The little 1.4 liter fuel engine only offers about 95 horses, but they still felt more engaged than those of our turbo diesel. Admittedly top end speed and acceleration was lacking on the Autobahn, but inner city and country side driving was a pleasure. It was also great to hear some engine roar, something the diesel is lacking entirely.

However, there was another surprise. Something rather unexpected. The fuel consumption was insane. Really. 16 miles to the gallon (or 14.9l/100km)? Sixteen??? Our Diesel gets me over 35 mpg – and I know I’m not driving it super efficiently. But 16 mpg? And I really didn’t push the little One too hard. I drove it like I drive our Clubman Diesel every day.

The conclusion?
I’m sure our MINI Clubman Diesel will stay with us for a few more years, but driving the MINI One made me want to switch to the shorter, more tossable original 3 door. And preferably one with some roaring, powerful engine.
Did I hear someone say JCW? I’m all in!

Watch the ad below. I enjoyed it. Do you?

Finally Our MINI Clubman Diesel received his red ears. This is something that was planned from the very beginning. I actually mocked up a view using the MINI Build Your Own web tool. But I never got it done for many reasons.
And so my wife secretly grabbed our MINI and the spare mirror caps I had purchased from a fellow MINI owner and drove to a local paint shop while I was traveling on business in November. There she picked a beautiful red color and got the mirror caps painted. I then found them under the Christmas tree! A very nice surprise. I hope you agree they look great on Our MINI Clubman Diesel.

For 2011 Our MINI Clubman Diesel has some existing events lined up.
There will be many drives out to a building site that we will call home in late summer. We are building a house for the family and a garage for Our MINI Clubman Diesel.
Then there will also be MINI United in late August happening in the south of France. I hope to make it out there this year and I hope to meet with many of you fellow MINI enthusiasts!

I’ve noticed the following changes:

• The slightly changes faux side air vent at 3:10
• New designed lower front bumper and chrome trim at 3:28
• Wider buffers on back bumper at 4:00
• LED tail lights at 4:10
• New boot cover. It now curls up rather than dangling around. Nice! Watch it in action at 4:33
• All-black interior center console with new radio and air con controls at 5:15 (Looks like they haven’t change the not ideal position of the USB/Aux ports.)
• Improved sat nav unit at 5:30
• New belt clip for Clubdoor-side front seat belt at 5:52. Nice!
• New Diesel engine at 6:00, pure engine sounds at 6:22
• Lots of unexciting drive by video from 6:30 to the end.

Can you find more? Let me know in the comments!

The main reason for getting a MINI Clubman was not because it fits our family of four better than most other cars. No, no, no. It was a decision driven by the fun and verve a MINI offers and the itch I felt personally after selling my beloved Cooper S. We already own a proper family car, a Škoda Octavia Combi, so there is really no need for another full-fledged family car. I was ready for the compromise of driving a smaller but fun car that at times can carry the kids as well. Living in an urban city, I drive the MINI to work each day. On the way there, I drop off the older of my two sons at the Kindergarten. And the MINI Clubman is just perfect for that.

In the past months we often choose to use the MINI instead of the Škoda – even for longer drives with all four of us. My main excuse for squeezing everyone in was that our MINI Clubman being a Cooper Diesel is very economical to drive vs. the Škoda with its 2.0 FSI (Volkswagen) engine. So each mile in the MINI helps to save the planet and some cash. Money we prefer to spend for our kids (toys, ice cream, diapers) instead of handing it to the big oil companies.

And while I have to admit that I cannot really recommend buying a MINI Clubman as the only family car, I still find ourselves squeezing in and enjoying it. As seeing is believing, here is proof that the MINI Clubman does fit two rather tall adults, a three-year old, his kids bike, a baby, a baby stroller, and a bunch of bags.

Here is how the boot looks like with all the stuff in it.

