Frankfurt motor show 2007 - Mini

Mini's third model, the new Clubman estate, heads up the company's Frankfurt display, two years after the near-identical concept car it is based on broke cover at the same venue.

The Clubman goes on sale in November priced from £14, 235 - just over £1200 more than the equivalent hatch.

It is available with the 1.6-litre petrol and diesel engines from the hatch, but at this stage there's no 1.4-litre Mini One Clubman.

Estate and hatch share identical front ends, but the newcomer is 240mm longer, a third of which has gone into the wheelbase (between the front and rear wheels) so that there is now a Mini with something closer to acceptable rear legroom.

The increase in length also makes five doors feasible on a Mini for the first time – though perhaps not in the way you'd expect.

There are two at the back in place of a tailgate, echoing the style of the Morris Traveller and Austin Countryman of the 1960s; two on the right of the car; and only one on the left because of the positioning of the fuel filler cap.

The right-side doors interlock, the rear one opening backwards only after the front one has been unlatched.

The trouble is, in the UK, rear-seat passengers will be stepping out into the road rather than onto the pavement. Mini says it would be too expensive to swap the doors and filler over.

The extended floor increases the standard luggage capacity from the hatch's 160 litres to 260, or 930 with the rear seats down.

All three versions are fitted with stop-start systems to cut fuel consumption and emissions in traffic, gearchange indicators to help owners drive more economically and devices to channel braking energy to recharge the battery.