Styling
We're not going to go into chapter-and-verse on a few sections of this review, because we did so in the link that's in the intro above - so read our First Drive review of the F66 JCW if you want more detail here. Suffice it to say that the petrol JCW looks superb in a strong colour, like Chili Red II, and on its optional 18-inch alloys (the F66 JCW runs on black 'Sprint' 17s as standard, but you can upgrade to the 'Lap' 18s for free, or £800 if you wrap them in 'Sports tyres', aka Continental SportContact 7s; the electric J01 JCW has 18s from the off) it has loads of presence. All admirably bolstered by its sizeable roof spoiler, various JCW chequered-flag emblems and its centre-exit circular exhaust pipe.
Interior
The interior is incredibly high-quality for this class of car, in terms of material finishing, and while the 9.4-inch circular touchscreen does run a few too many functions for its own good, only a modest degree of familiarisation is needed for the driver to become reasonably
au fait with it. The sports bucket seats and red detailing of the JCW lift the ambience, although it seems MINI is succumbing to parent company BMW's disease of fitting any even moderately performance-oriented - or more properly hardcore, like this JCW - car with a comically fat and vaguely annoying steering wheel. That aside, though, it's a big tick for the JCW's cabin in general, while its little fold-up head-up display is one of the better exponents of its tech type going.
Practicality
The problem with any 21st-century MINI three-door built under the auspices of BMW is that they're tragically dire pieces of packaging. It's not such a bad thing when more practical models are now available, including the 5-Door, the
Aceman and the
Countryman, but unfortunately the F66 JCW doesn't buck this ongoing trend. Put the driving seat in position for only an average-height person, and there is
no legroom behind it in the second row; that's not hyperbole, by the way - we don't mean legroom is tight, or someone could sit there for a short journey if pushed. No, we mean the rear seat behind the driver's chair is ultimately rendered useless. And the boot remains piffling at 210 litres, only rising to a below-average 725 litres with the back pews folded down. You have to think of this as a strict two-seater, in essence, rather than a 2+2 or full-on four-seat machine.
Performance
The glory with the F66 JCW is that it even exists in the first place, now the J01 has arrived. The drawbacks are that you can no longer have a six-speed manual Works, and also that it synthesises exhaust rumbles from its in-car speakers; there are no real rumbles and thuds on up- and downshifts coming from the exit pipes themselves. For shame.
Nevertheless, after a week in its company, we're happy to confirm that this 231hp unit is still the best powertrain going for any JCW currently on sale, the more-potent
JCW Countryman included. It's strong and it's torquey, and it makes an appealing enough noise in the 'Core' driving mode (which is essentially 'Normal', and what the JCW defaults to on each start-up) that you can even avoid the inauthentic exhaust fakery that manifests in the hottest JCW setting. It's a shame the Works is a DCT-only affair these days, but as dual-clutch gearboxes go it's a swift-acting and unobtrusive one, so all in all the straight-line performance of the MINI is about as bonkers as you could reasonably need - all without ever giving the impression it's searingly quick.
It's good on fuel for a 231hp/380Nm 2.0-litre turbo petrol, though. Across 277 miles on test, the JCW averaged an impressive 37.6mpg. That's probably because a lot of those miles were spent on it heading up the M18 and M180 from Sheffield to Cleethorpes and back for a walk at the seaside (don't ask why we went to Cleethorpes, by the way), so it was cruising at 70mph with an indicated 45-50mpg instant read-out showing on its central screen. On the occasions you do start to properly enjoy the 2.0-litre's strength and reach, mind, expect the consumption to tumble below the 30mpg marker. By quite some distance.
Ride & Handling
The key to understanding precisely
why the petrol-powered JCW is so much more likeable and tolerable than its J01 electric relation relates to the dampers. The F66 here has frequency selective dampers (FSDs); the J01, and the awful
John Cooper Works Aceman, do not - they have a simpler, fixed-rate sports springs and firm shocks.
There's no getting around things: the F66 JCW is a tough, intense set-up. Like, bloody harsh at times. Specifically, these are large, transverse ridges that it encounters at speed, where it would appear its FSDs can't quite react quickly enough to negate rapid vertical movements of the bodyshell in the wake of the impact, so the car abruptly 'bounces' up and down over the surface imperfection, accompanied by a loud thud from its suspension towers.
However, these occasions are few and far between, and while its primary ride can occasionally be unforgiving, the secondary ride is comfortable enough and quiet enough that long journeys (such as, say, heading to Cleethorpes for the afternoon) do not become a headache and a chore. Whereas, conversely, the electric J01 JCW and that aforementioned Aceman are afflicted with an unrelentingly jittery ride quality that simply makes them deeply unpleasant to be in after barely a few miles.
Madcap MINIs that are set up like race cars for the public highways are understandable and somewhat manageable for short bursts, but the JCWs, no matter how much MINI likes to say they are raw and uncompromising, have to work as day-to-day road cars. The electric models do not, put simply; the petrol F66, however, does.
As a final feather in the cap of the current JCW three-door, it's a proper little blast to hoon it about on country roads, although there are still issues. It's not the lightest vehicle at 1.4 tonnes in this trim, although it is of course a good 300 kilos trimmer than the lardy electric equivalent, and it could really do with a limited-slip diff to help with apportioning out its power through the front wheels when you're exiting tighter corners. Furthermore, that chonky steering wheel robs the driver of outright connection, but as the steering is generally sweetly tuned and the brakes have nice, progressive bite and feel, you can get the MINI JCW flowing and ultimately boiling on your favourite roads with little in the way of unruly manners. In short, because it is nowhere near as insufferably unsettled and brutally compromised as the electric JCWs, you can lean on its grip and traction levels more often and more heavily, so it feels considerably quicker and more eager to fling down twisting routes. Good stuff.
Value
At £33,265, the F66 MINI JCW is hardly what we could ever call cheap, but it is at least more inexpensive than the electric alternative, so that's good. And as there are now so few petrol-powered, turbocharged, front-wheel-drive hot hatchbacks at the affordable end of the market, then we're prepared to cut the JCW quite a lot of financial slack. It's not a bargain, you understand; but it is reasonably positioned, for what it is and what you get from the ownership proposition.
Verdict
We're glad we spent seven days with the MINI John Cooper Works, because it has reaffirmed our belief that something is inherently, drastically flawed with the electric MINIs' chassis set-ups. They need to adopt this car's adaptive FSDs much sooner than later, and then they might be worth some serious consideration. As it is, we understand this is a retrograde conclusion to end on, but when it comes to the current JCW family then ICE emphatically beats EV. Progress isn't always easy, is it?