It looks a bit wild but the doors close easily. The baby stroller, a Teutonia “Fun” (or t-1o0 series),  is not even one of the most compact models available. It is the chassis only, without a seat. Our youngest sits in a baby capsule while riding in the back row of the MINI – and this is simply clicked into the stroller chassis at the destination. Folded the stroller chassis is about  24″ wide, 17″ tall and 36″ long. It took me about 5 minutes at first to figure out how to best place the stroller and kids bike in the boot. Once done, it’s fairly easy. And the view through the back windows is not even that limited by some of the things peaking out.

The kids have more than enough space. Our little one sits in his baby capsule, strapped in facing the rear. Our older son enjoys his Isofix secured booster seat.

And here is one other thing: fastening his seat belt through the MINI’s open Clubdoor – which is opening towards the rear – is much easier and more comfortable than doing the same in any other car with standard front hinged doors. The Clubdoors offers access more from the front, so guiding the belt around a seated person is much easier then if you have to do it from the side.

The MINI Clubman is a small car, but compared to the 3-door MINI models, it does offer decent adult leg room in the back. Colleagues riding with me in the Clubman were often positively surprised. The picture here shows my 6 ft 4 self sitting in the back. The front seat is adjusted in a way so I can sit there without my knees being squeezed against the glove box. Admittedly it’s not business class leg room, but most airlines offer less space in economy than the MINI Clubman in the back row. Believe me, I know what I’m talking about.

The summary?

Surprisingly the Clubman lives up to the promise of an urban family car – if you’re ready to squeeze in and don’t haul around a lot of stuff. But honestly, if you’re looking for a proper family car, you may want to consider some other options and do some extensive test drives.

And if you still end up with a MINI Clubman, one thing is for sure: your right brain has won this time.

Whatever happened when I drove our MINI Diesel Clubman across the 3,000 miles mark, it has quite a positive impact on its fuel consumption. According to the on-board computer the average diesel thirst is all of a sudden down and now in the 41 mpg (US) region. Before the average consumption was more or less around 38 mpg.

As the on-board computer tends to be not that accurate when it comes to real fuel consumption, I’m tracking the real consumption using Spritmonitor.de. There, the calculated average based on mileage and all fuelings so far is 35 mpg. I’m curious to see how this changes after the next re-fueling.

What is your average?

So let’s look at what we got.

• a letter from Ulrike
• a folder with what’s called “30 seconds of MINI Clubman Diesel facts”
• a booklet (42 pages)
• an info leaflet about the Amex MINI Excitement Card
• a personalized calendar
• a questionnaire and return envelope

Ulrike seems to be heading up MINI Customer Service and put all the welcome pack together. So let’s take a closer look at some of the contents.

The MINI Welcome Pack

The booklet provides an introduction to the MINI brand and overview of additional offerings.
The first few pages are about a personalized website you can sign-up for as a owner. Then they tell me all about the MINI International magazine. And I hope they will also send me copies from now on – it’s not clear whether it comes for free or whether I need to subscribe somewhere. What follows are pages about the MINI and the Mini heritage. Then the next pages are all about the MINI Challenge race series. Promptly followed by advertising the possibility of doing a MINI Driver Training. And of course there are pages talking about accessories, the MINI Collection,  the Amex Excitement Card (again), and a friendly reminder to fill in a questionnaire and send it back to Munich.

The one really nice give-away is the personalized calendar.
Typically a calendar’s first page is the January page. Not here. Because the mailing was sent in March, the first page is the April 2010 page – and the last is for March 2011. But what is really nifty is that the cover and each month’s page is personalized with my name. Not as simple as printing my name somewhere, no. It’s included into the pictures for each month. Either as a graffiti in the background, stitched floor mats, stickers on a Challenge MINI, neon lights of a building etc.
And in July, when it’s my birthday, there is a picture of a MINI Clubman with a cup cake and candle. And my birthday is circled.

In case you want to see the calendar and all the other pieces in more detail, please feel free to see more pictures after clicking here.

Thanks Ulrike for sending this. It’s one nice mailing. Only two suggestions.

I would be nice to improve on the time between ordering the car and getting this pack. Quite some time has passed since we welcomed our MINI. Actually it’ now a full 15 weeks after we picked up our MINI Clubman Diesel at the dealer. I guess it takes MINI some time to process everything and include new car buyers into what must be a batch of mailings to go out the door.

