I'm waiting on delivery in the next month and need some advice from current Clubman owners. I drop my kids off at school and my 4 year old will sit in a booster seat behind the passenger (adjacent to the door). At her school I pull up to the curb and the teachers open the door, help her out and close the door. I'm thinking they won't know what to do with the doors. Is it possible for me to reach and open both the passenger door and suicide door from the driver's seat (parent's are not supposed to get out of their cars)?

Also, for those of you with little kids, how has the Clubman been for transport, avoidance of slammed fingers, denting the doors from closing them in the wrong order, etc??

 

when my friends start to pile into the car it's easy enough for me (at 5'6") to reach from the driver's seat to the interior suicide door handle. i would guess that if you waited for the teacher to open the regular door and then reached across and popped open the suicide door, they could open it fully to gain access to the back.

i've had the inattentive passenger try to close the full door with the suicide door open on a few occasions. no damage to report. i would think they would keep that in mind when designing it.

 

Its been fine... they will get the hang of it... The teachers will open the one door...have your child open the little door...and just tell them to close that one first....at first it seems awkward...but they'll get the hang of it... I had that this summer with camp couselors...they tended to slam the door which drove me crazy... Its been great with my 7 year old...since the door is on the other side...sometimes its just a PITA to go around, so I just have her slip out on my side...Good Luck with the new clubby!!!

 

I routinely open the passenger door for my 7yo while I am in the driver's seat and he opens the club door, gets out, then closes it all back for me... Never tried to also open the club door...

When we first got the Clubman a few times he closed them in the worng order - not paying attention - there was no damage done whatsoever...

The car is excellent for smaller kids - especially how the rear seatbelts fit... They have a fantastic fit for my 7yo on the hips and across the shoulders... We've had no issues w/ slammed fingers or such...


~ Manu

 

this is a good question. I've been worried about school drop off too. I have a kindy kid, and I plan on putting her next to the 3rd door. I know the teacher at the drop off line is going to have issues with helping her out. they have issues with just opening a rear door on my SUV. (I am often baffled at the lack of common sense people have)

i figured it would take a few trips thru the line, and soon they'd all be on their walkie-talkies fighting over who got to open the cool back door on the wicked cool Clubman Mini.

 

People, please understand that the half-door on the passenger side is called a Club Door and not a suicide door. No one will ever use this door to commit suicide, and the word suicide should not be associated with the MINI Cooper Clubman. Perhaps you can associate it with MINI Financial Services depending on your individual situation, but the MINI Cooper Clubman represents happy times.

Thanks for understanding.

 

Well, it is possible to open them yourself from the driver's seat, but it is a bit of a reach. You will be able to "unlatch" it, but you probably won't be able to push the doors "open". So, my advice would be to show them what to do. Initially I had the same concern when I first ordered my Clubman, but when I picked up my kids that afternoon, when the teacher opened the door, I said, "that little panel there is a door as well. Reach around inside here to open it; it makes accessing the back seat so much easier". And I haven't had any issues since.

As far as transport goes, the Clubman is great. I have 2 kids and no issues. And, the boys love riding in it; they think it is the "coolest" car, lol. My kids have not had an issue with getting their fingers in the way of the door, and I haven't had the doors closed in the wrong order, so I'm not sure about that. But, I will say that my youngest has a lot of trouble opening the door from the outside. Because it is a "squeeze" handle and not a "pull" (or yank, depending on the child, lol) handle, he either doesn't have the hand strength yet to get it open, or he hasn't figured out a technique that will work for him.

Other than that, all is excellent

*edit- when I started this post, there were no other responses given. I guess I wasn't paying attention to the growing time span, lol.

 

i don't think anyone will use the door to join a club either. suicide doors is a commonly accepted name for rear hinged doors.

 

Thanks for all the quick feedback on the door. Looking forward to delivery. My kids holler everytime we see a MINI.

 

Watch out for the back doors with fingers. The son of some of our club members had a gusher after smashing his thumb while closing the rear passenger side door. It hurt just looking at it.

