| Long Term Test | MINI Clubman John Cooper Works |
| Arrival date: | | August 2009 |
| Price: | | £24,610 (including £2,380 of options) |
| Current mileage: | | 1,742 miles |
| Average economy: | | 27.2mpg |
| Relevant links: | |
First drive of MINI Clubman JCW
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Been anywhere interesting?
Actually, no. Well, not to anyone but the O' Donoghue household anyway... The MINI has been drafted in for the daily commute and ferrying our son to and from the crèche, which means that it's not really had a chance to stretch its legs in a while. Mostly urban driving has resulted in the average fuel economy figure dropping to 27.7mpg.
In being used as a family car it gave us the opportunity to try out the back seat for size in terms of child seats. Skip to the next paragraph if you don't want to hear about baby chairs... Researching the subject online lead to inconclusive results, with some forum contributors suggesting that the seat belts in the Clubman are not suitable for child seats. That's utter nonsense though. We recently purchased the Maxi Cosi Axiss, which looks like a comfy way to travel to me. It's a bulky seat though as it reclines and twists towards the doorway to make life easier for parents with hands full of baby, change bags, toys and the like. Anyway, it fits in the Clubman without an issue, though the twisting feature is a little useless with the design of the MINI. We also tried out one of MINI's own lightweight child seats. It takes up a lot less room, though isn't as comfy as the Maxi Cosi, well not for our young son anyway. He might prefer the MINI item when he's a little bigger.
Anything stand out...?
How lively this Clubman feels, even when you're just ambling around town. You're never left in any doubt as to the car's sporting remit. The steering is ultra quick, the brake pedal solid and response to the throttle instantaneous. That's even in its default setting. Press the 'Sport' button and the steering gets a little heavier and the accelerator pedal is even more responsive. It takes plenty of self discipline to keep to the speed limit, especially as the exhaust note is so pleasing at higher revs.
...and for the wrong reasons?
Visibility. The design of the 'Clubdoor' really obstructs your over-the-shoulder view out of the Clubman. It's a pity that MINI didn't re-engineer the body to have the extra opening on the correct side for right-hand drive cars. We can understand the economic reasons for it and we're getting used to the practicalities of the design, but there's no way around the visibility issue.
Where next?
More of the same for the immediate future, which means plenty of use as a family car. I'd hope to find time for a couple of more exciting drives too and we like the idea of a hillclimb or time trial or something to show off the Clubman's performance.
