All generations and engines together · 27,435 MOT tests in the 2025 data · typical mileage at age 7: 56k
Split by first-registration year. Cars registered in a changeover year can belong to either generation.
Computed from DVSA MOT results, all of Great Britain, 2025. Nothing here is opinion.
Share of tests where each item was recorded. The dark tick is the class average across all tracked models; bars are scaled within each group.
The rows that judge the model rather than its keeper. 24,763 tests in this band.
Tyres, pads and stone chips say more about how the car was driven and maintained than about how it was built.
Owner folklore from forums and the motoring press. Most of it never shows up in an MOT, which is why this section exists at all.
On the first-generation (R55) Clubman's turbo petrol engines, a stretched timing chain and weak tensioner let the chain slap on start-up, loudest cold and at idle. Left alone it can jump timing and wreck the engine. It's a well-known enough fault that MINI ran a tensioner recall/revision and dealers have handled many cases under goodwill or extended warranty even once the original warranty had run out.
An electric auxiliary pump keeps coolant moving round the turbo after the engine is switched off; a circuit board fault can make it overheat or seize, and owners have reported cascading damage when it's ignored. This was serious enough that MINI issued a formal recall (NHTSA campaign 18V-248 / MINI bulletin 17 01 18) covering early turbo petrol Clubman and related models.
A long-running owner complaint on the Clubman: a knock or clunk from the rear over uneven roads, blamed variously on top mounts, shock bushes, anti-roll bar links or, on some early cars, weld spatter at the shock mounting point that MINI itself documented in a technical bulletin. This lines up with the measured MOT data, where this model's suspension items fail more than the family-hatch class average, so a knock heard at a test drive is worth taking seriously rather than dismissing as "normal Mini noise".
On second-generation (F54) Clubmans with the 8-speed Aisin auto, owners describe a lumpy or jolting first-gear engagement and occasional limp-mode faults, sometimes traced to dirty transmission fluid clogging actuators or to a faulty control module needing reprogramming. A handful of cases have needed the whole gearbox replaced under warranty. Doesn't apply to manual cars.
Cooper D and Cooper SD Clubmans used mainly for short journeys can clog the diesel particulate filter, since it needs a sustained motorway run to regenerate properly; owners also report EGR valves sticking or failing, throwing warning lights and pulling the car into limp mode. A DPF that won't clear itself can mean a replacement filter running into four figures, and EGR valve replacement is a few hundred pounds.
On the F54 Clubman (2017 onwards) the central touchscreen can freeze mid-drive or get stuck in a reboot loop, sometimes taking the heater controls and lights with it until it clears. It's usually a software glitch fixed by a full software update at a dealer rather than new hardware, but it isn't the subject of a recall and keeps turning up in forum threads years after launch.
Built from the two sections above.
Same segment (Family hatchbacks), best MOT record first. Compare before you shortlist.