MINI Clubman

More than most, I'm fed up with boring cars.

I, after all, have to drive different cars day-in, day-out and over time, one tends to blur into another.

This week's ride was a welcome change from that.

The second generation version of MINI's Clubman, after all, is not a car you would easily forget.

It would have been easy for BMW, when faced with doing a Focus-sized version of the iconic MINI Hatch, simply to churn out something larger and more conventional.

Instead, they've brought us the MINI Clubman.

Many will hate it but I love the thing.

I was pleased to find two things here.

First, I need to tell you that here are two side doors this time round.

Incredibly, the original version of this car only provided one, and it was positioned on the wrong side of the car, forcing me to unload kids and packages in the middle of the road.

Not clever.

The other thing I was happy about with this MK2 model Clubman is that it still looks like a MINI, even though it's quite a substantial thing, almost identical in height and width to a Volkswagen Golf or Ford Focus.

If you're comparing against MINI's 5 Door Hatch, this car is 270mm longer and 73mm wider, which makes the difference in size between the two models as great as it is between a Focus and a Fiesta. As for the styling, well most who looked at my test model seemed to think that, if anything, this Clubman's stretched dimensions actually improve the slightly awkward aesthetics that you get on smaller MINI Hatch models.

See if you agree.

Inevitably, it's impossible with this car to discuss that subject without mentioning doors - specifically the twin-door arrangement at the rear that's supposed to hark back to the Austin Seven Countryman of the 1960s.

The distinctive side-hinged split rear so-called 'Clubdoors' mark this model out from any other on the road.

They open via a dual-section chrome handle or, with the optional 'Comfort Access' feature fitted, by waving your foot beneath the bumper if, key in pocket, you approach the car, laden down with bags.

Inside, you'll find 360-litres of luggage space which is competitive with a Focus or a Golf.

If that's not enough, then flattening the rear bench frees up more space than any MINI model to date has ever provided - 1,250-litres.

Up-front, there's a design that's different, yet somehow still the same.

What's changed is an interior that's more discreet and formal-looking than that of an ordinary MINI Hatch: it's much more spacious too, thanks to an extra 73mm of cabin width.

Features like decent door armrests and a centre console that, for the first time on a MINI, extends up to the instrument panel make it feel more grown-up.

In fact, you might even talk of a BMW-style feel were it not for familiar MINI touches like the column-mounted dials, the row of toggle switches below the ventilation controls, the personalisable interior light colours and, most familiar of all, the huge circular display that crowns the centre stack.