Photo: Catalin Garmacea
When you hear the John Cooper name you immediately associate it with the legend that tuned the original Mini and won rally cars with a car that wasn’t supposed to do that. When you hear ‘John Cooper Works’ you immediately frown and tuck your head in between your shoulder blades to protect yourself of what’s coming.
Is it really that hardcore?
We tested the MINI John Cooper Works ALL4 Paceman and we were rather surprised by the car. Unfortunately, not everything was as good as we expected. The thing is, hardcore is a term you really don’t need when describing this car.
What the engine is capable of is downright impressive, especially for its 1.6-liter size but that comes at a cost as well. Turbo lag is all-present to get you up to 218 HP. You notice it especially around town, until the car reaches 3,500 RPM. That’s where the JCW Paceman feels like an old school diesel. Not cool!
The exhaust gets another plus as it sounds meaty and has plenty of pops on downshifts. It’s also looking rather big from the back, with its 100 mm pipes and the special cutouts made for it.
We also recommend getting the manual 6-speed gearbox even though it’s not what we expected. To be more precise, it’s a bit clunky and the gears are all over the place. A little more precision would’ve helped. A lot.
All in all, we really can’t make up our minds whether you should take it or leave. We guess this car is just one of those ‘love it or hate it’ models. Our 2015 MINI JCW ALL4 Paceman review should help you make up your mind, though.
We tested the MINI John Cooper Works ALL4 Paceman and we were rather surprised by the car. Unfortunately, not everything was as good as we expected. The thing is, hardcore is a term you really don’t need when describing this car.
What the engine is capable of is downright impressive, especially for its 1.6-liter size but that comes at a cost as well. Turbo lag is all-present to get you up to 218 HP. You notice it especially around town, until the car reaches 3,500 RPM. That’s where the JCW Paceman feels like an old school diesel. Not cool!
The looks are the best thing about it
That says a lot. The car looks... simply put: mad. Especially if you get it in that special red paint we had it in, with the black stripes on it. You’ll get plenty of people to turn heads and check you out while you’re driving around town.The exhaust gets another plus as it sounds meaty and has plenty of pops on downshifts. It’s also looking rather big from the back, with its 100 mm pipes and the special cutouts made for it.
ALL4 works better than expected
The all-wheel drive system is another one of this car’s fortes. When it comes to negotiating a tight corner with all your might, the ALL4 system is right there with you, pushing the rear wheels out which surprised us. For some reason, we expected the car to be more FWD biased but it wasn’t the case.We also recommend getting the manual 6-speed gearbox even though it’s not what we expected. To be more precise, it’s a bit clunky and the gears are all over the place. A little more precision would’ve helped. A lot.
All in all, we really can’t make up our minds whether you should take it or leave. We guess this car is just one of those ‘love it or hate it’ models. Our 2015 MINI JCW ALL4 Paceman review should help you make up your mind, though.
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