It's been 3 weeks yesterday since picking up my Clubman-nonS. It odometer hit 1600 and has taken 1 road trip during that period(about 500 miles round trip). Here's the initial impressions;

1. Look-needless to say the exterior looks great. I made careful checks regarding any imperfections and found none. Good news is, after careful detailing, I still found none. Not a fan of a few features but that's a personal opinion.(Easily dirtied boot is one of them). Clubdoor/suicide door(whatever you want to call it door) works as designed. Passengers were comfortable. I stuck 3 adults and 1 husky into the car with everyone's luggage without an issue. The secret compartment in the boot was definitely more useful than I thought. I definitely like the barn doors but some design on the boot could be made better.

2. Interior-Doesn't look as posh as a BMW but definitely not a regular Toyota either(high end Toyotas do look impressive though). The interior stands out but without option-ed colors, it looks blah. Mood lighting is cool but does little. Everything is within reach so I like it. Telescoping steering wheel makes a difference for me.

3. Drive-It's a Mini, so what can I say? It's definitely slugging with initial acceleration but once in 2nd gear, it is fine. It's not a Shelby but again and again I am amazed by the fact that it's only a 4 cylinder car. With proper gears, it accelerates better than most. I've weaved and whizzed by other vehicles in traffic and never been more confident with any other car.

I test drove the S and JCW(200+hp) prior to purchase-would definitely prefer the JCW or even the S for both the added oomph and endless mods. However, fuel economy trumped that desire. Furthermore, with an average of 500miles/week, not sure how long a turbo would last(we all know turbo charged cars have shorter lifespan compared to their naturally aspirated cousins).

 

Nice review! The anticipation and excuses to drive it seem to overwhelm the few niggles I have with mine...driving is a chore, motoring a MINI is fun!

 

I think I will enjoy the short lifespan of my turbo regardless of how long that is. My wife has a non S model and I can't stand to drive it because it lacks that gusto the S provides! Good and honest review by the way! Hopefully my ClubmanS will last a long time. If I have to replace the turbo shortly, so be it.

 

Turbos have shorter lifespans? Funny, my WRX (modified for about 300hp) is still going strong after 150k mi.

Turbos (and superchargers) got a bad rap from poor aftermarket 'kits' and early designs that did not allow for good bearing cooling and air filtering. Current ones are as reliable as the rest of the engine. Just ask the diesel truck folks.

charlie

 

I sure hope so. All I know is that my Chevy was always in the shop for often times the same problem repeatedly and my wife was always fine in her mini for five years! I have faith that this turbo will be just fine. I do love the power and I especially like the fact that it sticks to the road. THose big 20" tires on my other ride never stuck to the road once it rained. I had to crawl to keep from having the rear end slide out from under me and even then it broke loose. That's pretty scary when you have passengers like family on board. I don't care how much these run flats cost, their gripping power combined with the turbo are amazingly impressive!

 

Great review -thanks for sharing with us....

Donna

 

PortableVCB-

You misread my statement. I said turbo's have shorter lifespans IN COMPARISON to their naturally aspirated cousins/brothers/whatever. Needless to say that exceptions are possible but the increased stress does shorten their lifespans.

I forgot to mention one other issue I have- there's no intermittent wiper option. It only has 2 speeds- slow and fast. Intermittent only comes on when it's on slow and I'm not moving. Sometimes during hard rains and I'm on the highway, the constant wiping is annoying when it's not needed(water beads off real nice on highway speeds but do need occasional wipes).

I've had 3 fill ups so far btw. Each tank has lasted me beyong 500 miles. Currently computer reads 42mpg. Resetted that after 2 tanks. First 2 tanks got about 38 or so.

 

Nope didn't misread. I've had normally aspirated engines not last 100k, with far less hp/cu in. I would venture to say that if you took all the non-turbo Mini's and all the turbo you'd find about the same frequency of failure (which won't be much).

Mileage is another thing. The turbo will suck more fuel, especially when you drive like I do.

charlie

 

IzzyG, there is an intermittent wiper speed. When it is on normal, push the button on the end in once and it will become intermittent. It is true, however, that when the wipers are on normal speed and you come to a stop that the speed will slow down to intermittent, but then speed up again once you get going.

 

Otra- Thanks! Didn't know that. That is so much more helpful.

portablevcb- You're comparing oranges to apples; a turbo charged car that is different from a naturally aspirated car. The Mini Cooper S has always had more issues than the naturally aspirated versions. In addition, the increased horsepower puts increased stress on the entire drivetrain, hence decreasing its lifespan. In fact, the JCW version had to get parts upgraded just so it can withstand the increased hp for prolong amounts of time.

You cannot put increased stress on a vehicle and not expect it to decrease its lifespan.

 

Unless I'm mistaken, you don't even need to turn them on low(normal) to get intermittent..just punch the button. But truthfully I've only experienced two rains so far!

Shaft down=single wipe 'clear sweep'
Shaft up once=low speed, speed sensitive
Shaft up twice=high speed (speed sensitive?)
Depress shaft button=intermittent (speed sensitive?)

Edit: Accord. to manual..high speed will return to low automagically when vehicle becomes stationary, and Intermittence varies: set speed (non adjustable) for non-rain sensored units, variable with rain volume on sensored units.

 

I was actually comparing the same engines, with and without turbocharging. So, about as close to apples and apples as you can get.

If you drove your car at full throttle all the time in all conditions, then yes, you would be correct. But, that's not what happens except in racing.

If I remember right the early S problems were specifically with the supercharger that they used (rumors?), which was probably why they went to a dual scroll turbo. Are the JCW parts different because they expect them to be raced or because they need to be 'heftier' or because it is a good sales gimmick?

