MINI Cooper S Clubman

After being MINI-less for the last 4 weeks, my driveway is once again comforted by the sweet blanket of go-karted-ness. As it turns out, MINI's hold their value extremely well (not really a surprise to most motorers) so my insurance covered the losses on my flooded MCS nicely.

I wanted a 2009 year model, in order to take advantage of the low financing right now. So, after an extensive search covering dealers in 4 states, I narrowed the choice of options down to 22, then 4, then 2. When the dust settled, the family set out for a short 2.5 hour road trip to Greenville, South Carolina (also known as Spartanburg to BMW aficionados). The dealership was professional and after a short stay I left with a '09 Clubman S.



I've always carefully broken in new engines—this is my seventh—and been rewarded with better gas mileage, smoother torque curves, and so on. So the route back had to fall within the constraints, including varying speeds, no fast acceleration or braking, and no revs above 4000.

I carefully, and at times whimsically, plotted a route back that avoids freeways and multi-lane highways. Mostly I pointed the car toward the national parks and headed off toward the back country, stopping frequently for leg stretching and enjoying the scenery.









Because the Clubman does not have a rear hinge, the Saris Bones rack won't hang on the car reliably. (The rubber lip is the only thing that would feasibly provide grip, but it's too flimsy and juts out past the window too fat to hold the weight, or bounce, of the loaded Bones rack.) And because I have to move my bike(s) with this car, I elected for the factory rack and fork-mounted tray. I haven't noticed louder noise levels from the rack, but I don't think I cleared 60mph the whole way back, so the story is still unfolding.

And anyway, I'm just happy to be motoring again.