I thought I would write up a first week review for my new 2010 MCC. Keep in mind that previously I owned an automatic, 2wd, 4cly, Mazda Tribute (small SUV and really barely an SUV other than the body and tires) for 5 years so my impressions will certainly be colored by my most recent car and the changes I have experienced...some good and some bad. Also, this is my only car and I live and drive in NYC and mostly only on the weekends. Let it be known that I love the Clubman so far and don't regret the purchase but I will try and be honest with MVHO's. It should also be pointed out that I am not a driving enthusiast and I drive like a granny and not the one from "Pasadena." In fact, I hated driving until I bought this car. This justa Clubman is the fastest and most sporty car I have ever owned and is more "car" than I will ever likely need. I didn't even consider the S model other than wanting the hood scoop. This car is the most impulsive buy in my history of buying. So that's some history on the boring driver that without a doubt comes into play when I talk about this new car... In other words, YMMV.

Random thoughts style...

After a week I think the biggest change is size, lol. No kidding right? First some negatives or better yet some changes I am learning to deal with. I am in a bit of denial over the amount of space I gave up, especially with a toddler. Kids and MINI's are nothing short of a compromise especially when they are rear facing. I'll leave it at that. Another thing is I can feel EVERY bump in the road. I now see why small car drivers always swerve around man holes and cracks in bumpy NYC. I am very glad I didn't get the sporty suspension or run flats etc... Another size issue is not being able to see around cars in front of you when driving. Seeing the highway exit sign is an issue unless you back away from the car in front of you. Of course backing off just causes another crazy NYC driver to get in front of you instantly anyway. I'm learning to drive more defensively with the MINI. I already drove like a grandma even when I had my SUV.

It is harder to get out of the car when parking in tight spaces. The MINI doors are much longer than my old SUV doors so even though the SUV is wider the MINI doors tend to get in the way more. In addition. with kids especially, the club door is almost useless in tight spaces as it creates a triangle with the front door that is hard to get through when the front door and the club door are both open next to another car on the right side. (see "mini stupid doors" on You Tube for an example) All that said, it can work (CLUBMAN not MC) as a small family car in the city for weekend drivers. I added roof rails on my build so this will help with long trips with the family. My Thule box will be needed for camping and scuba diving trips for sure.

Many of my so called complaints come more from having previously owned an automatic SUV. Had I come from say a small Honda or Toyota etc... I would likely not even mention more than half of the negatives above.

There are also plenty of good things about a smaller car and the MINI compared to driving an SUV. Gas mileage is certainly one. It's more zippy for sure and handles like a dream compared to the clunky at best SUV. It really is fun to drive although it's not as fast as I thought it would be. I have been babying it big time though and it is justa Clubman. Oh, when in traffic in Manhattan I can get through and around jams much easier with this tiny car. That's nice! Also, driving on tight highways in the city is easier since the MINI is so small. My old SUV took up the whole stinkin lane. What else? 60 in the MINI was like 40 in my SUV. I find I am going faster than I think I am and that's fun and also bad as well I guess, lol. This car feels at home at 60+ MPH where my SUV felt awkward at 60+ mph. Especially around corners and twisty roads.

I love the interior although some people hate it. In fact the MINI's quirky design is what drew me to it in the first place. I have always loved these cars and when the Clubman came out I loved it even more. When I found out it handled well and it also got great mileage I was even more pleased. I love the look of the car. It makes me smile. I may be one of the few people who prefers the Clubman styling over the standard cooper.

The large speedo is somewhat large though. I would like it to be more useful for the size it takes up even though I don't have the NAV feature.

The MINI gets dirty easily I have noticed. Wheels, sides, hood, windows.

The 6 speed tranny is somewhat useless with justa Clubman and is a little bit of a pain in NYC having to stop every hundred yard or less. Why six?? You mine as well skip 5th gear. The reverse being on the left is a drag IMHO. I find I am having some trouble getting into first gear thinking that I am in reverse when I am in third off a light. Annoying. I'm sure I will get used to it but I seem to be getting some resistance when putting it into first gear. I have been driving stick shifts all my life. My old SUV was my first automatic. This one is a little stiff IMHO. Time will change this I suspect.

