To clarify.... Whether you get the rear foglight option or not, there is only one reverse light and it is on the right-hand side. The taillights in the picture above is the way that every Clubman will look. It's just a matter of whether there is an actual rear foglight bulb in that space with a switch on the dash.

 

Based on the pics I've seen on mini2...yes. I believe it has something to do with the nature of the one sided fog being on the inside near the center stripe (drivers side)....so it would be reversed when the roads are reversed. Seems like this is further proof that there was some thought put into it, rather than being a simple cost cut method. It's a common practice to have a single fog light and to place it on the drivers side towards the center line of the road.

A car in Madrid, Spain. Left hand drive, left hand fog.

http://www.mini2.com/forum/mini-club...clubman-s.html

A car in the UK, Right hand drive, Right hand fog.

http://www.mini2.com/forum/mini-club...y-clubman.html

 

The alternative would have been fog and backup lights on both sides. I still think that it was a compromise to put each light only on one side, and that the primary reason was cost.

 

As odd as it sounds to me, I am glad to have read about it here instead of being shocked and stunned when backing up at night the first time. Thank you for the info.

 

I would agree.

 

Actually, the single rear FOG light has been common in Europe for years, but there usually were two reverse lamps (at least when I was there in the 80's).

 

They do a lot right, too.

Beer is cheaper than Coke.

The Mayo on French Fries is great (and nothing like US mayo). In Belgium there are usually many toppings to pick from, including hot sauce.

THEY have football, in which FEET are mostly involved. In US football, the ball is only occassionally kicked. (Not that I don't like US football...).

Beer is cellar temp, not room temp. and it has much more than 2% alcohol.

Yeah, there is that hairy pit thing, but it was about 50/50 when I was there. They also aren't so hung up about nudity (which could be good or bad, depending on the hairy pit thing).

When you go to a restaurant there, their main objective is not to get rid of you as soon as you come in, so they can turn-over the table 40 times a night.

I'm glad my Mini has 2 rear fog lights, in case I ever have to use them.

 

Yes, I believe there is a single rear fog light on U.S. spec cars. If there were fog lights on both sides it would appear as though you were pressing on your brake pedal while driving when your fog light is on.

 

So, for us that don't have the rear fog option, I bet it would be easy to get a British tail light assembly and string a wire over from our other reverse light so we can have a brighter reverse view.

 

Yup....shouldn't be too hard.

And who knows....there's a possibility that you wouldn't even have to string the wire over to the other light. There's a good chance that there is a spot on the left hand side harness for the UK reverse lights that just isnt being used right now.....if that's true, just plugging the new UK taillight in would switch it to a reverse lamp.

 

If everyone would just take a look at the 2007 MINI Cooper S, then you'd have an answer to the fog light question. I was looking through the 2007 Cooper S model and they showed the rear fog lights in the grill. The regular Cooper model has one single center fog light, while the S model has two fog lights located within the grill. One on the left and one on the right. It wouldn't make sense to call them foglights if it is located to where the backup lights are located. They need to be lower and on par with the front fog lights. So please take a look at the Regular MINI Cooper brochure, since the Clubman brochure is 1/3 the size of the Regular MINI brochure.

I think the regular Clubman has the fog lights as noted in the above picture, though. The S Clubman should have them in the grill.

 

In the R53, the rear fog light (On 2005+ cars) was mounted down low on the center of the rear bumper. In the R56 Cooper, the rear fog light is also in the center of the back bumper but in the R56 S it has 2 rear fog lights. I have the rear fog light in both my MINIs and I live in Miami. We very rarely get fog downhere (Yesterday morning was one of those days) but it is a safety item. Tailgaiters quickly backoff when you suddenly turn on the fog light on them. Also it looks better, specially on the R53, where a ugly black plastic cap is put in place when the rear fog option was not ordered. I also like having a FULL toggle switch and quite frankly the car looks great. At $100 for a factory installed option, the rear fog light is a bargain. If you decide to do it at the dealer, it will run you $400-$500+ easily for parts and labor. Yes the Clubman is akward in its "anti-simetry" design approach but I like it.

 

The problem is, in case you haven't noticed, those are just glued in red reflectors on the silver/black trim finisher pieces on each tailgate door. I have an extra silver left tailgate finisher trim so I have seen it. There are no electrical connectors or cavities for a light bulb in there. The problem is that if you wanted to have the rear foglights relocated to these red reflectors, the factory would have to create an extra fog light assembly below the existing body mounted tail lights of the Clubman. There is no other way you can do it, otherwise you'll have an ugly cable flexing the tailgate door opening travel.

 

What? No. The rear fogs don't do the same job as the front fogs. The front fogs are meant to light up the road close to the car so that you can retain some visibility in fog. In order to achieve this, they need to be low to the ground to light up the area closest to the car and off to the sides.

The problem with your comparison is that the rear's have nothing to do with lighting up the road or providing the driver of the clubman any visibility. The sole purpose of the rear fogs is to provide a bright light so that other cars behind you can see where your car is even when you're not braking. If anything....it's better to have them higher up, closer to eye level of those in the cars behind you so that they definitely see your vehicle.

 

I agree...it's pretty cool!

It is a good thing to have, even in heavy rain events where visibility is diminished.

 

Bad rain downpours we get all the time here in FL and having the rear fog makes you a little more visible in bad conditions..

 

I cast my vote for front and rear fogs, too - a few more dollars for safety and that full line up of toggles switches.

 

The rear fog light is usually located on the driver's side of the vehicle or in the center or on both sides. In most applications, there is only one rear fog lamp on the driver's side (ie BMW, Audi, Saab, VW, etc.) Some manufacturers use two like Land Rover, Jaguar and MINI R56 S models.

In the UK, the Clubman rear fog is on the opposite side of ours

It was clearly not an afterthought but well integrated into the design of the R55.

 

The rear fogs are correctly used in poor visibility (ie rain, snow and fog) and are meant to make your presence known to following motorists. In most states (and I know this is true in MA where I am from and CA where I live now), it is illegal to use them outside of inclement weather. You can actually be cited having them on during the day because they can cause a distraction.

 

Rear fog lights are illegal in Oregon. If you buy a MINI there, you can not order them.

 

Down here in South Florida on one of those lightning storm rainy days where you can hardly see 3 feet in front of you and everyone is still doing 65 on I95- that rear fog light is a great thing to have.
Well woth the $100.00

 

I guess I was a little confused by the $400-500 price from above. I was under the impression that the light was already in place and the only thing that needed to be done on the clubman was to have the toggle switch placed in and wired. Price seems a little steep.

 

I think that price comes from the fact that the dealer will probably order a new full toggle panel and will also charge you for the time it takes to install that as well as the time for programming the computer.

 

I could have used one this morning. A girl in a mid-90s Honda Accord was very impatient as I passing someone while doing 77 MPH. Apparently, 12 MPH over the legal limit wasn't fast enough for her. Flipping on a fog light would have spooked her a bit, considering how close she was to my bumper.

 

A couple of years ago, coming back from Naples, we had one of the worst rain downpours in memory. We were driving back to Miami on I-75 on the alligator alley. That rear fog light in my R53 really came in handy. One other time we encountered really bad fog was in the Cherohala Skyway at 5,000FT elevation... The scariest ****! Once again the rear fog came to the rescue...we could not see beyond the leading edge of the bonnet. Talk about a full instrument approach!