- Olga Kokorina
- Translated by Olga Apetenok
- Ru Fr He
MINI Clubman. Functional estate
The MINI Clubman is a subcompact, but luxury car, a creation of BMW (Germany) with British genes. It was first released in 2007 as a hatchback. In 2015, the second generation came on the market as an estate. The Clubman is not available in Israel, but here you can find the MINI Cabrio, Countryman and Hatch.
The ‘Clubman’ name is a reference to a previous car. The Mini Clubman was produced back in the 1970s. Since BMW did not buy the rights to the name of such versions as the Traveller or Countryman, which were called estates, the manufacturer had to take what it could.
At the time of its debut, the new Mini Clubman estate was the largest MINI. Legendary style, all-wheel drive and sporty handling. Superb equipment and functionality. Enough room for five passengers. 306-liter trunk and flexible rear seat conversion options. Throw in good dynamics, powerful and efficient engines, informative steering and high-quality interior trim and you get a full-fledged family car with a roomy interior and a trunk large enough for its size. Surprisingly, this is true, the new MINI Clubman is not just a trendy car, but quite a suitable vehicle for traveling with children or friends.
The first generation
BMW started working on the Mini Clubman at the turn of the millennium. The concept car was presented at the 2000 Paris Motor Show. The finished car appeared only in 2007 as an addition to the Mini Hatch. The Mini family expanded during those fruitful years. In 2012, the manufacturer released a commercial version called the Clubvan. In general terms, the first Clubman looked like a hatchback from the same range, but was 240 mm longer than it. The rear passengers had more legroom due to the 80 mm longer wheelbase. The trunk provided some additional space (16 cm). The car turned out to be 63.5 kg heavier than the hatchback.
The Clubdoor side door was on the right passenger side, opening against the direction of travel. As a result, the angry Englishmen ‘fell out’ directly onto the roadway which is why the door was popularly nicknamed ‘the suicide door’
An interesting solution was used in the design of the car doors. The rear door, called Splitdoors, was a swing door that consisted of two leaves that opened in different directions. The side door also had its own name, Clubdoor, was on the right passenger side, opening against the direction of travel. It was always located to the right, regardless of the market and steering wheel location. As a result, the angry Englishmen ‘fell out’ directly onto the roadway which is why the door was popularly nicknamed ‘the suicide door’.
Just like all other Mini models, the first generation Clubman had the following versions: One, Cooper, Cooper D (diesel version), Cooper S, Cooper SD (diesel version) and JCW charged version (designed by John Cooper Works), except for One D. The hatchback was equipped with 1.6-liter 4-cylinder transverse gasoline and diesel engines. It was possible to choose between the 6-speed manual or automatic transmissions. The car featured the same suspensions (a MacPherson strut at the front and a multi-link suspension at the rear) as other Mini cars.
The second generation
The second generation concept car was unveiled at the 2014 Geneva Motor Show. Having debuted in Frankfurt in 2015, the production model is still on sale, having been restyled in 2019. It should be noted right away that the car is available with front and all-wheel drive, and the doors have been redesigned. The new Mini Clubman is based on the BMW UKL2 platform, so it is so spacious that at the time of its debut it became the largest Mini ever produced by the brand. It is 4,270 mm long and 1,800 mm wide. The body structure was no longer asymmetrical, but the swinging rear doors were borrowed from the successor. The interior is a kingdom of soft-touch plastics, upholstery made of genuine leather and other expensive materials.
At the time of its debut, the new Mini Clubman became the largest Mini ever produced
A wide range of units included gasoline engines with a volume of 1.2 liters (plus an automatic or manual gearbox), 1.5 liters (a manual gearbox, an automatic gearbox with four-wheel drive or front-wheel drive or a robotic gearbox), 2 liters (three gearboxes and two types of drive). There were two diesel engines with a volume of 1.5 and 2 liters. The smaller engine could be coupled with all gearboxes and front-wheel drive, and the bigger one was paired with an automatic or manual gearbox; the first one had an all-wheel drive version.
The Mini’s all-wheel drive system was called “ALL4” and was operated by electrohydraulics: an electronically controlled hydraulic pump connected the rear wheels, transferring up to 50% of the engine’s power there. The Clubman ALL4 all-wheel drive version could not boast of a unique exterior or pseudo-off-road entourage.
2019 restyling
The 2019 restyling was not deep. The car has acquired a new radiator grille and optional LED headlights with a matrix high-beam section that ‘can’ automatically change the shape of the light beam so as not to blind the drivers of oncoming and passing vehicles. The taillights are LED as standard. The interior of 2019/2020 Mini Clubman boasts new finishing materials and modern media system functions. The only technical innovation is a supposedly sports suspension, lowered by 10 mm.
