The Mini Clubman has been reinvented as a considerably larger and roomier estate model in a move aimed at providing it with broader sales appeal against a growing number of premium-brand hatchback rivals.
Pictured here in definitive production guise for the first time following its unveiling in Berlin earlier this year, the new Mini model adheres closely to the earlier Clubman concept car first shown at the Geneva motor show in 2014. The car will go on sale in the UK on 31 October, and is on display at the Frankfurt motor show.
The latest model from the iconic British brand forgoes the quirky layout of its immediate predecessor, which used a single rear-hinged nearside door, in favour of a more conventional design with four front-hinged doors.
Read our extensive test of the second generation Mini Clubman hatch-cum-estate
The new Clubman – which has been spied testing on several occasions in recent months – has grown to become larger even than the existing Mini Countryman. The new body design is aimed at providing the car with significantly improved versatility through a combination of increased interior space and added luggage capacity
The exterior design draws heavily on the latest hatchback, with a large single-frame grille, oval-shaped headlamps with LED graphics and a heavily rounded clamshell-style bonnet providing the front of the new Mini with a clear family resemblance to its smaller siblings.
Further back, the new Clubman adopts a breather element to draw air from the front wheelarches, a chrome housing for the side repeater lamps and four front-hinged frameless doors, those at the rear extending well into the rear wheel arches for added ease of entry.
As with the old Clubman, the rear eschews the conventional tailgate of other modern Mini models for a pair of barn-style doors featuring a prominent chrome opening mechanism. The vertically stacked tail lamps of other Mini models are also replaced by horizontal units, providing the new car with added visual width.
At 4253mm in length, the new Clubman is a significant 293mm longer than its predecessor. Width and height are also increased by 115mm and 16mm at 1800mm and 1441mm respectively. To put the wholesale increase in exterior dimensions into perspective, the latest Mini is 158mm longer, 10mm wider and 119mm lower than the largest of the existing Mini models, the Countryman.
Despite the adoption of hot-formed, high-strength steel within its body structure, the larger dimensions bring an increase of 155kg in kerb weight to 1300kg for the Cooper Clubman derivative.
Inside, the Clubman receives a new-look cabin with its own uniquely styled dashboard, an electronic handbrake and new controls, including the BMW-style rotary controller between the front seats, as featured on the latest Mini.
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@Greg Kable
CLUB and then MAN
I won't say any more about this Gremlin inspired, ghastly rear end.
Pricey or what??