This is the second generation MINI Countryman John Cooper Works. It's both a lifestyle crossover and a hot hatch, but you're probably not going to buy one because you think it's too expensive.
We have a theory. MINI was the first company to make expensive small cars. They put fancy switches and toggles, tuned engines and pointless flash chrome bits.
They still do it, but the difference is that now everybody overprices their compacts. More to the point, the new Countryman JCW is a whopping €38,800. But a SEAT Leon Cupra can top €40,000 now, and so can a Skoda Octavia, a Peugeot 308 and especially a Mercedes A-Class.
One area where we're not happy with MINI's work is under the hood. They just have it the same 231 PS as the JCW hatchback, albeit with a 20 Nm bump in torque on overboost. It's almost shameful for the mighty BMW-owned brand not to have a 300 horsepower 2-liter turbo like everybody else while AMG is pushing towards 400.
Maybe the FWD 1 Series will spur them into action, but for now, all the top MINIs have the same engine. You can get a pretty good impression of what it sounds like from the video samples, but there are no surprises.
The only powertrain you can have comes with the clutch-based AWD system. But you will have to pick between the €38,800 standard model and the €40,900 one without a clutch pedal. Usually, we'd choose the automatic with any crossover, but the 8-speed Steptronic is not as fun as rowing gears by yourself.
Things aren't so bad if you're comparing this to the old Countryman JCW. The 0 to 100 km/h sprint takes 6.5 seconds, which is a 0.8s improvement. Fuel economy is rated at 7.5 l/100km combined with a manual or 6.9 l/100km as an auto, which is not bad when considering the engine is bigger.
To conclude, the JCW is expensive now. But it's going to make a great second-hand car in two or three years. Best of all, the reliability is probably going to be better than with the old Peugeot-era 1.6-liter engines.
Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida. Full profile
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