero models might have more luck. More realistically, the back is good for two adults and a (small) child at best.
The Clubman’s other notable feature is its door layout. Apart from the two regular ones at the front, there’s a small ‘club door’ behind the driver’s door and a brace of ‘dining room’ doors at the back.
It seems the plan had been to switch the location of the rear ’suicide’ door (as these forward-opening doors are called) to the passenger side for the UK market, so passengers would not have to exit the vehicle into the road.
But the cost of shifting the fuel tank proved too prohibitive for BMW’s accountants, so the design team had to leave the club door where it was.
Having the rear door on the driver’s side of the vehicle is clearly not suitable for mums looking to extricate young children from the car but it’s useful if you want to sling a bag or two into the back.
The back doors are funky-looking affairs which operate by gliding on gas runners. Each door has a cutout section which enables the rear light clusters to stay in place.
But there’s an issue with visibility. The door frames cause a substantial blind spot in the middle of the rearview mirror, easily big enough to obscure a motorcyclist or a child on a bike.
Each back window has its own little wiper, which is just as well, as the back of the car is a magnet for mud and and dust.
The Clubman is up to 85kg heavier than the hatch so it’s pleasing to report that its handling abiltities remain largely intact. It’s as ‘chuckable’ as the hatch through corners and just as much fun to drive.
So which engine should you go for? A quick look at the spec of the three power plants on offer would suggest one realistic choice.
The 1.6 Cooper D diesel offers more than 60mpg, decent acceleration, masses of torque and a CO2 figure so low that the car does not incur the London Congestion Charge.
In practice, however, there are good reasons for considering either of the two petrol alternatives instead. The diesel may be a superbly efficient piece of kit but it really does clatter. It also weighs more than the petrol engines, which makes it more nose-heavy through bends.
I drove the 120bhp petrol engine and thought its peppy nature an ideal match for the Clubman. The engine, one of the latest fruits of the engineering link-up between BMW and Peugeot, loves to rev and sounds great too.
It’s also around £1,200 cheaper than the diesel, which frees up cash for all those add-ons that MINI drivers simply cannot do without, and while it is not as economical as the ‘D’, it’s not that far off if driven sensibly.
Of course, the barnstorming Cooper S is the pick of the range if you’re looking for performance and it really is a hoot to drive. It sounds slightly less throaty than its hatchback counterpart but will still scorch to 60mph in seven-and-a-half seconds, with only a smidgen of torque steer to worry about.
There’s a Sport button on the S which sharpens up throttle response and adds weight to the steering - too much weight in my opinion. You can opt for sports suspension too but this does make the ride harsh at low speeds.
The gears are slick shifting, whichever Cooper you choose, and there should be no worries about the brakes.
All Clubmans come with electronic safety aids, along with the latest energy-saving technology from BMW. Halt at traffic lights and the engine automatically cuts out, saving fuel. Engage the clutch and it starts itself again instantly.
The cars also have regenerative braking which eases the strain on the engine by charging the battery only when the car is slowing down or braking. The emission figures for all models are highly competitive.
There are plenty of opportunities for customisation, of course, and such is the flexibility of the MINI plant at Oxford that you can change your options as late as a week prior to delivery.
Plenty of colour combinations and internal trim finishes are available - the thing to remember is the roof and pillars are available only in silver or black.
There’s also a new colour, exclusive to the Clubman, a metallic dark brown called Hot Chocolate. It looks better than it sounds but perhaps needs a cream roof colour to set it off, rather than the silver or black.
As is usual with MINIs a range of option packs (branded either Chili or Pepper) is available. These bundled extras cost between £1,110 and £2,135 and look good value for money until you realise they mask the fact that air conditioning does not come as standard.
No such worries about the outstanding TLC servicing package, which covers servicing for the first five years/50,000 miles for just £150.
The Clubman may have its flaws but not enough to affect its desirablility - which is why BMW already has 1,500 orders for them. Sure, it’s pricey to buy and there’s a premium of around £1,200 compared with the equivalent MINI hatch. But what else is there?
The main rival to the cheaper Clubmans would appear to be the Peugeot 207 SW which is more spacious and comes with more kit but is less funky.
There’s Volvo’s C30, whose drive doesn’t match its looks, or a range of stylish Alfas, none of whose residual values are going to be as strong as those of the MINI.
There are some excellent hot hatches around too - but it’s worth noting that for not much more than the price of a Clubman Cooper S with an option pack and some additional extras you could have a BMW 318 Touring, if you need more space, or a Mazda RX-8 if you want even sharper performance and a full quota of ’suicide’ doors.
But there’s nothing else on the market that offers the MINI’s combination of stylish good looks, driveabililty, high build quality and unbeatable residual values.
Which is why BMW can, and does, charge a premium for them.
By Peter Carroll
MINI FACT FILE
Model range: Cooper, Cooper D, Cooper S
Price range: Cooper £14,235, Cooper D £15,400, Cooper S £17,210 on the road
Engine: 1,598cc, four-cylinder, petrol, 1,560cc, four-cylinder, diesel, 1.6 turbo-charged petrol, four cylinder
Power: 120 / 110 / 175 bhp
Transmission: Six speed manual, front wheel drive
Performance: 0-62mph in 10.4 / 9.8 / 7.6 seconds
Top speed: 125/120/139mph
Economy: 51.4mpg / 68.9mph / 44.8 mpg on combined cycle
CO2 emissions: 130 / 109 /150 g/km
Length: 3,958mm Weight: 1,280 to 1,305kg
Insurance groups: TBC Servicing: 10,000 then every 15,000 miles
Warranty: Three years / unlimited miles
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