A Club worth joining? It's time to find out if the Mini estate's extra room really is useful

摘要

IT'S INTRIGUING for more than just the much-talked-about door configuration, this Clubman version of the new, new Mini. It comes with BMWs CO{sub}2-reducing Efficient Dynamics package, which includes an intelligent alternator that charges the battery only when the engine is coasting or being braked, and (more significantly, from the livability point of view) engine stop-start. These made us pretty curious to see what this latest iteration of the Mini is like to live with, and that's before the issue of whether the extra space - and the unusual means of getting to it via the vertically split tailgate and the suicide rear side door - makes sense.