Weekend Athlete: 2008 Mini Cooper Clubman
One of our editors here loses all sense of perspective when it comes to the Mini. When one shows up at the office, he squeals with delight and runs around his cubicle, waving his hands and saying “oh boy, oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!” over and over again — it's really kind of cute. Unfortunately, he doesn't own a bike, or he could've saved me the folly of seeing if the new Clubman — a stretched version of the Cooper coupe — was a Weekend Athlete car.
It's not.
Sure, yes, I'm certain it wasn't designed to be one. Yes, Mini makes a roof rack for it to carry my bike — that's all well and good. But, you see, there's more to it than that. Minis are an absolute blast to drive, and I’d hoped the stretched version would be juuuust big enough for my stuff. It wasn’t.
The cargo area is teeny. To take four people camping, you'd need to fold the two rear seats down and make two folks walk.
As I like to carry my bike in the car rather than on top, I tried to fit it inside, but it could only make it with both wheels off. I was putting a 58-cm frame in, so if you have a smaller bike maybe — just maybe — it'd fit in there with one wheel on, but I doubt it.
Biking and camping? Technically, yes you can — realistically, no you can't. There's too much mashing and mooshing to get everything in there. What's galling is that the rear seats flop down more easily than on some cars that have bigger cargo areas, but it does you little good because this cargo area is so small.
The split rear doors were cute and not obtrusive. However, I didn't like that the suicide door was only on one side of the car — that didn't really help loading. And speaking of loading, that rear roofline was designed to be the perfect height for me to ram my head into it whenever I bent over. I'm not sure how they knew to put it in exactly the wrong place, but, Mini, I salute you. Bravo. Well played, sir. Apologies for the dents my forehead put in your car.
Like I say, I like Minis. They're fun to drive, they look great and the interiors are among the best. But really, it's a car you buy to keep from having to haul your friends' stuff. If, in the past, you've been roped into driving your nutty friends to races, and you hate them, buy this car — they'll never bug you again.
Weekend Athlete Scores (out of 10)
Ease of loading gear — 2: Small; there's only one suicide door and, yes, the cargo area is too small.
Ease of seat operation — 7: Highest-scoring category for the Mini. Sad, really.
Bike-hauling — 2: Both wheels have to come off, and there's not room to stand the wheels behind the seats.
Locker-room cred – 1: It's too nice on the inside to put muddy toys into, and it won't carry enough stuff.
All-around — 3: It's almost unfair to put this in the competition, so I apologize. If you want to ping me, go ahead. I'll just be here watching another editor run around his desk squealing.
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You define a weekend athlete as one who owns a bike?
Being able to fit my bike in my car is important to me- mine will fit in my trunk wheels on with half the seat folded, or front wheel off back seat up. I have a Ford Fivehundred. So far none of the cars that I have been looking at as a possible replacement can do this. This column is really cool because I don't want to resort to driving a big SUV just to be able to tote my bike some where every know and then, and I don't want a roof rack or trunk rack. Keep up the good work.
Broq
This seems like a pointless article. Whoever said a bike *should* fit inside a Mini, besides the author? It would be like reporting that a Hummer doesn't fit in one of those little compact car parking spaces. To which everyone would reply: Uh, yeah! And you were expecting ...?
The title of column is "Weekend Athlete". The author is a weekend athlete who happens to race bikes. Fitting a bike inside the featured vehicles is important to the author. If this is not important to you the reader, you needn't read the articles. I am a cyclist and I enjoy reading about bikes and I enjoy reading about cars, thus I enjoy reading "Weekend Athlete".
While I can completely appreciate the need to get a bike into the car, I have to disagree with your assessment of the Clubmans ability to do so based upon your pictures. If you were to put your bike into the car rear wheel first, with the front wheel off, and then turn your bars up, I am pretty sure based upon the pictures that you can fit your bike into the car. I currently drive an Audi TT that is much smaller than the Clubman and I have no problem getting my, admittedly 52cm frame, into the car. Just an idea.
If you insist on buying the Clubman to transport your bike then do what most people would do.
Put a roof rack on it or put a hitch rack on it.
If your single requirement is to load a bike with wheels attached then the review is quite a simple one.
"Bike won't fit with both wheel on. If you require this level of utility then don't buy this car."
Hi guys, sorry for the late response.
@Ralph: My hope was that when Mini made the longer Clubman version it would be big enough for the bike. As I point out in the article, you’re absolutely right, you can buy any number of racks. But, as I’ve said in other posts, I believe if you like your bike you keep in inside. I was sincerely hoping Mini had made something fun to drive that would also fit my needs.
@Bill Ochowicz: Yeah, my bike won’t fit in that way and maybe it is the frame size. I said in the post I thought if one rode a smaller frame it might fit in, so maybe your bike frame would fit. Between how far I have to have the driver’s seat moved back and how tall my seatpost is, it’s a challenge. Thing is, I’m only 6’1”, so it’s not like I require an enormous frame, you know? Glad the TT works for you – that’s one nice-looking car.
Finally, to Ziggy, Robert Miles and Ralph I use a bike because it’s a bulky object most people can relate to. I’ve also found people take their bikes to places many times over the course of a year, unlike other bulky objects -- say a flat-screen TV -- that usually only gets moved once. And, yeah, I try to put the camping stuff in there to give a nod to other outdoor activities. In the winter, you’ll see my Nordic skis in cars for the same reason.
Believe me, I don’t think being able to carry a bike is the sole criterion for a car’s utility … but it is one I’d weigh pretty heavily.
Thanks for the article and pictures. From what I see your bike fits great in the clubman. I always take my wheels off when putting my bike in the car. I was wondering if the clubman was big enough and I see from your pictures that it fits fine. Looks like there is room for 2 bikes in there. Thanks again.
If you wanted to fit a bike and camping equipment in your car, why did you buy a Mini in the first place? It's like someone buying a 2-seater sports car and complaining that it doesn't fit 4 people. Duh!