MINI John Cooper Works Clubman 2008 Review

Road Test

RRP: $51,300
Price as tested: $54,950 (includes sunroof $1840, metallic paint $710, visibility package $550, luggage package $300, chrome-line interior trim $250)
Crash rating: TBA
Fuel: 91-98 RON PULP
Claimed fuel economy (L/100km): 7.0
CO2 emissions (g/km): 167
Also consider: Peugeot 207 GTi, Volkswagen Polo GTi, Volkswagen Golf GTi

Overall rating: 3.0/5.0
Engine/Drivetrain/Chassis: 3.5/5.0
Price, Packaging and Practicality: 2.0/5.0
Safety: 3.0/5.0
Behind the wheel: 3.5/5.0
X-factor: 4.0/5.0

About our ratings

Few cars have left us here at the Carsales Network as gob-smacked as the MINI John Cooper Works Clubman S. It wasn't that it's a dynamite package or an expensive purchase proposition -- neither of which surprised us. It surprised us for the disdain with which it was greeted.

A blunt assessment from family and friends gave the MINI the thumbs down! The car on test polarised opinion with its looks and wasn't well received for its high-torque/front-wheel drive antics either. One who is near and dear to this reviewer described the car's (Clubman) looks as akin to "a coffin on wheels". Another family member couldn't even be bothered getting up close to it, let alone actually driving it...

The neighbour from across the road loves his MINIs and is a super-enthusiast for most things four-wheeled, but he was left stunned by the car's torque steer -- and he too admitted less of a hankering for the Clubman's looks.

Yet, it's a great little car to drive...

The majority of the public seem to prefer the shorter MINI liftback or cabrio models over the Clubman, but tied in with an appreciation (or otherwise) of the car's looks is the question of practicality. For a small family, the Clubman arguably makes more sense and some buyers will forgive/overlook the styling if it can provide a similar driving experience in a slightly larger package.

On the other hand, the Clubman body doesn't work as well for this buyer type since it was designed with left-hand drive markets in mind. The suicide door is on the wrong side for RHD. Not only does it mean loading the kids on board from the road side, but it's woeful for vision to the 3/4 rear -- as in when you're checking over your shoulder for cars preparatory to merging right.

Any little people needing access to the rear seat will either have to gain entry via the driver's side, or else wait for the front-seat passenger to climb out and tilt the seat forward (as per the hatch). The rear seats are a squeeze for grown-ups, but the headroom is good and the knee-room is barely adequate as long as the driver is not the sort to require the seat set back a long way.

But for adults to climb into the back requires the driver's seat to be tilted forward, even if entering the car through the open rear suicide door. Despite the open door and the front seat tilted, the adult climbing into the rear runs the risk of being brained by the overhanging latch for the suicide door and there's no room to place your feet and turn around easily before taking a seat. That's why we say if you're an adult, forget trying to sit in the back of a MINI Clubman.

Once in the car, the seats, far from being aggressively contoured butt-huggers, were comfortable, looked good and delivered the right stuff where support and lateral grip were concerned.

There are other nice touches inside the JCW Clubman, such as the carbonfibre trim and the recessed uplighting above the front seatbelt spools. In the main, the MINI features some good gear for driving. The diameter of the steering wheel is sensible and the rim is nice to grip. Pedals are well placed -- for this reviewer at least -- and there's a huge footrest that would easily meet the needs of Sasquatch. The gear shift is a chunky affair, but you always get the right gear -- and quickly too.

Otherwise though, the MINI is something of an ergonomic disaster.

The large speedo in the centre catches reflected glare and the driver is always watching the needle from an angle, which provides a skewed view of the car's indicated speed. It's hard enough in places like Victoria to maintain the 'correct' speed with an ADR-sanctioned built-in latitude of 10 per cent, without the driver being further misled by the positioning of the speedo.

