MINI Clubman (2015 - 2024) 1.5 One City Nav 6dr Auto [Nav+ Pack] [7 Speed] 6d Owner Review

I've had my clubman for 4 years now and I've just traded it in for another. I have been really pleased with the build quality and reliability, and found the overall package good enough that I wanted another but I felt I wanted to upgrade the spec. The one I had last time only had the 3 cylinder engine, which I’ve seen good reviews for but having lived with it I’m not sure it’s right for the bigger minis. I chose this as it was a good deal at the time but the straight line performance never matched up to the car’s handling potential. It's a really dynamic chassis with great steering and suspension set-up and the 3 cylinder engine felt like the weak link in the whole package. The automatic gearbox was forever changing down to a low gear and screaming the nuts off the engine to try to get sufficient power out of it. I've recently traded this car in and taken delivery of it’s replacement - a clubman cooper S with the 2 litre 4 cylinder engine. I've no regrets about making the upgrade, even if it cost me quite a bit as this is a car I expect to keep for the long term. The automatic gearbox seems much more relaxed when it no longer has to search so far to find some power and when you do put your foot down this thing really can fly! I wanted to stick with a clubman as the size feels like a good compromise as it's small enough to be easy to park in town but big enough to feel reasonably comfortable inside. Talking of comfort the other upgrade I made in switching from my old model to this one is to the interior. This time I have gone for the exclusive trim as I really wanted the nice leather seats. The standard classic interior is nice enough but with the base prices being so high now, upgrading from classic to exclusive seemed like a comparatively small percentage increase in price and it's another change that I'm glad I made as the exclusive seats are soooo nice to sit in. With recent changes in standard specifications most things are standard these days so you can’t really go wrong there. I find the heated seats and the reversing camera are my must have toys that now I’ve had once I can’t see me going without in future.