Before you get your panties twisted up, I still have my Clubman and am going to hang on to it. I got wind of the concept car on a website for the 2015 Clubman and they're going to make it a 4-door. To me, that just kills what makes the Clubman worth getting over the other MINIs: its unique profile. The car now looks too much like a chopped and lowered Countryman. If they decide to go through with it, I don't know if I'll get the next Clubman. And it looks like it'll be much heavier. My car barely gets 35 mpg. I suspect this one will lose another 3-4 mpg if it's built with the stretched wheelbase, which I suspect will make it harder to turn in tight spaces. My last car, a Dodge Intrepid, couldn't make U-turns in spaces that my Clubman could. Also, the extra length makes the windows look like they've been lowered to make the car look 'phat'. Ugh, not liking it one bit.

http://www.nydailynews.com/autos/aut...icle-1.1711267

Unfortunately, prototype shots show they might go through with the 4-door look. The Clubdoor was what made this unique and fun. Stretching it and adding 4 doors is going to kill what made it a Clubman. Guess I'll call it a pseudo-Countryman if they keep the design!

http://2015carreviews.com/2016-mini-...pe-spy-photos/

 

It should be equipped with the new 2.0 engine, so power to weight ratio should be fine and MPG may even be better than expected. As far as turning goes, the new F series MINI's have what is called "active steering", so tight turns are actually easier now.

 

The F55 coming out later this year might be more suited to your taste (MF keeps calling it a stretched out F56). But I actually prefer the F54 (Clubman Concept), the proportions aren't weird like the F56/F55. They keep saying the F54 is keeping the F56 front end, but looking at the concept I just don't see it. The front end looks more bulbous and shapely, while looking less busy. The horizontal rear tails actually blend better into the backside as opposed to those balloon like warts on the F56 rear end.

The F54 looks more like the MINI team accepting the larger BMW like proportions directive and less of a compromise/look back to the old. If you're going to go bigger in general, why not go longer and wider and reap the benefits? The design is more cohesive to me and the bolder step MINI needed to take going forward, as opposed to the F56. If you're going to commit to going bigger, at least do it right.

We're way beyond MINI going back to being Mini, so why not. My plan is to get a Classic someday as a second car. A real Mini Cooper.

 

1) Any current MINI is a REAL MINI Cooper (unless the Chinese are making fakes at this point). Just because the ownership is different does not make a car any less "real". The original Minis had different owners as well (there were Austin, Morris, Innocenti, etc.).

2) "A real Mini Cooper" - Most classics are not Coopers.

 

^^That's why I said I'd like to get a real Mini Cooper. Now if I said, I wanted a real MINI Cooper you might have had a point there. I already have one of those.