Admittedly, I wasn't a big fan of the Clubman rear end at first, but it has completely grown on me - even enough for me to order one.

During one of my obsessive searches for Clubman images, (while I await the delivery of my own) I came across some spy shots and "rendered speculation" of what the current Clubman would actually look like:



Not a big fan... I actually thought this is exactly how the Clubman should have looked, but after seeing it, I don't really care for it.

The barn doors might be a little quirky, but I think the current design was actually well thought out instead of MINI just welding on a few extra inches of steel to a Coupe.

What do the rest of you think?

 

I think normal hatchbacks are annoying (always ducking to open and close). I love my barn doors.

 

I would prefer the hatchback - loading in the rain you and the car interior stay dry. Plus, improved rear visibility.

 

Any barn door haters out there can kiss my boot.

 

I would buy it for the hot chocolate color alone, not a fan of clubbies..

 

Guess were the barn door hits ya

 

I prefer the barn doors. Just makes the car that much more cute

Rear visibility is great for me.

Added to that is they are more comfortable for my wife to use. She is a bit shorter and has a hard time reaching hatches.

charlie

 

I really like the barn doors. I think it gives the car a reto look and work very well. Visibility is not an issue once you get used to it.

 

I like the barn doors - it's much easier to open the passenger side door to just toss something in the back. I get tired of ducking the hatchback on my wife's Cooper.

One thing that I wish that Mini would have done is add a dome light in the back. The light on the side is too low to really do much good - it's easy to cover it up if you're loading things. This isn't a problem with my wife's Cooper, but we rarely use it to haul stuff like I use the Clubman. I'm thinking of getting a map light and mounting it into the cigarette lighter outlet in the back....that way I could get the light higher up so it might do some good. There is some risk that it would be in the way, but that's okay.

 

+1

It does not hit me, hatches on the other hand hit me in the head when i use them.

I was already wet from walking to the car so i'm not dry, and the extra few seconds make no difference.

Because of the designed over hang my clubbie interior stays dry as well.

My visibility is just fine. In fact it is better than the hatch i drove while mine was in for routine service.

+1 Totally agree

This and the terrible HiFi are really the only things that annoy me.

 

+1 to a proper dome light. That side light thing is weird. I keep a dog crate on that side, so it's useless to me. Also, if you are opening only one barn door to place a grocery bag or what-have-you, the light is behind the remaining closed door. Why would it not be next to the door most frequently opened?

 

Because that would be logical. and when it come to British automobile engineering need it say more.

 

+1, although the preferred terms are "quirky" and "charming"

 

LOVE the barndoors. After back surgery, one begins to notice simple things like bending/stooping/reaching/closing, and the barndoors are by far the easiest, most ergonomic solution I've seen. Lightweight, auto-open (ideally I'd want the driver side to eject open as well), easy and comfortable to load with minimal stretching, and I'm not slamming a much larger hatch door shut from up to down..I closing a smaller door with familiar ease, like a regular door. They're perfect for me...I think they're brilliant.

 

My wife has a nice scar on her nose from when she accidentally slammed her hatchback on her face a couple of years back. She's rather short, so she has to reach a little hire and move in a little closer to close the thing.

 

I get cracked in the head by my husband's MINI's hatch all the time Hurts like you know what So, I love my barn doors And for those that don't like the Clubbies, well, not exactly the thing to say in the Clubman forums Me, I like ALL MINIs, I've had one of each

Lois

 

For those who might not know, the MINI Countryman might as well be the forerunner for the Clubman. It also had barn doors so this concept is nothing new to MINI.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Mini_countryman.jpg
http://www.abchobby.com/abcframe/inf...countryman.htm

 

Have to say that the barn doors have grown on me - and just recently commented, while driving on the well packed NJ Turnpike, how handy they were to block out the lights on the car behind me.

Also, think they're a lot easier if one wants to pop 'em open and just throw something in the back. Also much less effort to open...as Alpha attests to, as well.

And yes, they're charming and quirky, too, as minicluman pointed out.

 

I don't like full hatches much. I wouldn't have minded a tailgate that flipped down and glass flipping up like on my Suburban. Barn doors work though. Admittedly, all barns doors I ever met slid. Not sure why they are called barn doors.

 

I have always thought the barn doors are functionally cool - I just didn't care for the look of the Clubbie rear end when I first saw it.

It had grown on me all on its own, but after seeing the pic above I can rest easy now knowing that the current was the better choice. I guess that's the point I was trying to make.

 

Getting the driver's side to pop open like the passenger side would be pretty easy. You just gotta pop off the strut and add some helper springs with heat shrink tubing. Pretty common mod among other hatches

 

LOVE the barn doors too!!! We loved our previous MINIs also - the Clubman is just as fun, quirky, and has just that bit of extra room that makes a HUGE difference for us.

Donna

 

For those of you with a black or HC Clubbie, be glad for the barn doors. My mom used to own an SUV where the glass section opens up and the back window was always covered with fingerprints because, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't keep it clean.

 

Have one of each. Love 'em both.

 

To each their own. As for me, I'm happy with my MCS coupe.