Mini Cooper Clubvan: PH Fleet
It's a diesel van not a supercar but it has been hanging out with a few
A hard-working member of the PH team, yesterday
"I really have used the Mini in the most hellish of places... B&Q on a Saturday. The trip confirmed a few things. Anything stored in the back, be it bags of plaster or whatever, will roll around move back and forth and slam into the mesh divide separating the cabin under slight (alright, heavy) braking. It also confirmed the modest length of the boot when my tiny stepladder could only be ferried by leaving the door open. Queue constant 'bong' reminders. Very annoying.
"Much more enjoyable was the Sunday Service at Rolls-Royce where the nice man took the keys and said he'd park it out front next to the Wraith and get it cleaned. Fantastic, except the latter was sadly a joke. I was rather looking forward to the finest RR wax-on wax-off treatment. To the car wash then..."
Shock horror - van doing ... van stuff!
"With the recent slew of PH Sunday Services I've had plenty of time with the Mini. It's a great drive, especially on the B-roads and even around Silverstone (thank you, Britcar), but the biggest challenge I've presented to the van is the all-important trip to Ikea.
"The rear space of the Clubvan is surprisingly small so I made sure to measure carefully the rear depth before making any large purchases. The rear space measures out at 3.5 size 12 loafers [an American unit of measurement for 'trunks' he tells us - Ed.] in depth, which means I just managed to squeeze a medium sized chest of drawers in the back along with a few other random bits. The trip was a success, though I could have done it just as easily in a regular Mini Clubman.
"I've found the Clubvan to be surprisingly impractical as it has only two seats and not much extra space or rear visibility. I suppose it fills a niche, but for my money I'd go with the regular model with extra seats and enjoy the simple pleasure of some rear windows."
The humble van in far from humble company
"In the last few weeks I've done a fair few miles in the Mini, including Sunday Services at Aston Martin and Vauxhall plus the Wilton House run.
"The Mini has served me well in the early mornings, the climate control able to fight off the worst advances of the mid-summer heat while also ridding me of that early morning chill.
"On the run down to Wilton House it kept up (just) with much faster machinery. Any avid PHer would be ecstatic to pass even one of the supercar convoy on the motorway, and I was more than happy to watch and listen with the window wound down.
"My ears were assaulted by Chris's Enzo. He pulled up alongside the Mini, gestured for me to drop the window and then grinned like a man who knew what was coming (and was wearing race ear defenders); he dropped a gear and floored it, unleashing a towering wall of sound ... My God. That car, under load, makes an absolutely unholy noise and I was laughing myself silly for the next few miles with that V12 still ringing in my ears. The huge grin on my face was only surpassed by the two chaps in the Morgan 3-Wheeler doing a fair rate of knots in the same convoy.
Objects in the mirror are ... not 1.6 diesels
"And there's the sticking point. YH13UWD claims to be a van, but frankly my old daily MG BGT was more useful for load lugging. It is NOT a big van by any means. In standard form a Mini with seats you could fold down this job would have been a breeze, but not with the pseudo van. Rear visibility when reversing leaves a lot to be desired and would have been much improved by rear parking sensors, though I hope this is a spec issue rather than a model issue."
Next month, Editor Trent joins the PH hoi polloi and swaps McLarens for the Mini. Find out what he thinks soon!
Fact sheet:
Car: Mini Cooper D Clubvan
Run by: Everyone!
On fleet since: June 2013
Mileage: 5,156
List price new: £19,575.50 (Basic list of £14,275 +VAT plus £400 for Midnight Black paint, £1,700 for Media Pack, £55 for Storage Pack, £50 for space saver spare, £105 for leather two-spoke steering wheel, £60 for velour floor mats, £45 for warning triangle and first aid kit and £30 for front passenger airbag deactivation switch. All options prices inclusive of VAT.)
Last month at a glance: Mini gatecrashes a party or two, not the end yet!
Previous reports
Mini gets run-in the PH way; to Le Mans!
Urban grind shows Mini at its best
Mini van great as a car, less so as ... a van
Seeing the pics of hatchbacks carrying wooden posts reminds me of an incident i had with an ibiza hatchback we had years ago. I bought some fence posts that were only just short enough to fit in the car - one end against the boot lid, other end on the dashboard.
We were loading the car in the carpark, i gently placed the ends of the posts on the dash (using a cloth to stop them scratching the plastic). At this point the ends were just about in the boot but not quite.
I slammed the boot lid before my wife (watching) could shout "NOOOO!".
BANG!
Posts sticking through the windsceen.
oops!
Mini's marketing material conveys this well with pics of vehicles sign written for trendy restaurants, small bakers and arty people. Me, it'll look great sign written for an up market property management business and convey the premium nature of the same well.
Mini's marketing material conveys this well with pics of vehicles sign written for trendy restaurants, small bakers and arty people. Me, it'll look great sign written for an up market property management business and convey the premium nature of the same well.
Youd think i would get more fans if they stuck a S engine in it. At least you would then have a half decent excuse to buy one.
Mini's marketing material conveys this well with pics of vehicles sign written for trendy restaurants, small bakers and arty people. Me, it'll look great sign written for an up market property management business and convey the premium nature of the same well.
A dash light I can tolerate/ignore, buts bongs, beeps, chimes or buzzers make me mad.
I drove a Mercedes for a while which would bong if you put anything on the passenger seat without using the seatbelt- even a file weighing about a kilo.
The bong did not stop, the longest I put up with it was about half an hour!
On many occasions I had to reach across to the passenger door whilst driving, grab the seatbelt and plug it in. And these are supposed to be safety features!
It would seriously put me off a car if it had these warnings, and they are becoming more common it seems.
I drove a Mercedes for a while which would bong if you put anything on the passenger seat without using the seatbelt- even a file weighing about a kilo.
The bong did not stop, the longest I put up with it was about half an hour!
On many occasions I had to reach across to the passenger door whilst driving, grab the seatbelt and plug it in.
[/quote]
Why didn't you just leave the belt plugged in?
And on a completely different topic, what is the bloke off Quantam Leap doing on Star Trek : Enterprise?
Seeing the pics of hatchbacks carrying wooden posts reminds me of an incident i had with an ibiza hatchback we had years ago. I bought some fence posts that were only just short enough to fit in the car - one end against the boot lid, other end on the dashboard.
We were loading the car in the carpark, i gently placed the ends of the posts on the dash (using a cloth to stop them scratching the plastic). At this point the ends were just about in the boot but not quite.
I slammed the boot lid before my wife (watching) could shout "NOOOO!".
BANG!
Posts sticking through the windsceen.
oops!
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