News : MINI Bond Street unveiled

John Slavin, Honest John

mini_clubman_bond_street__1_

MINI has announced its latest London inspired model, called the Clubman Bond Street. Named after the famous and busy London shopping street, it’s to go on sale in March 2013 and will be sold for a limited time, costing from £20,275.

To differentiate it from its standard counterparts, the Clubman Bond Street wears black metallic paint with Champagne door pillars and roof – a combination used on the 17-inch alloy wheels. Inside there is carbon black leather with contrast stitching and champagne finish surfaces.

Standard equipment includes front fog lights, chrome line exterior package, climate control, onboard computer, Bluetooth, USB connectivity, automatic wipers and automatic headlights, storage pack, and lighting pack. The MINI Clubman Bond Street is available in Cooper, Cooper D, Cooper S and Cooper SD forms, with prices from £20,275 to £24,045 for the Cooper SD diesel.

mini_clubman_bond_street__2__629x397

Keith Adams

46 Comments

  1. Nothing to get excited about here, The BMW Mini is just a contempory car, nothing much in common with a proper Issigonis Mini.

    Look at the at price tag, £20k, what a waste of money

  2. Keith a question for you, and be honest here…Would Cowley actually be open if BMW had the production capacity in Germany? And remember, this car is engineered for left hand drive markets, not for us, who are the odd men out in Europe, and most of the world.

  3. Yorkie – more of the world drives on the left (like us) than the right. Mostly Asia.

    But agree, the layout of the doors is totally bonkers, and possibly dangerous, for a drive on the left nation.

  4. Surely a british made car with german plates is something to cheer about..i got one and love it….said door is most useful and only an issue on a busy road if people using it…but hey just use the passenger door.

  5. It’s amazing how some people like to bury their heads in the sand and live in the past. If Issigonis had taken the same attitude back when, there wouldn’t be anything to get starry-eyed about.

  6. @8
    Yes, the ‘Britishness’ of the MINI is crucial for its marketing, and without a UK assembly plant, this would be difficult to maintain.

    I’ve always rather liked the Clubman, ina world where all cars look the same, it’s distinctive, and stylish. I presume the next generation will have the ‘clubdoor’ on both sides?

  7. Ladies and Gents, I stupidly brought a bini clubman in 2010. only small eco car with a dog sized boot. what a heap. 3 doors went rusty from the inside out. it creaked and rattled from day one. The only decent part was the peugeot diesel under the bonnet.
    The last british car I am ever going to buy.
    I went Japanese, built in Japan. lovely.

  8. Jeremy,

    If you want to tell the whole story of this sorry experience, I’ll happily run it on the website, so people will know…

    I did it with a rogue (I hope) MG TF, and will do it for a MINI, too…

  9. @17 Jeremy, I have never owned a MINI, but if I was in the market for a smallish car it would be near the top of my list.

    The first MINIs are now nearly 12 years old. I don’t think I have seen a ropey looking one, this must be testament to their build quality and/or the car their owners lavish upon them.

  10. @21

    They hold their value well, so it is worth owner’s while keeping them running.
    Also, insurance companies less likely to write off after an accident, so less dodgy-repaired Cat Ds about.

  11. Mark,

    Please do look at honestjohn/peach or lemon/autotrader

    They do have issues that are well documented.

    The main stealers are very aware of these

  12. Jeremy – please email me at keith@aronline.co.uk. If you have pictures and a timeline to work from, that would be brilliant.

    I suppose I should add that while I am a MINI owner myself (well, I bought one for SWMBO), and it’s not put a foot wrong, I certainly won’t hold any bias towards the company if they’ve sold a lemon to a customer, then subsequently treated him or her badly.

  13. Jeremy. I do not understand why you assume that teh problems that you are experiencing are due to it being made in the UK. MINI is German owned, largely designed there and the not much different in location to a South African built 3 series. The UK is the 6th largest manufacturing country in the world for good reason. Blindly blaming the build location is something daft that Clarkson would say.

  14. Dear All,

    Inc Merlin.

    If Keith publishes the story, and I hope he does, you may well realize that the French engine/gearbox were problem free. It was the parts screwed together by the British Workforce. Before you castigate me, read what I do have to say.
    I am an MD of a manufacturing company, and most of my business is export.
    Please do look at some of the forums online to see these vehicles are not seen in such a positive light.

  15. I look forward to reading about it. I too work in UK manufacturing. However to have a go at all UK workforces and say that you never buy British made car again is a bit much. For example Nissan QA in Washington is one of the best for Nissan globally. Much is down to management, QA and suppliers not always about location. If Cowley’s QA / engineering etc is not up to scratch, then that is done to BMW to sort out. However to damn other UK manufacturers is a shame.

  16. Jeremy et al. Correct me if I am wrong but the Clubman uses the BMW N47 engine which I think is made in Hams Hall In Birmingham.

  17. Hi Merlin,
    In my first 40 years of life, sadly I have learnt that Japanese cars deliver results not excuses.
    I really like driver the Land Rover Disco, I am very aware of the issues these vehicles are likely to have.
    My partner used to have a freelander….never again for her, gearbox/electrical issues…and these are commonplace.
    It is however sad.
    Warranty Direct has just listed the 10 worst manufacturers for “engine reliability”….Mini and the ARG are at the bottom.
    As an ordinary consumer, I vote with my wallet. I like my Scooby outback…it ticks all the boxes, and the dealer experience is good old fashioned service.

