RE: Mini Clubman set to bow out with Final Edition

[Zetec-S]

Robertb said:

I’m probably in a minority but I think that has lots of character… I like it!

Agreed.

Mrs ZS had a Clubman Cooper S for a couple of years, mainly because she needed a bigger boot than her previous 3 door had, but she likes MINI's so wanted to stick with the brand. It was a great car, fun to drive and practical. Obviously the looks are subjective, but we liked it, so who cares what other people think. Likewise when the occasional dinosaur comments that "it isn't a proper Mini"

[Martin 480 Turbo]

Dear Mini marketing and design team,

thank you for plastering these 1969 stickers on the runout edition of this travesty of a Clubman Mini. Your desperate attempts to link this overweight, bourgeois blob to the swinging 60ies London gives me an excuse link one of the best Stones songs of all time:

https://youtu.be/pXP1MSFwMnc


You're out of touch, my baby
My poor, unfaithful baby
I said, baby, baby, baby, you're out of time
Well, baby, baby, baby, you're out of time
I said, baby, baby, baby, you're out of time
Yes, you are left out
Out of there without a doubt, 'cause
Baby, baby, baby, you're out of time
You thought you were a clever girl (clever girl)
Giving up your social whirl (social whirl)
But you can't come back and be the first in line, oh no
You're obsolete, my baby
My poor old-fashioned baby
I said, baby, baby, baby, you're out of time
Well, baby, baby, baby, you're out of time
I said, baby, baby, baby, you're out of time
Yes, you are left out
Out of there without a doubt, 'cause
Baby, baby, baby, you're out of time
Sing the song now


You say that was a very shallow excuse to play that tune? Well, you started it!

Edited by Martin 480 Turbo on Wednesday 22 March 09:30

Edited by Martin 480 Turbo on Wednesday 22 March 09:31

[Fetchez la vache]

TBH I'd go so far as to say that the R55 clubman is the best looking of the BMW Minis full stop.
Almost bought one at the time but was disappointed with the boot space but looking back so long as you don't think of it as an estate for practical reasons it was a winner.

[66HFM]

I was born in the 60's and my first car was a bright yellow Mini Clubman, which lookswise I turned into a 1275GT, if not performance wise...

I had an R55 Mini Clubman and thought it looked quite smart, it was a bit more practical than the previous Mini hatchbacks I'd had before, I couldn't wait to get rid of the runflats on it...

I also had a Gen 2 Clubman for 3 days as the local dealer was doing a 3 day loan of one, I thought it was ok but it lost some of the looks and was a noticeably much larger car... maybe it will grow on me but not convinced... I'm tempted to go back to an R55...

I can't quite see me paying £37k for this but there again I don't necessarily have £37k laying around...

[nickfrog]

Martin 480 Turbo said:

Dear Mini marketing and design team,

thank you for plastering these 1969 stickers on the runout edition of this travesty of a Clubman Mini. Your desperate attempts to link this overweight, bourgeois blob to the swinging 60ies London gives me an excuse link one of the best Stones songs of all time:

Some very good points despite the flippant tone.

But only if you can't see past the marketing and judge a car for its merits.

The irony.

[cerb4.5lee]

nickfrog said:

Motospook said:

Hmmm, I was born in 1969 and love (proper) Minis. I have fond memories of the school run in my Mum's original Clubman (minus seatbelts of course) until rust and woodworm got the better of it. That said, no amount of fond memories would make me fork out an extra £3k (let alone the base £34k) for the steaming pile that this car is. Yet another indication that BMW has sadly lost the plot.

Born in 69 too so I can appreciate a bit of nostalgia. I however found the original MINI useless, I could never sit comfortably in it and I am only 6ft / slim.

For me the "proper" MINI are the modern ones as they are usable as everyday cars that don't rust. In fact they have become excellent cars that retain their value well and drive surprisingly neutrally. Yet another BMW success basically.

They do feel like a baby BMW inside and I really like that about them. I have always sung the praises of the interior with the current modern MINI and that is one of the best bits for me. I was surprised at how poor the B38(3 cylinder 1.5) engine was to use and listen to though in the Cooper version of these, especially in comparison to the B48(4 cylinder 2.0) engine that I had in the F56 3dr Cooper S. I thought that they would sound and feel very similar with them being part of the same modular engine family in all honesty.

I'm guessing that the B38 3 cylinder engine has far too much work to do though in the bigger/heavier body of the Clubman, and I presume that it is more of a better fit to the smaller/lighter F56 3dr MINI in comparison.

