2023 Mini Cooper One Owner, Jcw Untold Edition, Awd, Iconic Trim 2. on 2040-cars

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Next Mini Clubman nearly ready to haul

With the three- and five-door Mini Hardtop models successfully hitting the market and the pending arrival of the hot John Cooper Works model at next week's Detroit Auto Show, Mini can turn its eye toward another important model, in the form of its next-generation Clubman, which our spies have spotted testing on the roads of Germany. Aside from the rear barn doors, the next Clubman looks to have a lot in common with the new five-door Hardtop, which makes sense considering how much the current car has in common with the R56 that it's based upon. That similarity ends quickly once you take a look inside the cabin. The typically open Mini cabin is more dramatically segmented in the new Clubman, with a high transmission tunnel that separates the driver and passenger. In a worrying move for fans of parking lot shenanigans, Mini is moving to an electronic parking brake in its new model, although beyond that, the center stack is similar to the redesign Mini pushed through for this latest generation. As is the case with the current Clubman, the next-gen will likely share its engines and gearboxes with the Hardtop, meaning a base 1.5-liter, three-cylinder turbo in the Cooper Clubman and a 2.0-liter, turbocharged four-cylinder in the Cooper S Clubman. Six-speed transmissions, in both two- and three-pedal varieties, will likely also be offered. Check out our gallery of spy photos of the new Clubman, up at the top of the page.

Mini Rocketman back on the table, might go aluminum

Mini just doesn't want its Rocketman concept to die. It unveiled the truly mini model at the 2011 Geneva Motor Show, and since then, there have been countless on-again, off-again rumors about the possibility of it going into production. If the latest talk proves true, a smaller vehicle like the Rocketman might make it into the automaker's lineup after all, as competitor to other stylish city cars like the Smart ForTwo.
According to the company's head of design, Anders Warming, speaking to Auto Express, Mini likes the idea of having a smaller model in its lineup, but it has to figure out a way of actually making it work. Warming is clear that the next iteration of the Rocketman concept (or whatever it's called then) won't be seen until a design is ready.
There are still plenty of challenges keeping a production Rocketman off of the city streets of the world, and chief among them continues to be finding a platform. But Mini is at least considering it. "At the moment, we don't have the right tech solutions, but we are working on it. We don't yet have a final solution, you could say," said Warming to Auto Express. He also thinks the final version would drop the concept's carbon fiber in favor of more aluminum components.

Mini Cooper E Classic adds a less expensive trim, at least in Europe

One forgets how many variations there are on the Mini Cooper until Mini rolls out a new generation and they all come quickly. With this fifth-generation Cooper forking into an EV lineup, and Mini introducing ICE and EV ranges separately, every other month it's, "Oh look, another one!" This time it's details on a new trim of the Cooper E that Mini debuted in Munich last September. We also have photos of the Euro-spec version now, which were missing from the debut. Called Classic, it's the entry-level version of the battery-electric two-door hardtop hatchback that, in the UK, comes below the Exclusive and Sport trims. Our trim step for the previous-gen electric Cooper is Classic, Signature, and Iconic. A commenter chided us on a previous post for waiting until the end to mention U.S. availability, so let's get this out of the way now: We don't know if the Cooper E is coming to America. We know we'll get the SE, same as before. We'd support the decision to bring the E here; with the right color combo and wheels, here's your Alec Issigonis special — on the outside, at least — for maybe a couple grand less than the Cooper SE. However, based on the European configurators, we don't see much point.      Every Cooper E gets a 40.7-kWh battery powering an e-motor on the front axle making 181 horsepower and 214 pound-feet of torque, able to go an estimated 190 WLTP miles on a charge. That's 34 horses and 29 pound-feet down on the SE, which isn't so bad. Driving distance is the attention-getter, the E losing 60 miles of estimated range from the SE's 250 WLTP miles.        We all know "Classic" means pared spec, but the Classic is so close to the trim above that it's hard to tell what's been changed beyond the standard wheel and a few options. In the UK, saving GBP2,200 ($2,769 U.S.) to get the Classic instead of the Exclusive trim above means getting a 16-inch standard wheel and a cloth interior trimmed in synthetic leather. The Exclusive starts with a 17-inch wheel and offers two 18-inchers, the Classic is a 16- or 17-inch wheel only. And the Exclusive interior fits mainly synthetic leather seats with cloth uppers. Either cabin comes in a choice of two colors, either black or gray, the Classic with a perforated houndstooth pattern on the seats. On the other hand, the Sunny Side Yellow paint on the hero car above is only available on the Classic. The list of standard features between the two is identical.