So, My wife, my daughter in a car seat, a friend and I were heading t NYC for the holidays from Boston. We had planned to leave my Clubman in the garage, taking the Volvo (S40).

Two suitcases.
A carseat.
Some backpacks, jackets, misc. bags.

One turn out of the driveway, I feel and hear it... a thick nail/bolt slammed into the tire. On one hand, "aw crap", on the other hand, "hey, good thing it happened right at home!"

And, well, it was time for Mini to save the day!

Now, this was the time for my Clubbie to really shine -- how to fit all of us, arguably fitting in "just right" already in an S40, on a trip to NYC. First, a car-seat swap (the bigger/safer one lives in the S40 usually). Then my wife sits and waits for the boys to figure out the luggage situation. I could read her look: "so, getting rid of our Altima for the MINI, hmmm..."

Well, I took out the luggage cover, and the level-floor, an started trying to figure out how to get two suitcases in there. Standing? Sideways? On their short side? Long side?

I must say, the /angle/ that the rear-seats take into the luggage made things a bit trickier... but I wouldn't be writing this from NY if I wasn't going to report: IT FIT!

The two suitcases fit, + my backpack in a corner, + my jacket in another all without poking into the rear-view. Phew!

So off we went; still w/ less than 1K miles on the odometer.

Thankfully, the rest was "uneventful" -- my back was ok considering the five-ish hour trek (gotta love CT traffic, and a long rest stop) but I was trying to stretch out every so often.

I'm also glad I have:
no sport suspension
16" all season
along with my S, because as you enter NY on 95, jeez those roads are terrible (and nevermind manhattan).

I also am thankful for:
auto-rain sensing wipers (we drove on Saturday, a ton of rain pouring down)
fog lights, front-rear (way too many low-visibility moments, and we saw a few cars in accidents)
xenons
having a clubman and not a hardtop

So now the car is in a garage on the west side, and I miss it a whole bunch that I can't wait to get on the road and drive it back!

 

A most excellent story!

 

Hoooray for the Clubman!!

 

+1

 

Great story!
Definitely I am leaving my wife car in the garage on our next road trip! Enjoy your drive back to Boston!

 

I'm glad you made it and sorry about the silliness with your other car! I live in NYC so maybe we'll pass on the street while your here, lol. Happy new year!

 

Heyyyy Welcome to New York!! Have fun!

 

I'm still waiting for my trip with my Mini. So far I haven't had the chance to take the Clubbt out on the trip coz I have a Mini-van at home. So crossing my finger for next trip!

 

Glad to hear that your Clubbie came through when it counted.

I noticed that you said something about your back. If you don't have adjustable lumbar support (comes with leather only, and without the adjustable option the lumbar support is literally non-existent), you can add the factory lumbar support yourself for about $100 per seat (parts only).

 

MINI saves the day! Glad your trip went well and good luck on the return.

 

I'm really enjoying my Clubman too, and after reading your post I thought I should share something that might help:
The rear seat backrests have two positions. One position is the leaning back one that infringes on the cargo area. The second is a more upright position that gives you some more room in the back. You might want to raise the seatback behind the car seat (where comfort isn't much affected) to better fit the luggage. The info on how to do it is in the manual.

Hope you had a nice trip