If you want to compare, then consider that the turbo version engine parts are actually working less than the normal one in most driving. The turbocharger takes some load off the engine by compressing the air before it enters the engine. The amount of exhaust backpressure created is probably less than that seen in the normal engine. This means a bit less stress on the engine rather than more.

Or you can look at it this way. A 100hp engine and a 200hp engine in normal driving. The 100hp engine will be used at, eg, 50% of it's capacity in city driving. The 200hp engine will be used at 25% of it's capacity doing the same job. 90% of the people will drive the same with either car, which means driveline issues should be the same.

If you can point to mechanical failure histories in a statistically significant amount then please do so. All I've ever seen are rumors.

'We' went through this same arguement with the Subaru's when the WRX came out. Is a 2.5 w/o turbo better than a 2.0L w/turbo (same block just different bore/stroke)? The difference really depended on how much you raced it and how well you took care of it. The weak link was usually the clutch from people drag racing (4wd plus high rpm clutch drop = no more 1st gear). I know our Forester (2.5L) had more problems than my WRX (2.0L turbo). And I drove the turbo faster than the std engine. Interesting though that the normal engine spent a lot more time at full throttle than did the turbo. You just don't need more than 150hp very much when on the street.

For most cases (except racing) the normal customer will see no difference in reliability between the two engines.

charlie

 

Good points charlie..

 

Realized that I hadn't put that in!

Glad to have been of some help IzzyG.

 

Update: After another week of use and some tinkering around, I have a few more points to add;

1. The seat belt alert is annoying. Yes, it's a safety feature but when I place my briefcase with laptop, it beeps thinking it's a passenger. Gah!

2. Did the Clubman's first oil change at 1600 miles. Mine is non-S and it was horribly black and yucky. Regardless, the oil change has been the easiest one I've done so far. I didn't even jack the car up. The plug was very close to the front and even though the DIY on NAM mentioned removing the coolant tank, I didn't and see no need to do so anyways. Thoroughly impressed with the layout. I did notice that after letting the oil drain for an hour, I could only retrieve 4 quarts. Either the manufacturer didn't fill it up to the specced 4.4 qts or I used up 0.4 qts in the first 1600 miles. 0.o

3. First gear is becoming increasingly annoying. The delay in acceleration makes stop and go traffic driving irritating. This should have been addressed at the test drive but didn't get much time in stop and go during test drive.

4. The folded down back seats were well design with it being flushed with the rear trunk space. This is a rather important feature for me. Unfortunately though, folding the rears decreases height clearance<-it's a Mini afterall.

5. The paint is softer than my 96 Chevy Cavalier. Fixing any paint issues was alot easier with less abbrassive product.

6. Two sounds have reared their ugly heads- one on the center above head unit(it goes away when I press on the plastic bit) and a whistling sound from the rear seats. I've not bothered checking the cause of this but will soon. I'm guessing this is from the seat belt buckle rattling a certain way during travel.

 

I plan on buying the Clubman after the lease is up...

My wife won the 2yr lease on this car.

The things I want to MOD on the JustaClubman are as follows:

Exhaust (Invidia or Remus) and re-do the pipes.
ECU (doing some research on the european side)
Air Intake (Modified)
Springs
Rear Sway Bar
16" Wheels (15" has to go)

 

I changed the rear sway bar out on my "justaClubman" and it is a great improvement, well worth doing! I also always run in the "Sport Mode" only, unless I am on the Freeway. The cars handles like a champ! On our MINI Rallys I keep up with everyone just fine at some higher speeds (Let's just say we pass the speed limits posted by a wee bit). I think the "sport button" mod as discussed on NAM would be great to have. Like you I also, agree the 15" wheels have got to go. I plan on some 17" or 18" wheels, just working on getting the "funds" together for that. Have fun with your "justaClubman" I look forward to hearing about your mods, especially on the intake and the exhaust. I plan on doing a custom catback exhaust and a K&N drop in filter on my Clubman. It seems we "justaCooper and justaClubman" owners are limited on our aftermarket add ons, unfortunately. Also, I have found that running in continuous "sport" mode (mine's an automatic), that i drop about 3 mpg. I bought the car for it's handling and "fun" factor, not the MPG. Good luck with your mods!

 

Interesting about the std mileage drop. On our S Clubbie (automatic) I have about the same drop in mileage when in sport mode (28.5 vs 31.5).

Have fun with it.

charlie

 

There are aftermarket exhausts out already for the Clubman? I had a Remus on my old MC and loved, would not hesitate to get it for the Clubman.

 

All vital engine parts are reinforced on the turbo/supercharged versions. I much prefer force induction engines over less powerful N/A versions. The N/A versions work under more load just because that is pretty much the only way to suck power out of them.

Forced induction cars work more effortlessly anyday of the week.

To me the very slight drop in MPG going from the N/A prince engine to the turbo version, makes the car absolutely worth it.

Sorry but after driving 2 supercharged and 1 turbocharged S, I find the standard model a little lacking in get up and go for my tastes.

 

I prefer the power of the "S". I'm looking at cost in the long run.

My wife is planning on getting the 09 MCSa Cabrio in Horizon Blue. She is going to option this out to about $33-35K. We will trading in the 07 VW Beetle Convertible and sale the 07 MCSa Hardtop to her brother. I'm trying to get down to one car payment for at least a year.

I will be using the JustaClubman as my Daily Driver. What's left on the lease will be a little over $18K. Sure I would like to get a JCW but not willing to pay $30K on both cars.
I will most likely buy the JustaClubman since I've had it since Day One.

I use sport mode on the highways and back roads and use regular mode in traffic and city driving. I don't worry about my MPG, I fill up my gas tank once a week from twice a week. I'm saving money period.

I will probaby mod from an untraditional way.

 

Oh! I forgot to say thanks for your comments and recommendations.