John Cooper Works Cracker!
John Cooper Works is One of the Most Fun Cars We Tested in the Past Year
We tested a lot of cars over the past year, but this one was a cracker! Resplendent in metallic British Racing Green and red, the latest Mini John Cooper Works attracts attention enough to stop traffic at every turn. Splendid shiny face buffed 17” wheels, two-bar DRL LED headlamps, a blackened grille and extra bumper vents to suck in more air to cool its 228 HP 280 lb.-ft TwinPower 2-litre turbo four pot, offset the Festive cheer.
You’ll find a cheeky junior WRC twin wing, black diffuser, and fat central tailpipe around the back. The top petrol model of the 3-door Mini hatchback range is fifteen horses and 60 foot-pounds up on the standard Cooper S. The 2300 lbs. JCW is however 330 lbs. up on the far rarer old model. Which made the same power and 40 lb.-ft less than this latest version.
Step Aboard to a Minimalist John Cooper Works Cockpit
Step aboard to a minimalist cockpit centered around a significant round infotainment screen. The sportier John Cooper Works steering wheel with a flamboyant textile lower spoke and paddle shifters sits ahead of a cool and clear optional heads-up display. Once you’ve figured out how to place it right to read it, that is. JCW gets a wild go-kart mode for extreme handling performance, all the Works branding, black, red and blue accents, and a becoming combination of fabric and faux leather trim.
Comfy and supportive JCW sports seats had power activation on ours. For all that dynamic driving. Cobbled together in brilliant BMW style, the knitted surfaces and zany high-resolution OLED display brings a unique and pleasing environment. Well, to most of us, anyway. Its run by either steering controls, or Mini’s familiar toggle bar with starter, gear, brake, experience and volume knobs that sit atop a wireless charging shelf. Or use Hey Mini to voice command it. But all that split opinion in the office.
The latest Operating System 9 with new Mini Experience Modes and a wide range of digital functions is said to create an immersive user experience. It does not work very well at all on its lonesome. But if you download the Mini App, they sat that changes everything. Even with the app, however, some of us still struggled.
Beam Me Up Scotty!
If you were born in the year two-thousand and grew up with an iPhone in your crib, I suppose it’d all be second nature. Problem is over half the population are boomers or older. Take the kids out of it, and that old fart proportion jumps closer to two thirds. In other words, the majority of the commercially active world population first saw a mobile device when Spock asked Captain Kirk to beam him up in Star Trek in the ‘sixties.
Most of us boomers never saw a computer until after we left school. Sadly, we still wait to be beamed up, but we were in our ‘thirties when we got our first cell phones. In fact, more than half the world’s people were teenagers or older when mobile phones first arrived. So, forgive me if I we’re reluctant towards overbearing tech. We try, we try, we try, but it can all be a bit much.
So yes, the app and all the rest is cool. But the 6-speed office also happens to reflect that two to one boomer to gen-zee slash millennial ratio. And somehow there’s consensus around here the that Mini probably has gone a few steps too far with this cyber-rich interface. Sure, we love it and we want to learn it. But in our own time. Just give us our old knobs and buttons too, while we learn!
Still We Love John Cooper Works. Knob Free, Boomers and All
Look, the interface is probably the biggest challenge facing all automakers now that EVs are sliding into oblivion. There’s so much wrong with so many systems. In time, even us boomers will become au-fait enough to work the gizmos. So not fully understanding it all would certainly not deter us from buying a Mini. In fact there’s so much going for it, that a JCW would be a likely choice. Knob free, boomers and all.
See, the JCW handles exceptionally, is an absolute hoot to drive, especially in go-kart mode and is among the quickest Front drive cars we ever tested. Sadly that hundred and fifty kilos John Cooper Works has put on, and which is likely more than the fattest man you know, prevented it from toppling our front drive champion Hyundai i30N in our tests, but that certainly doesn’t curtail the fun
Besides great BMW build quality, John Cooper Works also carries some great Mini features over. Like rear seats that fold nicely into a far larger load bay. Sure, there are offsets. The go-kart handling also brings extremely harsh ride quality and an especially stiff rear axle. And not even our petrol hear gen zees could put up with the fake engine noise. But for pure fun and excitement, the John Cooper Works delivered and then some.
Is John Cooper Works the best fun for buck on the road today?
And best of all? Price. Once an almost impossibly rare commodity, the Mini Cooper JCW now comes in a fair bit cheaper than a Golf GTI, Hyundai i30N or similar at a most appealing forty grand. Yes, you read that right. Which makes this the most fun for buck we’ve driven for a long while. No matter how you tune the radio. – Michele Lupini
Images & test data: Giordano Lupini
ROAD TESTED: Mini John Cooper Works Engine: 228 HP 280 lb.-ft 2-litre turbo petrol I4 Drive: 7-speed double clutch automatic FWD TESTED: 0-40 mph: 2.91 sec 0-60 mph: 5.51 sec 0-80 mph: 7.20 sec 0-100 mph: 11.73 sec ¼-mile: 13.6 sec @ 106 mph 50-75 mph: 3.06 sec 75-100 mph: 4.53 sec CLAIMED: VMax: 155 mpg Fuel: 35 mpg Range: 400 miles LIST PRICE: $38,900
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