Add to that such things as the placement of the electric window switches (lower part of the centre fascia) or the recline lever for the seats (hard to reach in between the centre console and the seat), the restricted view of the tachometer, which is mounted on the steering column and moves through the same arc with the steering wheel -- plus several other lesser issues (reaching for the seatbelt and the location of the Sport mode and 'DTC' buttons, as two more instances) -- and you really start to accept this is not a car for those who admire left-brain thinking.

It's a car for the artists and poets amongst us. Or is it? There's the retro styling to be sure, but as per the straw poll already mentioned, the Clubman isn't as admired for its styling as the standard MINI hatch. And there's our other concern too: how many artists and poets are the types to fang a worked MINI on hillclimbs or racing circuits and climb out the end feeling satisfied and relaxed, having knocked a couple of tenths off the previous FTD?

So the JCW Clubman is a real mixed bag. It's actually surprisingly practical and can carry kids in a relatively high level of comfort and safety, but there are those packaging concessions to be made.

Despite the MINI's external dimensions being larger than those of the original Mini -- and the dimensions are larger still with the Clubman body -- the luggage capacity is not huge by the standards of even cars in the light hatch category, let alone small cars. The load floor is high and there's minimal overhang at the rear -- so not much depth or length (or width for that matter). It would carry a week's supply of groceries for a small to average-size family, but that's about it.

Really, this particular car's virtues are its steering, suspension and drivetrain. The gearshift, as already noted above, is an absolute pleasure to use. It's a little heavy in the shift action, but otherwise it's neat and precise, providing an excellent counterpart to the ratios, which are more than close enough for an engine as torquey as this one.

With its turbocharger, the engine produces decent levels of torque from as low as 1500rpm. It needs a little bit of a rev to get away cleanly from a standing start, but anything above 2000rpm with the driver feeding in more throttle with the clutch take-up will suffice.

The engine will rev quite freely to its redline of 6500rpm, with a tonne of grunt the whole way there. It's hard to quantify what sort of performance you should expect from this car, but it strikes the reviewer as a bit of a giant-killer. Chances are very good that the JCW would give some six-cylinder and V8-engined large cars a real run for their money, if wound up properly and released. The fuel consumed for the week in our possession averaged 8.4L/100km.

In operation, the engine also provides a fantastic series of aural treats. There's a rasp on the upchange, a backfire through the muffler on the overrun and a general bass note like sports cars from the 1960s. This is one of the most enjoyable four-cylinder engines this reviewer can recall in a very long time, both for its performance and its note. It's up there with the M3 V8 recently tried, except the MINI sounds less clinical than the (nonetheless exotic-sounding) M3!

NVH varied at times, with the engine responsible for the bulk of noise and vibration on smooth roads (but what noise, what vibes!), and the tyres noisier on coarser bitumen.

If there's one pitfall with this engine, it has more than enough torque on tap to make the steering rather lively, to say the least. Even on dry smooth bitumen, the wheel wriggles constantly in the driver's hands.

Despite that, BMW has set up the suspension and the steering very well in this car. The ride is firm, but no more so than many European-sourced sports sedans or hatches. There's very little in the way of body roll and the whole car shows immense control in corners.

On just one occasion did the reviewer experience mass making itself felt in the rear, on a trailing throttle at a higher entry speed. Otherwise, the MINI was very close to neutral, with no vices, excellent steering response and consistent handling. Even with a big bootful of throttle mid-corner, the MINI remained composed, taking a progressively wider line and not much else.

With its consistent and communicative steering feel, allied to strong and dependable brakes, this is one car you can feel very confident throwing into a corner at what might be called imprudent speeds in other cars.

From a standing start, the MINI launched very well and the traction control allowed some wheel spin, but no axle tramp, which was pleasing and unexpected.

All of these comments apply to driving the JCW in the dry and, of course, the MINI would be much more a handful in the wet. In the dry however, it's capable of using most of its performance potential from standing start right up to top speed -- and put a smile on the face of the driver while doing it. That's the trick, really...