Mini Cooper JCW is a niche within a niche and the personality comes with a price

Globe and Mail

27-05-2025

The Cooper 3-door is one of the few small cars left. With the departure of the gas-powered Fiat 500, there's nothing else quite like it on the market. It's cute and brimming with heritage and character. With the latest redesign, I rediscovered some joy behind the wheel that I felt was lacking in the last generation. But with prices starting close to $40,000 for the base car and climbing to $55,000 for the sportier John Cooper Works version, it might be cheerful but not cheap.
The 3-door is the Cooper's purest form, which goes back to the 1959 original. It continues with evolutionary styling tweaks because anything drastic and it wouldn't be a Mini Cooper.
The car is instantly recognizable; however, the latest model is leaner having shed features such as the fender grilles while offering a more minimalist aesthetic. The headlights come without the chrome rings, and the taillights are no longer union jacks. It's also slightly more compact, losing a smidgen of length but gaining some back in the wheelbase.
The John Cooper Works (JCW) version adds a cool wing on the roof, larger wheels, wider tires and cranks up the turbo boost. There's no power increase over last year's model but the torque figure jumps significantly to 280 lb-ft from 236 and you feel it even more when driving. The factory zero-to-100 kilometre an hour time of 6.1 seconds seems conservative. Automotive journalist Jason Camissa pulled off quicker times during a drag race with the less powerful Cooper S in a recent video posted to Hagerty's YouTube channel.
More power, or torque in this instance, is great, but it doesn't always equal more fun to drive. The last Cooper JCW didn't do it for me. For something of its stature, I expected the agility of a mosquito, but it didn't feel like that. The steering was heavy and the pedals were stiff. It felt overweight with too much BMW DNA.
That's not the case with the latest model. The new JCW feels nimble with a light, precise steering rack and a snappy seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox. It's like a mini Volkswagen GTI with a more entertaining personality. And it's quick, raising its little snout in the air under heavy acceleration, gurgling and popping when you downshift.
Unlike the Cooper S, which is strangely devoid of paddle shifters, the JCW gets them, enabling manual control of the gearbox. In Go-Kart mode, it won't upshift until you pull the right paddle.
The JCW has a nice throaty bark emitted from a single centre-mounted tailpipe. There's pronounced fake engine sound pumped in through the speakers, but that's becoming unavoidable in performance cars. It mostly goes away when you aren't in Sport – sorry Go-Kart – mode.
Despite its diminutive size, the Mini JCW is solid and stable at highway speeds and great fun to toss around on a twisty road, with easily approachable limits. Finally, it feels like a hot hatch that's worth recommending. But for around $50,000, there are better ways to spend your money.
The Civic Type R, if you can find one in stock, is one of the best sports cars money can buy. It's faster, has better handling and there's much more space inside. From a performance standpoint, there's no comparing the two and it costs about the same as the JCW.
There's also the Golf GTI, and its more powerful cousin, the Golf R. In the hot hatchback bible, the GTI is Genesis. A jack-of-all-trades, that does everything well, including carrying passengers. The GTI starts at less than $40,000 and the Golf R adds all-wheel drive and has more than 300 horsepower and, at around $51,000, is still less expensive than the JCW.
So, what exactly does the Mini get you besides its form factor and cuteness? Depending on who you ask, it has the best interior of its rivals and the best infotainment system. There's textured fabric on the dash and doors, ambient light projectors, heritage-inspired toggle switches and the fabulous round infotainment screen. The system is responsive and easy to use and the display is sharp with the best graphics in the business.
Mini positions the Cooper as a premium small car and it feels like that. Where the Honda and VW can blend into the background, the Mini will always get noticed. It has a more expressive and joyful design, which might be worth it to some. It's also smaller than just about everything else on the road. A GTI is more than a foot longer, making the JCW a true city car that's easy to park just about anywhere.
Small sporty cars are already in a niche market and the JCW is like a niche within that niche. It's a great little hatch, I just wish it were $10,000 cheaper.
2025 Mini Cooper 3-door John Cooper Works
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