Howdy Webriders! Dr. VW here for a quickie overview on the car that I’ve been seeing all over the place lately… and I happen to like. Hit the jump for the full story!

2008 Mini Clubman

Now I’m not the biggest fan of bringing back classic cars from the grave to defile their name and otherwise make a mockery of what once was a great car. Case in point: the Pontiac G8 sedan/truck abortion thats being branded the “new El Camino”. Other cars come to mind, including the New Beetle and the Thunderbird. However manufacturers have been getting the right idea of late, and have managed to pull off passable reinventions of cars that have a legendary name to uphold, ie. the Ford Mustang, the VW Scirocco, and of course the BMW version of the Mini Cooper. Now BMW/Mini have introduced yet another blast from the past… The Clubman. Does it do the car justice?

The new Clubman is (very) roughly based on the classic estate van variant of the original Cooper. However, the name Clubman actually never had anything to do with the classic estate vans, and was the name for the 2nd generation Mini Cooper. At any rate, the new Clubman is such a deviation from the original the name is largely irrelevant. At any rate, the Clubman doesn’t differ much from the new Cooper. The Clubman looks like a stretched Cooper with some very slight trim changes, nothing more, nothing less. The only two differences a casual observer would notice are the strange rear hatch and the longer body with an “extra” vertical body line behind the passenger door.

The rear hatch opens cargo van style, and has slightly goofy looking gray trim around the lights and hatches. Meanwhile the “extra” vertical line is actually a pickup truck style suicide door that allows easier access to the rear passenger area. This is reminiscent of the Mazda RX-8, but the difference here is that its only on the passenger side. Why Mini decided to do this is anyone’s guess, but personally, I think it’s stupid. Another strike against the clubman is the engine. It’s not a lick bigger or better than the regular Cooper, despite the increase in length and heft.

So what’s there to like about the Clubman? Well its a Mini Cooper with some more cargo and rear passenger space. Other than that…. well. You’re paying more for a heavier car, and you lose the slot car feel of the Cooper. All in all, probably not worth the expense for an enthusiast.

Does it do the original estate van justice? Probably, at least it doesn’t smear the good name of the classic or the new Mini Cooper, and for that I am grateful.

I guess we’ll just have to wait and see if the newest offerings of reinvented retro’s, like the Challenger and Camaro, can live up to the originals. Until then, I’m still not a fan. Be sure to go down to the forums to join the discussion! This is Dr. VW- signing off.