I LOVE the sun roof!!!!!!!!! So glad I got it!!!!!!

I am so glad I got the cold weather package and the bluetooth/usb option. Heated jets rock!! The call quality is perfection, so say my friends on the other end of the line.

I love my bonnet stripes! I love night fire red! Classy and sporty.

I am not in love with the OEM rims on the base model. I don't hate them but I wish they looked more sporty and maybe were black. That said, I want to always stay with a 15 inch wheel. Smooth is better than sporty for my driving style. I just want them to LOOK more sporty!!! Kinda like a fake Rolex .

I wish you could get a hood scoop with a justa Clubman. I love the way it looks. I don't need it functionally but it looks cool. I like the more aggressive looks of the S model but it's power would be lost on me I fear.

My daughter laughs in the back seat because she can see out of the sun roof. My old SUV didn't have a sun roof. For some reason that is funny to her. It makes me smile.

Breaking is responsive! Stops on a dime!

When on bridges or when it is windy the MINI doesn't get "blown sideways" like the SUV did.

Oncoming cars seem brighter and the car lights are annoying since you are lower and closer to the road. My eyes are at front beam level now.

Handles really well! I can go around a corner on an on/off ramp doing the speed limit now without fear of rolling over like in my SUV, lol.

Gas mileage is GREAT but not as good as I thought it would be in the city. I'm sure it will get better after the break in. This car excels on the highway when it comes to MPG.

I haven't used the sport button yet!

It takes a while to learn all the interior buttons! I love gadgets so this is a plus for me. I imagine some people hate the "toy" feel of the interior design.

MY WIFE LOOKS HOT DRIVING THIS CAR!!!!!!!!!!!! (I know you are reading this Becky cuz I saw your post on Face Book LOL)

I feel an emotional connection to this car. I bought it because I wanted to. Badly! That's fun! Does this make sense???? I wouldn't buy this car unless you love it or it's quirky nature may end up annoying you. I however love it!

That's all I can think of now. I'm sure I'll add more. Thanks for all the help and opinions thus far! NAM is a nice little community!

 

It sounds like you are basically happy with your CLUBMAN and have learned to deal with the unique MINI oddities. Having lived in Connecticut and commuted into Midtown for 3 years in the late 60's, I've got to say I don't envy you driving a MINI in NYC traffic, which can be brutal or worse. Ignoring the danger aspects, my real feeling of dispair would not having any real opportunity to drive the car the way it was intended, ie quickly both in a straight line and through the "twisties". Wish you could bring your car out here to the "wild west" and drive up to the mountains on roads with little or no traffic and let her loose on the curvy canyon roads, or fly up I-80 to Parleys Summit at 85 mph. Heck you can drive around Salt Lake at rush hour and enjoy a little stop light grand prix with no fear of being crunched by Yellow Cab. Good luck in the Big City with your MINI.

 

Cabs...they suck!!! LOL ...And city bus drivers may be worse here in NYC....

I LOVE it out west. It would be awesome to drive your roads!!!! Maybe some day soon. I have a buddy who moved to Golden Colorado so maybe a road trip is in my future.

Yes, I do basically love the MINI (I have never used the words "love" and "car" together btw) and find the quirkiness of the car's styling to be the best part of the experience so far. The zippiness and the great mpg could be found in other cars for way less money but I wasn't drawn to those other cars (Honda Fit, GTI, Mazda 3 etc...). It was the MINI Clubman all along that caught my eye aesthetically speaking and in my opinion is worth the extra bucks. But like I said, those other cars didn't appeal TO ME. (Well, maybe the Mazda 3 did a bit) Just the MINI mostly. I can't explain it. It seems to be incomparable really. It's unique and in a class of it's own.

 

I'm in the same boat...pretty conservative driver (these days, anyway), Mini is definitely my most impulsive buy at this price point.

