Now Mini joins the Club; MIKE TORPEY drives the Mini Cooper S Clubman three-door. This is his verdict

Evening Chronicle (Newcastle, England), Sept 12, 2008

Byline: MIKE TORPEY

SOMETIMES a car you have been especially looking forward to driving proves a major letdown. On the odd occasion it turns out to be an absolute pig. Then there are models that are so wretched you wonder why the manufacturer even bothered - worse still when they are derivatives of something exceptional.

Take the Mini. It's not cheap but it's wonderful to drive, looks great, has a trendy image, smart interior and boasts bombproof depreciation.

It was always only a matter of time before a Clubman estate version was introduced and it arrived late last autumn as a sort of combination of the Morris Mini Traveller, Austin Mini Countryman and the Mini Clubman Estate from the swinging 60s.

Sounds sort of retro and, in a disconcerting way, it is.

For instance, among the car's principal design features are a pair of split rear doors that open outwards, easily and hydraulically.

Problem is that when you look into the rearview mirror the 'join' where the doors meet obscures your view. It shouldn't make that much difference but in reality it does.

Another neat bit of styling is what they call the clubdoor, which is hinged at the back on the right side of the car and opens against the direction of travel.

For safety reasons it can only be opened when the front door is open, though you wonder why, if safety is a priority, it isn't positioned on the left.

That way rear passengers, often kids, can enter and exit the car from the pavement rather than the road side of the Mini.

From a practical viewpoint the slightly stretched Clubman is 24cm longer than the existing model giving better legroom for rear passengers - provided the front seats aren't slid back.

Standard luggage space is not good, though to be fair the boot is split level and the back seats also fold flush flat.

But the worst aspect of the Cooper S Clubman concerns its road manners.

Accelerate even moderately from a standstill and the torque steer is horrible, the car twitching from side to side as if on ice.

What works very well however is the energy-saving auto stop/start function. Stop at traffic lights or a crossing and the engine cuts out, depress the clutch and it instantly bursts back to life.

The Mini Clubman has three engine variants - Cooper D, Cooper and Cooper S, but no Mini One, and prices start from pounds 14,235.

Facts and figures

Make: MINI

Model: Cooper S Clubman 3 d00r

Price: pounds 17,220

Mechanical: 175bhp, 1,598cc 4cyl petrol engine driving front wheels via 6 speed manual gearbox

Max speed: 139mph

0-62mph: 7.6 seconds

Combined mpg: 44.8

Insurance group: 15

CO2 emissions: 150g/km

BiK rating: 17%

Warranty: 3 years/60,000 miles, 6 years anti-rust

CAPTION(S):

PROS AND CONS - the Mini Clubman doesn't really live up to the brand's reputation