Advertising the Amex Excitement Card in a welcome pack is probably a good idea. But I already owned a MINI before and got the card back then. You should have me on file. Why not include something different for those who have the card already? (Or simply leave out the leaflet and save a tree?).

What do you think? Did you get a welcome pack as well? For your MINI or maybe another car?
Your comments are … you guessed it … welcome!

Why is that? Well, because of two things I guess.

1. Historically, because of the lack of demand for diesel powered cars in the US.
2. And then because of strict environmental and emission laws. Still only a hand-full of the latest diesel engines are conforming to these.

German car manufacturer Audi has achieved full greenness with their TDI engines and once again proofed “Vorsprung durch Technik” is not just a marketing claim.
And now they are trying to hammer this into the US consumers and generate demand for their diesel version with this Super Bowl ad:

Would you buy a MINI Diesel or what would it need for you to buy one? Maybe the upcoming Cooper S Diesel? Let me know in the comments.

And while Colt has retired and now drives a lame Honda CRV, the A-Team is back! And with them their signature GMC van. A movie based on the eighties TV series is due to be released this summer. Watch the trailer on the movie’s official website and pay special attention at 0:45, as this is when the GMC Vandura springs into action.

Clearly, I’m not the only fanboy of the A-Team’s Vandura.
Rolf Horn, a MINI dealer in Dueren, Germany has something sitting on his showroom floor that must be the A-Team’s van’s little brother: A Clubman in full A-Team livery.

This is a MINI Cooper S Clubman with some selected JCW parts and said A-Team livery. It’s up for sale if you want it.

Do you own or stumbled across a great customized Clubman lately? Let me know!

Here are the benefits:

When an iPhone or iPod is connected with the cable, you get the audio stream over the dock connector. This means the output through the car’s speakers will be at a higher fidelity and louder. The cheaper alternative of connecting to the standard AUX input only, using the 3.5 mm audio outlet normally used for the earplugs of an iPhone/iPod, is a very big difference – for the worse.
On top of the better sound when using the USB version, you can also use the (optional) multi-function steering wheel buttons to control some basics like adjust volume, skip or go back to the beginning of a song. The radio will also display the name of the song you are listening to.
And even better: you can select playlists, albums, artists, music types etc. using the radio controls. The iPhone or iPod remains untouched, dangling on the cable in the MINI’s center console.

And that is really my only point of critique. The position of the USB and AUX outlets is not well chosen by MINI. If you plug in the cable it will always stick out of the center console and into sight. I would prefer to not have a cable (or even the connected iPhone/iPod) in sight from outside the car, attracting burglars. Friends got a window of their car smashed in because of a cable sticking its neck out.
Besides the sub-optimal position of the outlets, the cable is sort of odd in length and flexibility so that the iPhone or iPod can’t lay flat on the little tray below the outlets. If MINI would ask me, I would recommend to put the outlets into the back of the center console’s cave and make the cable a bit more flexible.

And here is another thing. Rumors has it that this cable has two issues – or the iPhone has when using the cable.

For one, the iPhone displays a on-screen warning message when plugged in, telling the user that the accessory isn’t designed to work with the iPhone. As part of the warning message, the iPhone recommends to switch itself into “airplane mode”, which will essentially switch off the phone functionality and hence won’t allow you to take or receive any calls.
You can still say “no” and that is what I recommend. The only downside will be that you maybe hearing some interferences from time to time when the iPhone connects to a cell tower.

The other issue is related to charging the iPhone when it’s connected. Some say the iPhone won’t charge. All we know is that … it does charge. At least in our Clubman Diesel. Maybe this is due to some recent revisions to the USB port – as our Clubman is a MY 2010 car.

My iPod Touch works just fine. No warning message, it charges, and it packed with my favorite tunes.
Feel free to share your experiences with connecting an iPhone or iPod with the MINI.
Simply leave a comment below.

Rock on everybody and a Happy New Year!!