I had issues finding 1st v Reverse also, but after 3 months it's no longer an issue, and I don't drive that much. On the other hand, my wife still isn't comfortable finding first, and she drives the car more than me. Hopefully you'll get the hang of it.

I like the 6-speed, but I do worry that I'll try to go 6-4 to pass somebody and hit second by mistake. You really have to finesse the shifter and let it guide you, not easy for those of us who learned to shift by banging on a 4-speed decades ago. But that's part of the car's fun, you do have to think when you're driving a Mini.

As far as fast, you really need to let the motor rev to find the power. Since you just got the car, you shouldn't be doing that yet. Something else to play with once you get more miles (1200 I think) on her.

Glad your daughter likes the sunroof. Me too!

 

Sigh. I wish some day I get to drive my MINI someplace like that...

I lived in manhattan for five years, but now I leave near Boston -- I drove my MINI just the other week to manhattan for a week, and OH MY #@$, I have 16's, no sport suspension and WOW manhattan roads are really horrible to drive on.

And I thought Boston had bad ones.

edit: had to say, I'm jealous of your nightfire red. grrr MINI for not putting that option for S!
post photos when you get a chance!

 

Twisty mountain roads.....I suddenly find myself wanting to take a long road trip to higher elevations.... The closest I have come thus far to twisty mountain roads is doing 35mph going around the off ramp LOL. In my old SUV I had to take that same off ramp at 15mph or I would end up either flipped over or friends with a tree.

Yep, NYC streets are horrible and they get worse outside of Manhattan in Queens and the Bronx etc...

Breaking in period...yeah...I need more time in the car for BOTH me and the car to break in. Honestly I haven't even gone over 200 miles on it in more than a week now. Pretty much everything we need is walking distance from my building. I am hoping to do some driving this weekend though. I only average about 7k a year on my cars since moving from Florida some ten years ago. The subway is my "first" car.

I'm not sure why no night fire red for the S model. The NFR would look sweet on the S model all blacked out with black rims!!! Maybe a little too "I'm 19 yrs old" but maybe not, lol. I really liked the NFR, the Chili, and the Horizon blue as well. The Pepper white with black everything else is growing on me too! In the end my Wife preferred the NFR so...

 

I agree about the shifter...it would have made a lot more sense to put reverse on the right. Firstly, you wouldn't be hitting some passengers' legs when going into 5th or 6th. Secondly, from a driving perspective, it's much more satisfying to dive into first when it's closer to you, in my opinion, and I don't like having to reach as far for 5th and 6th. Ergonomically it doesn't make sense to me, personally.

But it is the way it is, and you'll at least get used it like I have.

 

I agree completely. First gear seems to be in limbo for me right now and first gear in NYC is a frequent gear.

I had a friend who is football player size in the front seat the other day and I hit his knee with the shifter a few times.

 

Gas prices in my city shot up 30 cents per gallon almost within a week! Considering that you went from an SUV to a MINI, it'll be easier on your wallet when prices climb. I'm already used to going from 17 mpg to 35! Last car was a Dodge Intrepid, a gas guzzler for a V-6 with front wheel drive. The one before that was a 1990 Cherokee that got 13 mpg!! About a month ago, I pulled into the local Racetrac and someone was filling up a motorhome. I pumped 12 gallons and went inside to pay. When I left, he was STILL pumping gas!! Yikes! Despite its quirks, I certainly do not regret buying a Clubman. And people who think that they aren't high quality cars should drive my Cherokee. That vehicle felt like junk!! Oddly, it was pretty reliable. Only one major repair in 80,000 miles!! I only ditched it because it was a gas guzzler.

 

I've owned mine for about 6 months and still occasionally put it in reverse when I want first. I'm trying to retrain myself to get to 1st by way of 2nd....

I agree about the buttons. At first, I thought it was cool, but after living with it for a while, I'm finding it mostly annoying. The car has a lot of engineering for engineering sake...impressive if you are an engineer, but annoying if you are the driver. I'm just happy they didn't replace the steering wheel with a trackpad or laser pointer.

