Living With The 2025 Mini Countryman John Cooper Works
Mini Countryman John Cooper Works: John Cooper Works (JCW) variants have been the apotheosis of performance Minis for eons now, and any Mini boasting a JCW badge should have you and your passengers laughing like deranged hyenas as you carve through a picturesque backroad in what's essentially a road-legal go-kart. And once all is said and done, you should arrive home with a half-shattered spine, one ruptured eardrum, and a sore face from grinning too much.
Therefore, I've never quite understood the lofty Countryman JCW, and I hoped living with one for a week would have me saying, 'Oh, there it is. There's the reason you'd buy one." But it just didn't.
Let's be clear, this is one bodacious vehicle, especially from the rear, and it draws attention, but a JCW is more plaything than family hauler.
Life With The 2025 Mini Countryman John Cooper Works
My press cars are dropped on a Wednesday and collected the next Wednesday, giving me one week with each car. This is usually more than enough time for me to conjure a conclusion, but the Mini Countryman JCW left me swaying right up until the last minute it was due to be collected.
Like the previous Countryman JCW, the new model lives up to Mini's zesty brand character, and it's a bit like that one uncle who attends parties in vibrant clothing and laughs at his jokes. It can get annoying, but it's wholesome, and the same applies here.
The Mini Countryman JCW's interior quirks never failed to cheer me up on the gloomiest of days. There's just so much color, and the little virtual dog, named Spike, who tells awful jokes like 'What noise does a witch's Mini make? Broom broom' injects further personality. My wife loved it.
2025 Mini Countryman JCW interior
However, throughout the week, my dog, wife, and I were bounced around the Mini's cabin while driving my regular test route of towns, motorways and backroads.
Its stiff suspension is a bugbear. Of course, it's a JCW and firm suspension is expected, but you feel almost every stone and rut under its 20-inch alloy wheels when driving through town—I often wondered 'Why not have trick dampers that soften via one of the Mini's many drive modes'. Even in the Green setting, where everything calms, the car's suspension attempted to break my behind at points. Something that quickly became tedious for everyone on board.
Likewise, the throttle felt lethargic when pulling out of junctions in anything but Go Kart mode, which forced me to sink the throttle a bit more, causing the car to jolt forward.
2025 Mini Countryman JCW
Smooth tarmac is where I expected the Countryman JCW to buck up, and it did to some degree, but it felt out of sorts. Sure, engaging Go Kart mode and nailing the throttle is a hoot; you're met with all sorts of synthesised exhaust and engine sounds, and the car feels like it's ready to jet off because of the enhanced throttle response, but this is ruined by tramlining as it claws its way down the road.
Then there's the sharp but hyperactive steering, which makes the car difficult to place, forcing mid-corner corrections. And finally, there's its weight—all 1,735kg of it.
Any JCW product should dance effortlessly around corners, but this felt like more of a wrestle. That's not to say you can't have fun with it. The more you drive it enthusiastically, the more its niggles become tolerable.
Author's dog in car
But there were positives, too. Being a lofty crossover SUV, we never once struggled for legroom or headroom, and the dual-height 460-liter trunk never had me wanting more. Similarly, the Countryman JCW returned a 36mpg average at week's end.
And here's my verdict. The Mini Countryman JCW, priced from £42,520 ($46,900), is too firm to be enjoyable, and isn't as fast as its predecessor. That said, it has excellent mid-range pull (30-70mph in 4.7 seconds), is packed with quirk and is good fun on the right road.
But we'd save cash and buy the entry-level Mini Countryman instead. You might not get the same performance, but it's sweeter to drive than the JCW, and your family and behind will thank you for it.
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