MINI has confirmed what we already knew - that a John Cooper Works version of the new Convertible will hit the stands at
Geneva. We've only just stepped off the plane after driving the very impressive
Convertible Cooper S in Austria, so unless there's been some sort of catastrophe at the JCW HQ (doubtful), this one should be brilliant.
On sale at the same time as the Cooper S, the JCW will cost from £23,470, with 'from' being the operative word - there's no way you'll pay that once you've added the obligatory seasoning packs. Pricey it is, then.
But, drop the top and you'll hear that twin-scroll turbocharged 1.6-litre engine in all its glory, with 211bhp and 207lb.ft of torque pushing it to 62mph from zero in 6.9 seconds - 0.4 down from the hatch. Emissions are more favourably comparable, though - just 4g/km higher at 169g/km. And it will do 39.8mpg - about a mile less per gallon, but still not at all bad for a car pushing out 132bhp per litre.
Standard kit includes an Alcantara wheel, sports seats, air con, 17-inch lightweight rims and a JCW body kit. And check out the list of braking, stability and traction acronyms it comes loaded with: ABS, EBD, CBC, EDLC, DSC, DTC and ELO. Ok, that last one was ours, but why not have fun trying to work out what they all mean - that'll save us the bother of writing them all out. Let's just say it'll slow down quickly, handle like a tram and shouldn't go on random tank slappers. No surprises there, then.
Mark Nichol - 10 Feb 2009