[Court_S]

cerb4.5lee said:

They do feel like a baby BMW inside and I really like that about them. I have always sung the praises of the interior with the current modern MINI and that is one of the best bits for me. I was surprised at how poor the B38(3 cylinder 1.5) engine was to use and listen to though in the Cooper version of these, especially in comparison to the B48(4 cylinder 2.0) engine that I had in the F56 3dr Cooper S. I thought that they would sound and feel very similar with them being part of the same modular engine family in all honesty.

I'm guessing that the B38 3 cylinder engine has far too much work to do though in the bigger/heavier body of the Clubman, and I presume that it is more of a better fit to the smaller/lighter F56 3dr MINI in comparison.

The latest MINI interior is a massive step on from the previous versions especially once they fixed the fuel gauge which always looked like a massive afterthought to me. But, in getting more gown up they lost all of the fun factor or the earlier cars, especially the first gen which to my eyes are the best looking of the new MINI’s.

As an engine, the B38 s fine in the right car; I really liked it in our Cooper. But that’s obviously a much smaller, lighter car than the Clubman. It was also pre-OPF’s and manual. I can’t see it working that well in an auto.

[vikingaero]

nickfrog said:

Martin 480 Turbo said:

Dear Mini marketing and design team,

thank you for plastering these 1969 stickers on the runout edition of this travesty of a Clubman Mini. Your desperate attempts to link this overweight, bourgeois blob to the swinging 60ies London gives me an excuse link one of the best Stones songs of all time:

Some very good points despite the flippant tone.

But only if you can't see past the marketing and judge a car for its merits.

The irony.

I find it quite strange that mainstream manufacturers are indulging in have First and Final Editions on run of the mill cars. It's nothing more than marketing BS. I remember a few years ago, someone selling a Kia Sportage First Edition and it was priced around £5k above other Sportages. The guy was convinced it was valuable and each month you would see a price drop as it remained unsold.

[edc]

C.A.R. said:

The earlier (R55) was a much cooler car, this is too bloated and the styling too fussy. The interior does look a lovely place to sit, though.

Trying to justify replacing our massive SUV with a Clubman now that we have an EV for 90% of family duties. Seems silly to be running a 2.0 diesel Tiguan for short trips. But on the odd occasion we need to get all 5 of us in, I think we'd struggle with the R55 Clubman?

I've just picked up an F60 Countryman as second/back up family car but more often for 1 person occasional commuting. For short trips the phev version is probably a good bet. You could get 5 in for short trips.

[wpa1975]

Nope, that is awful especially the wheels.

[paulrockliffe]

vikingaero said:

I find it quite strange that mainstream manufacturers are indulging in have First and Final Editions on run of the mill cars. It's nothing more than marketing BS. I remember a few years ago, someone selling a Kia Sportage First Edition and it was priced around £5k above other Sportages. The guy was convinced it was valuable and each month you would see a price drop as it remained unsold.

What's the reason for it being a final edition? It's because no one is buying them, they have spares they can't shift. Back in the day it would be the dealers left with ste they couldn't shift that would tart them up and try the 'Special Edition' nonsense, but now it's the manufacturers at it.

[Motormatt]

paulrockliffe said:

£37,000. Black plastic ste everywhere. WTF.

When its replacement comes along in the form of another quasi-SUV EV with an even cheaper interior that 'starts' at £45k you'll look back at this and think it was good value.

[DaveyBoyWonder]

HorneyMX5 said:

I owned an R55 clubman and rate it as one of the best cars I’ve ever owned. Small, nimble, frugal and practical. The suicide door was quirky and it handled better than the hatch IMO.

The Gen 2 Clubman lost its way. It’s massive compared to the hatch and just looks all kinds of wrong.

Not sure where MINI sit in the electric future of BMW, but this suggests small estate cars are not it.

Same - I loved my old R55 and if I needed a new car with a semi-usable boot, I'd be after a JCW.

[Rich Boy Spanner]

The thing is though, that they will sell every one of them. As much as I agree with most of the comments above if a car manufacturer marketing department wanted success it would do the opposite of is written on PH forums. These Mini's only exist anyway because the British were utterly ste at managing car manufacturing and the Germans bought it.

[paulrockliffe]

Motormatt said:

paulrockliffe said:

£37,000. Black plastic ste everywhere. WTF.

When its replacement comes along in the form of another quasi-SUV EV with an even cheaper interior that 'starts' at £45k you'll look back at this and think it was good value.

Ha ha, no I won't look back at this, ever.

I meant the exterior, I don't understand how people let them (and all the others) get away with putting matt black plastic crap around the wheel arches, bumpers and sills on a car that's nearly £40k.