It's kind of funny. The car has all this high-tech, gee-whiz gizmos and the system are all integrated with the controls mostly being "fly-by-wire"...the car knows when the tire pressure is low, knows when you are holding on a hill, etc.....Yet, the doors don't stay open when you try to get in or out.

Still, it's a blast to drive and gets great gas mileage at the same time. That's a hard combination to beat.

 

I agree with everyone, It has a few Quirks but I just Love Driving it. Accelerating and turning is a great feeling, but for some reason it makes my wife roll her eyes at me... Ya weird huh?

 

I drove a lot this weekend, for me anyway. Here are some 2nd week impressions. I still love the car but getting used to such a tiny car is interesting.

Small cars (this one anyway) has far less visibility driving in rain on the highway. Other cars splash and wash water and spray on the windshield and being closer to the road decreases visibilty in a small car. Also, I the windshield wipers only have two speeds. That's silly!!! AND, this small car fogs up quickly with three people in it.

Once you remove the folding upper floor in the boot, the boot can hold a surprisingly good amount of stuff even with the seats up.

My friends always make fun of the car saying it's a "chick car" until they sit in it and drive it. Then, they instantly take it back and say they want one. Interestingly enough they always ask why I bought a "sporty" car. I think this is funny since the car has a very practical side as well. I don't think of it as sporty but rather as neat or maybe fun or maybe quirky but not very sporty. Sporty maybe in the same way Austin Power's teeth are sexy, lol.

This car is fun to drive but it does take way more thought to drive it vs. an automatic SUV in NYC.

My gas mileage is about 31mpg now with a good mix of highway and city driving the last 1.5 weeks I have owned it. Impressive. How accurate have you all found the MINI computer to be with MPG averages?

Do you guys get a little resistance putting it into first gear even when stopped? Not as much as reverse but certainly more than 2nd and 3rd etc...Putting the car into first just feels stiff and not very natural to me. Like I have to push it into first too much. Other sticks I have owned didn't feel this way. Any suggestions?

To say that I can make u-turns and get around more easily in parking lots and on the road in this small car is an understatement. This is a huge advantage.

Finding a place for my Garmin....I had it suctioned to the speedo (not too bad but too far down and right) and now I have settled on it being suctioned to the windshield on the left side. Most of the cable gets tucked behind the tack. I like the Craven mount but I refuse to pay 85 bucks for two small metal parts.

The Blue tooth is flawless and I am so glad I got it.

Do you guys feel ear pressure when you have the sun roof open and not the windows? Weird!

This car is a door ding magnet. People just seem to want to hit it with car doors. They can't seem to help it!

I never realized how many MINI's there are in NYC. A ton!!!! Fun stuff but in NYC they flip you off instead of waiving but they mean well. After all, F U is the standard welcome to NYC greeting, lol. But seriously, I don't get any love in my MINI from fellow NYC drivers. Maybe too much traffic or just too many MINI's and nobody cares anymore. I see more than a dozen a day btw.

I am not sure this car is going to survive the harsh NYC roads. The ride is bumpy for sure and a bit like going over speed bumps every few seconds. It's not the MINI's fault but I guess I never noticed how bad the roads were since I have been in an SUV for 5 years. It was really bad today and felt like super rough!!! Some of those bumps felt like they were IN the car and not on the bottom of it.

 

Today was the first day I drove it in hard rain and yes, it's not so easy when you're used to driving a higher car -- kind of feels like getting kicked in the face by taller people! I came from a Subaru Outback so the amount of temporarily blinding splashing onto the MINI was indeed a shock at first.

I sometimes get a bit of resistance going into 1st, yes. Honestly, it's not the best manual transmission I've driven.

Let's face it -- there's certainly room for improvement with the MINI, especially considering its high price. But it's so freaking fun to drive that I can accept the majority of its faults, though there's really no excuse for a lot of them.

As far as the ride is concerned, do yourself a huge favor: buy Koni FSDs. You will immediately notice a significant difference and it will make the car much more enjoyable to drive as far as the bumpiness. The stock struts/shocks are crap; you realize this when you upgrade to something like the FSDs (which do not compromise on handling).

