An eagle eyed MINI2 member spotted these photos of a Lightning Blue and Silver MINI Clubman Cooper S out “in the Wild” on the web and posted them in our MINI Clubman forum.

The photographs very clearly show the exterior design of the new MINI Clubman in all it’s glory and in great detail. There’s no surprises here thanks to previous leaks of information, spy shots and design sketches we’ve already seen, but these are by far the clearest photographs of the MINI Clubman yet.

Of note and interest to many will be the rear window and panel split on one side only for the single suicide door, to see the interior configuration in photographs check this previous MINI2 news story. How well this works is certainly an issue of debate. At this stage we cant help feeling we’d rather they’d gone all (a matching pair of doors) or nothing (as with the wonderful MINI Traveller Concept vehicles). But time will tell how well this works in real world driving conditions.

These photographs also clearly reveal in detail the rear tailgate and bumper configuration of the MINI Clubman, with the colour coded panels (silver in this instance) to match the contrast roof wrapping around the rear barn doors. The only immediate issue that jumps at us with this set up is how practical a load bay, even for shopping or lifestyle accessories, will that be with a white or silver area on the step in, we’d hate to scuff that up! We’re thinking either an OEM or after market protector strip could become a very popular accessory.

What do you think? Why not pop over to the MINI Clubman forum and let us know your views. Original article at KM77.