Hi, i don't own a mini but I think I want to. I am interested in the Clubman and would like to hear Clubman owners. Are you happy with your choice? Do you own an S or basic car? What kind of gas milage do you get? How much should I expect to pay for a Clubman? Any other info you care to share would be appreciated. Thanks. Margaret

 

Hi Margaret! I'm a new owner of a 2008 Clubbie S, Automatic. I am very happy with my car. I am currently getting 24-25 mpg on my daily commutes to and from work - 13 mi. each way, 3 miles of highway, the rest is a little bit of stop and go along with some driving at 45-60 mph on the Clara Barton Pkwy. which borders the Potomac River here in Washington, DC.

I suspect that a long highway trip would net much better figures, probably 32+ mpg. I will find out within a month, I'm driving down to southern Virginia to pick up some wheels and tires from a fellow NAM member. I'l report back once I've done so.

I paid approx. $25K for the car, it had 3800 mi. on it and was 9 months old when I got it. The car stickered for about $30K when new.

I absolutely love the handling and the power. I do not think I would be satisfied with a regular Clubbie, the S variant has a lot more grunt and sacrifices only a couple of mpg.

The ride is a bit stiff because of the inflexible sidewalls of the runflat tires. But the upside is that turn-in is exceptionally quick. If you turn the wheel, the car goes there RIGHT NOW. The wet weather handling is exceptional, I have the Continental runflats and they have tenacious grip in both dry and wet. I had it out in 1-2 inches of snow and it was quite stable.

Some complain of road noise, but I find it completely acceptable. There is a minor amount of noise from the tires, but really not objectionable. And wind noise is a complete non-issue. I'm actually quite surprised (and happy) with the wind noise level on the highway.

Mini did sacrifice some user interface efficiency for the sake of styling, and I guess that's my biggest gripe. The arrangement of the controls takes some getting used to, but after a week or so it comes fairly easily.

If I could wave a magic wand and change some things, here is what I would do:
1) Move the window up/down controls to the doors.
2) Move the Sport button to the shift lever.
3) Allow the user to program whether the Sport mode is engaged at startup.
4) Make the wiper controls work just like every other car in the world.
5) Fix the damn heat shield covering the turbo - the hood (bonnet) area around the scoop gets quite hot after 5 minutes of parking. I suspect they'll be replacing mine eventually under warranty.
6) Dispense with the useless sunshade for the sunroofs and give me an opaque sliding cover. I bought some removable shades.
7) Provide more gauges - Water temp., Oil pressure, Volt meter, and Boost gauge. I'm addressing (most of) these by getting a ScanGuage II.
8) Make the standard seats a bit thicker and softer and an inch or two longer in the seat bottom.
9) Give us hooks for the floor mats. The factory Velcro doesn't hold for ****. I installed my own Velcro strips last night - they work great.

I know this may seem like a lot, but these items do not rise to the level of making me regret buying the car. The motor/tranny and suspension are SO good that I still would buy the car again in a heartbeat. And the car has that BMW/Mercedes "tight as a drum" feel to it. Driving this car is an absolute blast and I look forward to many years of happy motoring.

 

check out the Clubman section of the board, there are tons of threads that will be extremely helpful to you

and welcome~

 

also, it looks like you haven't been to the MINIUSA.com site.

you can go build a virtual MINI Clubman S on the site, and it will add up all the options, and extras that you choose for your car. This will give you a ball park of what you'll be spending. However, you can get some really good deals on models that are on the dealer lots now.

 

I have owned my 2008 Clubman S for 1 year already. Ask me any questions here or feel free to PM me.

 

Margaret, I got my 2009 Clubman S on Halloween 2008, and I love it. It makes me smile everytime I see it, and it really attracts second looks from everyone else! I have an automatic transmission and currently get about 31 mpg in the winter months; that's with the defroster running every morning. I think it will improve as the weather warms. I also have the double sunroofs, HD radio, and multifunction steering wheel. I agree with some others that the dash layout takes some getting used to, but it's no sweat for me. I've had others say they wouldn't buy a Clubman because of the 'black bar' in the rear view, from the double doors back there, but after a week or so, I don't even think about it. I'd buy it again in a heartbeat!

 

Hi, Mine is on order & it is taking a bit longer than anticipated. So if you buy it may be better to find what you want already in someone's inventory. Don't limit yourself to one dealer. You can go online enter the car you want as a search term (for example my search was "Mini Clubman 2021 manual transmission"......there were only a couple in the entire US). Then when I looked at the JCW I searched "Mini Clubman JCW John Cooper Works 2021". There just are not that many cars in inventory at the present time. I have talked to dealers as far away as the other coast and looked at cost to ship as well. All of the dealers were thrilled to work with me and the distance wasn't a factor. If you want only a particular color you can include that with the search query to limit even further the results. The car sites, like True Car, generally have all the new listings, but check other sites because I did find a couple elsewhere.
Secondly if you get some nonsense that they won't deal or won't deal on a special order, just go somewhere else as that is ludicrous. (Mine wouldn't deal on orders & when I went silent called a week later and accepted my offer). The other thing that is critical is to look at Mini's website for special offers that may be in effect that will save you money. There were some great ones at the end of the year. Not a single one of the dealers I spoke to mentioned the promotions from Mini. I don't know if they planned to apply it to their account (it was $1,500 off at the time), but I would think so as this is from the manufacturer and doesn't cut into their bottom line. So they could negotiate with you to take 2,000 of MSRP, not tell you about the promotion, sell the car and claim the promotion. Effectively they just took $500. off. Don't mention any promotions until you have their best price. At that point, say "I want to get the Mini Promotion" that is in effect for my car also.
If you do buy a Mini and special order realistically I think you are looking at 3-5 months to get it. My order on 12/11 isn't scheduled to start production until 02/07. If the pandemic hits even harder it may take even longer as supply chains are being effected. Of course if they shut the plant down for awhile all production stops.
If you go this way and need help finding your perfect Mini drop me a line, I would be happy to search for you and give you the results. I love research but it isn't everyone's cup of tea!
Good Luck!