 

I grew up in Queens and I've done a lot of driving in NYC. I would not have chosen a Clubman (or any small car) if that's where I did most of my driving, because of the awful streets.

I do like the 6-speed, and I've never found the reverse gear location to be an issue, and I've never had a problem "finding" a particular gear. I think the manual transmission is one of the best features on my MINI, but, again, I'm not constantly in stop-and-go driving, which is painful with any manual tranny.

31 mpg sounds about right in mixed driving, especially in winter. The MINI computer shows about 2 mpg over actual mileage computed at each fill-up, and I average about 32 (real mileage) around town, and 35-40 mpg on the highway. Since gears 4-5-6 are all overdrive, highway mileage is always excellent.

One other note, the standard wipers, without the automatic rain-sensor feature, have three speeds, not two. Pushing in the end of the wiper stalk activates the intermittent speed, and pushing the lever up one or two positions activites the low and high speeds.

Good luck with your new Clubman, and have fun driving into, along, and than back out of those NYC potholes!

 

OOOHHH YEAH!!! Thanks for reminding me. I have read that about 10 times now but I keep forgetting about pushing the end of the stalk when I am driving, lol. Too many darn things to remember for a car!!!

 

So, lemme try to straighten this out: your friends laughed at you and called it a girlie car but then they want to drive it when you took them for a ride?! Now they know the meaning of the old saying "don't judge a book by the cover"!

I have pretty much the same reactions as you. I think it's silly that there are only three speeds for the wipers. The middle setting is too fast and too slow. Ridiculous. It stinks that you can't adjust the intermittent setting. I never use it. I yank down on the stalk every so often when it's sprinkling.

As for the windshield, just two weeks ago, the temp plunged to barely 35 and I found myself driving with one hand and wiping the window with my other. Did I also mention I had to shift gears too? Yep, that was a lot of work!

My trip computer is woefully inaccurate but that's the case with every car I've had. It's always off by almost 3-4 miles per gallon. If it says 39, I'm really getting 35 or 36. Still, that's better than my previous car, which got only 17!

I don't know about the shifter since this is the very first stick shift car I've owned. I don't find it a bother. In fact, it helps me because I never accidentally put it in reverse. When you press just enough to move the shifter over, stop once you feel it bump something and go forwards to 1st. You won't hit reverse. That's how I deal with it. BTW, the shifting pattern is the price we pay for getting a British brand. I've seen manual cars in London and I don't recall seeing one with the R printed on the other side of the shifter.

Finally, as for the sunroof, I sometimes drive with windows up and the sunroof open. I don't feel my ears pop at all. I have no idea why you'd feel pressure when driving. Maybe our eardrums are slightly different.

 

It's funny that you guys mention the wiper speeds...we got some heavy rain in L.A. this week and I was noticing how they're either too slow or too fast. My Subaru only had three wiper speeds but they were always right, somehow.

The other thing is how the wipers slow down automatically when you come to a stop. I understand the theory behind this, but when there's heavy rain I still like to be able to see out of the windshield when I'm at a stop!

I wonder if the speeds can be adjusted with an aftermarket mod? I would absolutely do that.

 

Funny how that works huh?

 

"I feel an emotional connection to this car."

Ditto, MINIs are special that way. Your posts have me smiling & nodding, welcome to the obsession!

 

You said you like the look of the hood scoop. I would suggest it might actually be the different grille that makes the difference. You can buy an S style grill for less than $75 that is a perfect drop in replacement and takes 15 minutes to install. Thats' what I did and I love the look. With bonnet stripes and the new grille, it has the look I love.

 

Yes, I LIKE it!!! You may be on to something here! A much more aggressive feel to the front end now!!! Where did you get this from??? THANKS

 

Jbrowland,

Here is the link to Outmotoring:
http://www.outmotoring.com/mini-coop...rill_trim.html

Make sure you order the one for the non-S as the grille sizes/shapes are slightly different. They also sell a black trim piece if you want an all-black look.