An executive member of the small van club

Roland Rendell rolls in the Mini Cooper D Clubvan and finds a stylish, comfortable 
commercial option for fleets which is sure to turn a few heads

We’re all used to seeing ‘new’ MINI on the roads these days – a chunkier version of the iconic models I grew up with. I’m old enough to remember the old Clubman estate car too, which is the underlying inspiration behind the MINI Clubvan.

Many OEMs have gone down the “I know, lets remove the back seats of our popular small car, fill in the windows and call it a van” route, with Fiesta Van, Corsavan and Punto Van the most obvious examples. But never has it been done in such style or comfort – this vehicle is a headturner.

My test drive model, the highest spec MINI Cooper D Clubvan, came in ‘Pepper White’ – an off-white vision of beauty. I’ve never been a fan black alloys, which seem to be the fashion these days, but in this instance I’m a convert. The  17” Conical Spoke black alloys will set you back and additional £1,130. Worth it? If looks are important to your business, then yes.

Before I hop in, I need to make sure that this is a commercial vehicle. Opening the back doors reveals a load capacity of 860 litres, 1150mm long by 1090mm wide. I understand the payload to be just 500kg, so a cart-horse this is not. Open the driver’s door, reach inside and you can unlock half a door that provides restricted access to behind the bulkhead. Does it have a purpose? If it was twice the size, I would say yes.

This isn’t your typical van interior – style and comfort have been very carefully considered. An armrest gives you the added feeling of being cocooned in the seat, which I adjust, as always, as far back as it will go, and there’s plenty of leg room.

Connected
All the dials are what you expect in a MINI. They’ve kept the iconic dial in the centre of the dashboard that gives you the mph, but this model has a screen inside which is the hub for sat-nav, Bluetooth, voice control and MINI Connected, which allows the driver to tuck an iPhone into the built-in USB port making it ‘at one’ with the hi-res cockpit display. This opens up all sorts of possibilities, including apps to monitor driving efficiency and even update your Twitter status on the move.

Through the steering wheel sits a rev counter, with a digital speedo too, if you don’t want to glance over to the bigger dial in the middle (not the ideal place for the speedo, in all honesty). One of a fair few switches is responsible for the interior ‘mood lighting’. Both the footwells, the door panels and even the seatbelt brackets can glow in a multitude of different colours... wow.

This van comes in three different models – the two petrol Clubvan models are the One 1.6 with 98bhp, and the Cooper 1.6 with 122bhp. Our test model, the Cooper D, has a four-cylinder 1.6 diesel producing 112bhp. But power isn’t what you need to worry about as the torque is a really handy 270Nm. Top speed is an alleged 122mph, with 0-62mph in 10.2 seconds.

It comes as a 6-speed manual, with the gear ratios smooth and easy to find, apart from reverse, which I always struggle with on BMW and MINIs.  As with all MINIs, the low centre of gravity gives the impression that the 1685kg of weight will stick to the road like glue. Useful in that you do feel extremely safe, but this could lead to  rivers over-doing it with accelerator. And let’s face it, that’s not what we’re about.

Sitting in the usual 5.00pm traffic, the vehicle catches the eye of pedestrians, and will certainly attract people to your business if you get your branding right. What I also noticed is that other van drivers, travelling in the opposite direction, all gave it the once-over as I passed.

Driving the right way
The Clubvan is a very nice drive. Fiddling with the on-board computer shows me the live mpg, and this is where I leave it for the week long road test to see what I can squeeze out of it. Because the Clubvan is so good to drive, eco-techniques aren’t top of the list one finds oneself wanting to do, but over the week I forced myself to give it a nice, steady, 55‑60mph dual carriageway stretch to see what mpg I could record. And it didn’t let me down.

Around town, I managed to record anything from 37mpg up to 49.1mpg – nowhere near the Urban figure of 64.2. But when I drove it conservatively, I squeezed 69.8mpg (frustrating as I tried to reach to 70 mark). Official figures are 78.5 Extra Urban and 72.4 Combined. These are difficult to reach, but you won’t fall too far short if you drive the right way.

It handles well with smooth gear changes, great suspension and superb drivability. With 103g/km CO2, it also ticks a green box – if it was a car, that would mean the bare minimum in terms of VED/Road tax. As a commercial vehicle, the VED will be £220.

The basic price is £13,600 + VAT, but the wonderful extras that I had the pleasure of experiencing add another £5k to that, bringing in the top-spec model at £18,592 + VAT (£22,310). MINI Business Partnership has a lease rate, on the basic model, of £225 per month. I loved it.

Details
ENGINE: 1598cc, four-cylinder diesel
CO2: 103g/km
MPG (combined): 72.4
VED: £220
LENGTH/WIDTH/HEIGHT (mm): 3961/1913/1426
GROSS VEHICLE WEIGHT (kg): 1685
LOAD CAPACITY (litres): 860
PAYLOAD (kg): 500
PRICE (OTR): £17,055 (including VAT)