I just got the annual auto issue of Consumer Reports, and there's no mention of the Clubman other than a small blerb in the MINI Cooper review that says it's "due out in Spring".
However, the MINI Cooper is rated "much better than average" in both reliability and owner satisfaction. I guess the Germans really know how to engineer a British car!

 

Noted that myself. It is interesting to see the MINI's improvement over the years, according to CR. I would venture to say that it bodes well for the Clubman. I'm sure we all certainly want that to be the case.

 

Also interesting is the absence of the Cooper from any of the "fuel efficient" lists, even though it's more fuel-efficient then many of the cars listed. Since CR didn't test a "base" Cooper, they didn't include it. On the EPA site, www.fueleconomy.gov, the base Clubman w/manual transmission is the most fuel-efficient car in the subcompact class.

 

It made their "Best in Fuel Economy" used car list, p.83.

 

Someone at CR had probably been eying the Clubman and didn't want to alert the rest of the world before his was ordered.

 

 

In the CR ratings, the MINI Cooper is one of only three vehicles with top ratings for reliability, owner satisfaction, and ownership cost. The other two were the Honda Fit and Toyota Prius.