  18. Mini2 Owners report also on a diesel Clubman:

    Reliability – Clubman Diesel Cooper
    “Almost three years old and my Clubman Cooper Diesel has covered 45,000 miles from new. The most reliable and best built car I have ever purchased – zero warranty claims – zero defects to report. As I consider recycling it for a new one I just hope I can get the same high quality in 2013 model.
    The servicing has been carried out to my complete satisfaction – and I did purchase a set of replacement windscreen wiper blades last Autumn.
    The five seatbelts means it can carry additional passengers and it has generally returned around 63 mpg.
    Disappointments – the MINI colour palette for this year’s Clubman models. There are some seriously awful colours on offer.”

    AROnline won’t let me post the link to Mini2?

    Link inserted – KJA

  19. According to the TotalMINI forum there is a known warranty or fault issue with the primer/paint on some Clubman rear doors, several owners have reported this fault and MINI Dealers are replacing or repainting affected rear doors under warranty.

  20. Rust on a 2 year old car? That is beyond a joke nowadays. I don’t think the paint will be 100% to blame either, and odds on BMW got a batch of cheap steel. And I have a sneaky feeling that if we do pull out of the EU, BMW will do a lift & shift, along with quite a few other foreign firms

  21. @36 – Yorkie, if we do pull out of the EU (here’s hoping!!), BMW are hardly likely to jump ship for a number of reasons…..

    1. Exchange rates, Sterling will, no doubt, take a battering for the UK making the “wrong” decision, sh^t happens, cheap exports!

    2. The “British” element

    3. Employment law. Less draconian than EU regulations

    4. Do you really think the EU will cut off its nose to spite its face, the UK is one of the largest markets for their goods, the German car industry sells an awful lot of cars here…. goodbye Cowley, hello high import tariffs.. 🙂

  22. By the way, China is now JLR’s second biggest market, with CKD production now in India who gives a stuff about the over-regulated, dying EU car market? The future is out east not west, this country has been strangled by EU red tape for long enough, I am all for a “common market” or “free trade area” but I am dead set against political and economic union. Note how Scotland wants to be free from Englands grasp (and its subsidies?) and then finds out it would have to apply to join the EU in its own right!
    Europe is the last bastion of socialism and social engineering, slow-witted, decisions made by committee, suffocated by “human rights” issues.
    This may sound like a Party Political broadcast for UKIP but it’s actually a call for common sense.
    (sorry for going “off topic” Keith!!)

  23. MINI also showcased its model range at the Auto Expo in the Indian capital of New Delhi for the very first time last year. This coincided with the opening in New Delhi und Mumbai of MINI’s first showrooms on the subcontinent and made India the 100th market in which MINI is now active. There is obviously a huge appetite for premium small cars there too, with 50,000 registering on MINI India’s Facebook page in the space of just a few weeks.

    2012 was also the most successful year to date for MINI, with the range now extended to seven models, worldwide sales totalled 301,526 last year, more than in any previous 12-month period since the new MINI launch in 2001, and nearly up to the peak classic Mini production level of 318,475 in 1971.

  24. I do not like the BMW Mini, but I respect that it is a sales success/made in Britain/keeps British car workers in work etc etc, that I cannot fault.
    However I do not like the way everything Issigonis advanced the design car has been corrupted/ignored by BMW, ie small wheels to large, light-weight replaces heavy, clever efficeinet use of internal space became diminished, styke became overstyle.

    If Issigonis were designing today I think he would approve of the Honda Nbox Kei car, take a look:
    http://technwheelz.com/2012/07/06/honda-launches-nbox-plus-japan/

  25. Well, looking at most of your comments, what I’m about to say will be mightily unpopular.
    For a start I’m an old fashioned guy who if I could, would use my 1934 Wolesley Nine every day (but it would take me ages to get to my clients).
    My proper car is a V6 Alfa Spyder but we have bought a Cooper D Mini Clubman for taking the grand kids to Sunday School and using through the winter months. We absolutely love the half-door – it is brilliant. It only takes a little intelligence to get the full benefit – all this nonsense about it being on the wrong side is mindset thing – mostly voiced by people who think it would be a nuisance but have never actually owned the car. It’s a little bit like people who think the 2CV was crap – yet all the people who actually owned one think it’s the most fun car they ever had – and often wish they had never sold it.
    So for a guy who has no time at all for any modern car, the BMW mini is fine with me – it does it all like it says on the tin – and the Swindon Main Dealer treats you like royalty. And I’m getting a genuine whisker under 60mpg. What’s not to like?

  26. @36,I for one wish we were out of the EU,when the Maastrict treaty was signed i thought we would get a fair crack of the whip have we? no.Several million jobs in europe depend on the U.K. alone, the UK is BMW’s biggest market-let them pull out,thier market would dissolve overnight.The EU is one big corrupt political wet dream of the French and Germans,and the sooner we are out the better,and forget what cameron says its bullshit.When did the EU help MGRover or LDV or countless other firms? It helped PSA and Opel.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.


*


This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.