The Cooper Clubman's interior goes a long way toward justifying the sticker price. The materials are of high quality, and there are loads of design elements that hark back to the classic Mini designed by Sir Alec Issigonis. The 8.8-inch touchscreen display, now offered as standard on all models, also goes a long way toward creating a luxurious ambiance. The seats offer enough support, given the sporting potential, and all of the major controls are easy to reach. In addition to the trunk, the Cooper Clubman also has a wide variety of storage spaces splattered around the cabin.
Here's where the Clubman's longer wheelbase and body really start to make sense. The Cooper Clubman is a joy in the front, offering sport seats up front with support in all the right places. On the Classic model, seat adjustment is done manually, while the higher trim levels offer eight-way power seats with a memory function. The higher trim levels also get 40/20/40 folding rear seats, while the base model features a 60/40 split. Space in the rear is perfectly fine for two average adults or three smaller passengers. All-round visibility is good, and the 4-door configuration makes it easy to get in and out of the Clubman.
Mini Cooper Clubman Trims | Cooper S | Cooper S ALL4 |
---|---|---|
Seating | 5 | 5 |
Headroom Front Seat | 40.2 in. | 40.2 in. |
Headroom Back Seat | 38 in. | 38 in. |
Legroom Front Seat | 41.4 in. | 41.4 in. |
Legroom Back Seat | 34.3 in. | 34.3 in. |
Shoulder Room Front | 54.7 in. | 54.7 in. |
Shoulder Room Rear | 52.8 in. | 52.8 in. |
The Mini Cooper S Clubman in Classic trim is a drab place. The only seat trim option is Carbon Black leatherette, while the only interior surface trim is Piano Black. Moving up to Signature trim offers a wider variety of customization options, but a leatherette/cloth blend is the default upholstery. Opting for the Signature Upholstery Package ($1,000) allows one to choose between four leather options, including Carbon Black, Indigo Blue, Malt Brown, and Chesterfield Lth Satellite Grey. The Mini Yours Leather Lounge option in Carbon Black is an additional $500. A choice between Illuminated Piano Black, Frozen Blue Illuminated, and Fiber Alloy Illuminated interior surface trims also form part of the Signature Upholstery Package.
The Clubman was built to add a decent helping of practicality to a brand that was never really associated with the concept of space. It definitely works, but only to a certain extent. The Clubman is still extremely limited by what it can carry with the rear seats folded up. As standard, the trunk offers 17.5 cubic feet of space. It's a sufficient amount of space for the school run or a week's worth of supplies, but that's about it. On high-end models you can fold the seats flat, resulting in 47.9 cubic feet of space. It should suffice on those odd occasions you need to move something slightly bigger than normal. To put the Clubman's trunk size into perspective, the Honda Civic Hatchback offers 24.5 cubic feet of space with the rear seats in place.
As mentioned before, the Clubman does have a large number of storage spaces in the cabin. There are cupholders aplenty, large door pockets, and a sturdy and spacious center cubby.
There's enough comfort to keep most people happy, even in the base Classic sub-trim. The leatherette seats are manually adjustable but offer heating as standard. The base trim also includes dual-zone climate control, a heated steering wheel, keyless entry and start, a panoramic sunroof, and cruise control. To some, that's a perfectly acceptable level of luxury. The Signature trim features leatherette-and-cloth upholstery, and upgraded ambient interior lighting. A step up from that, the Iconic trim offers proximity keyless entry, a 40/20/40-split rear seat, leather upholstery, and power-adjustable front seats with memory.
Standard safety features across the range include eight airbags, parking sensors at the rear, forward-collision avoidance, lane-departure warning, and a rearview camera. The Signature trim can be ordered with a Driver Assistance Package for $1,250, and it includes front park distance control, active cruise control, parking assistant, and the Mini head-up display. This same package is available on the Iconic, but only costs $850. It is not available on the base Classic model.
The standard infotainment system has all the functionality you need, including an 8.8-inch touchscreen and a 12-month SiriusXM subscription as standard. You do get AM/FM, a single CD player, an auxiliary jack, Bluetooth connectivity and audio streaming, a digital gauge cluster, and remote services. A single USB port is also included for charging devices.
Last year's update brought standard in-dash navigation for the Signature model, which includes Apple CarPlay and Advanced Real-Time Traffic Information. The Iconic grade adds wireless charging. A 12-speaker Harman Kardon premium surround-sound audio system is optional.