I don't think he smashed it in the door...I think it actually got caught between the door handles.

 

Yes this is true if it is a full size door that can be opened by itself with out opening a another door first.

The reason that they are called Suicide Doors is because they can open without cause and allow an un-seat belted passenger to fall out and thus die.

This CAN NOT happen on the clubman as well as other cars now employing this type of half door where another door MUST be opened before this door can be opened.

So in reality they can not be suicide doors and should not be called by this name.

Club Door is used on Clubmans

Quad Door is used for the Saturn Ion (2004-2006) when it employed rear hinged doors.

Dodge Pickups used Quad Doors as well to name the Half door that opened up on rear hinges on there Ram and Dakota Pickups.

Ford, Dodge, Chevy, VW and others used the name Van Doors for the rear hinged doors on the side of the van that again had another door that had to open before the rear hinged door could be opened.

So i think the request to keep the name as "Club Door" is totaly valid as well as the request to Not use the name suicide door becuase of its negative conotation.

Lets all be happy motoring, and not thinking of suicide, doors or ohter wise.

But some cars, Rolls Royce for instance actually still have cars made with Suicide Doors.

 

Actually, I used it to join the Hot Chocolate Clubman Owner's Club.

 

Suicide door Suicide door Suicide door.

I love the term. And I - and many folks I know, who are old enough to remember *real* suicide doors - lovingly use this term for any rearward opening rear door. We know they're not "real" suicide doors. But we just like calling them that. Embrace the foolishness. I truly don't think it's going to devalue Clubman's, by mothers thinking their kids will fall out of the backseat and die.

 

Honda calls them side cargo doors.

 

You say potato, I say patato!

 

Funny you mention that. Does anyone really say patata? I've heard a few words pronounced two different ways: aluminum, garage, schedule, harassment, Beijing, Bangor. But other than that song, I've never really heard anyone call a potato a patata. Just a thought.

 

I had the same question and just went through the pick-up line and picked up my 4 1/2 yr son and 3 yr daughter at preschool on Monday. Teachers did not want me getting out of the car.
I just had to show her how to open the club door, and while I was doing that 4 other teachers came over to over the car.
Honestly I think once they understand how it works they will be just fine. My son sits in the booster behind the driver and my daughter who is not in a booster needs help buckling her self in. So the teachers are able to help her.

Another note, you're Clubman will stick out between all the Vans and SUV's in line for pick-up . Trust me the teachers will see the Mini and remember what they need to do.

 

I have an 11 and 5 yr's daughters that sit in the back when I drop and pick them up from school. Usually the teacher opens the passenger door and my daughters do the rest.

 

Everyone will learn quickly. As geoffv said above, the car will stand out among all the SUVs and minivans. By association with the uniqueness of the car, they'll remember.

My 8 year old has closed the doors in the wrong order. She catches herself after closing the passenger door. She's done it 3 times and has never even reached for the club door. It's very evident something is wrong.

Congrats on your order. Most of us here are experts at passing the time until delivery. There are several threads detailing our methods.

 

I grow them and in my house their called taters. "gotta go dig the taters".

 

I had my MINI Clubman at a local service station to have a pre-insurance photo inspection. In the two minutes I was in the office getting the paperwork done, the garage mechanics had all the doors and the hood open, as they were doing their own impromptu "inspection" of the strange new car. The Club Door opening mechanism sure didn't seem to be an issue for them!

 

I suspect that your child will demand to do it themselves. Our five year old has it down to an art.

1) unbuckle
2) fold the passenger seat froward
3) actuate the passenger handle twice
4) slightly open the passenger door
5) open the clubdoor
6) step out

 

I still trying to figure out a way to kill myself with the club door...

 

You could use it to club your head over and over again I suppose

 

My 3yr old gets out of the passenger side in car-line and the teachers have figured it out pretty quickly.

They definitely slam it however which sometimes jams the mechanism in the latch. It will open, but the first time you pull the handle it clicks quite hard and then returns to normal.