Mini gets a new flagship

Motoring editor Peter Carroll was among the first journalists to drive the new MINI John Cooper Works at Donington Park. Check out our gallery of pictures and find out what he thought.

The Cooper S used to be as sporty as MINIs got, writes Peter Carroll.

Not anymore. The new sports flagship of the range will be the John Cooper Works, whose launch at the British International Motor Show will herald the arrival of a new breed of performance MINIs.

Owners BMW acquired the rights to sports tuning operation John Cooper Works at the end of 2006 and will now use the JCW moniker to denote the sportiest MINIs - rather like Vauxhall's 'VXR' tag or its own 'M' badge.

I got the chance to drive the new car before its international launch at Donington Park - the new home of British Grand Prix racing (assuming everything works out).

As it transpired we only got to try out the new JCW on a one eighth scale replica of the Grand Prix circuit set up in the car park. But even this was enough to give a flavour of what this car can do.

It certainly looks the part with its aerodynamic kit, 17-inch lightweight alloy wheels, black honeycomb grille and chrome touches.

You can specify a Clubman as a JCW too but they will not be delivered until the beginning of 2009 once bespoke versions of its aerodynamic kit have arrived.

On paper, performance doesn't seem to have advanced too far above that of the Cooper S - itself a none too shabby mover.

The JCW gains 36hp over the 175hp Cooper S and is just over half a second quicker to 60mph at 6.5 seconds.

But lots of work has been carried out under the bonnet to strengthen the engine and make it better able to withstand the forces and temperatures generated by a performance car.

Valves, pistons, turbocharger and exhaust manifold have all been strengthened or enlarged - and the 'crackle and pop' of the previous supercharged MINIs is back again thanks to its new JCW exhaust system.

Full boost is available from between 1,850 and 5,600rpm - pretty much right across the range.

In addition, the new JCW has some advanced electronic features which enable it to put its power down - and keep it on the straight and narrow.

These include dynamic traction control (DTC), Cornering Brake Control (CBC), Dynamic Stability Control (DSC), Hill Assist, Electronic Brakeforce Distribution (WBD) and Electronic Differential Lock Control (EDLC).

When these are all fully on they tend to mollycoddle you through corners and the lack of throttle response while exiting a bend can be frustrating.

Luckily there are two further levels which will be of more appeal to the keen driver. You can opt for a 'half-way house' setting by pressing the DTC button, which gives a greater slip threshold before the safety systems kick in.

Alternatively, you can switch off both DTC and DSC -Êand this activates the electronic trick differential. This helps control wheel spin through bends - but crucially does not interfere with power delivery.

A wet grip exercise with everything turned off proved that that the JCW has outstanding levels of grip and control - even with DSC and DTC off.

The car park exercises also showed the car has a natural tendancy to understeer - with the 24cm longer Clubman being the less capable of the two.

The steering in general is nice and sharp with few worries about torque steer. There is a slight tendancy for the wheels to tramline on heavily cambered roads.

After the car park exercises there was a chance to put the JCW through its paces on rural Leicestershire roads and fuel economy came in at around 27mpg - pretty good for a sports car. More sedate use should push this up into the mid thirties.

The ride is firm but you get plenty of feedback about the road surface. Refinement is good too - this is no stripped-out boy racer. nextpage

BMW has set the asking price at £20,900 and there are two ways of looking at this. On the one hand, it's considerably pricier than a Cooper S and £21K is a lot for a MINI, before you've even thought about adding your go-faster stripes.

On the other, it's still well priced compared to some of the competition and possesses an exclusivity and sporting appeal which the Cooper S lacks.

Throw in the low running costs, the outstanding TLC servicing package, and high predicted residual values and it looks like the MINI JCW is going to prove another winner.

And they've still kept the door open for a real hardcore version at a later date, should the demand be there.

By Peter Carroll