[Black S2K]

nickfrog said:

Motospook said:

Hmmm, I was born in 1969 and love (proper) Minis. I have fond memories of the school run in my Mum's original Clubman (minus seatbelts of course) until rust and woodworm got the better of it. That said, no amount of fond memories would make me fork out an extra £3k (let alone the base £34k) for the steaming pile that this car is. Yet another indication that BMW has sadly lost the plot.

Born in 69 too so I can appreciate a bit of nostalgia. I however found the original MINI useless, I could never sit comfortably in it and I am only 6ft / slim.

For me the "proper" MINI are the modern ones as they are usable as everyday cars that don't rust. In fact they have become excellent cars that retain their value well and drive surprisingly neutrally. Yet another BMW success basically.

In '69 it was already a decade old and the market was moving rapidly in those days. Autobianchi & FIAT were about to change things quite markedly.

Minis were almost quasi-classic by then and the Clubfoot was only really a fudge as the company was too broke to afford the clever proposals for a replacement, such as the clever, pretty and too costly 9X.

Innocenti did at least put some half-decent seats and better-quality fittings into their Minis.

I quite enjoy a hoon around in a Mini, but the fun gets tiresome really quickly.

But the MINI is a far more useable proposition entirely - and still quite customisable.

[nickfrog]

paulrockliffe said:

Ha ha, no I won't look back at this, ever.

I meant the exterior, I don't understand how people let them (and all the others) get away with putting matt black plastic crap around the wheel arches, bumpers and sills on a car that's nearly £40k.

I kind of understand what you're saying from a value perception point of view. It would be nicer if the trim was actually gloss black. But then again whenever I see a MINI with painted trim, I feel it looks weird. I actually quite like the black trim on my JCW although it needs a gtechniq treatment to stay black for more than 23 seconds...

[MBVitoria]

twokcc said:

Like the colour but cant see me changing my 2018 Cooper S for one of these.
Could never understand why the frameless front doors disappeared on 5 door/clubman etc

Same, I loved the frameless windows, brought back memories of my dad's old MGB.

[braddo]

cerb4.5lee said:

I'm guessing that the B38 3 cylinder engine has far too much work to do though in the bigger/heavier body of the Clubman, and I presume that it is more of a better fit to the smaller/lighter F56 3dr MINI in comparison.

You need to keep reminding yourself that most people don't daily cars as quick as yours!

The Cooper Clubman with that engine doesn't struggle remotely - it's tuned to drive like a diesel so has lots of low-down thrust (for a car that does 0-60 in 9 secs) and power trails off very markedly after mid-revs.

But - a remap unlocks 40hp! So I think what they've done is make a motor that is comfortably 170hp in order to get the low-down diesel-style torque, then it's tuned to reduce the boost right down at higher revs so that max power is only 130hp for their mid-range model.

Like the Countryman they are a maxi Mini and the bloated face doesn't work for me, but I like the rest of the styling and they're still a light and good-to-drive car. They're certainly popular in my next of the woods. It's just that they're Golf sized (they are based on the 1-series platform, hence being so much bigger). We needed room for 3 in the back which ruled out the older Clubman and the normal Minis.

[cerb4.5lee]

braddo said:

cerb4.5lee said:

I'm guessing that the B38 3 cylinder engine has far too much work to do though in the bigger/heavier body of the Clubman, and I presume that it is more of a better fit to the smaller/lighter F56 3dr MINI in comparison.

You need to keep reminding yourself that most people don't daily cars as quick as yours!

The Cooper Clubman with that engine doesn't struggle remotely - it's tuned to drive like a diesel so has lots of low-down thrust (for a car that does 0-60 in 9 secs) and power trails off very markedly after mid-revs.

But - a remap unlocks 40hp! So I think what they've done is make a motor that is comfortably 170hp in order to get the low-down diesel-style torque, then it's tuned to reduce the boost right down at higher revs so that max power is only 130hp for their mid-range model.

Like the Countryman they are a maxi Mini and the bloated face doesn't work for me, but I like the rest of the styling and they're still a light and good-to-drive car. They're certainly popular in my next of the woods. It's just that they're Golf sized (they are based on the 1-series platform, hence being so much bigger). We needed room for 3 in the back which ruled out the older Clubman and the normal Minis.

I do get really obsessed with bhp/torque/performance figures etc don't I?!

I did rate it to drive to be fair, and I liked the steering, plus the ride was miles better than what it is in the M4 for example. I do really struggle to get on with the exterior looks though, however I do always enjoy being in the cabin with a MINI for definite.

I do seem to keep getting conned when it comes to 3 cylinder engines though, and I've read many times on here people praising them for their smoothness(plus the 3 cylinder engine in the GR Yaris seems to be highly rated...or at least nobody seems to slate it anyway), but the 2 I've used have been a bit rough and ready and not much to listen to for me.