I start with a query: is there a degree in slapping a efficiency badge on an EV nowadays, when even in base kind, so a lot of them boast sub-four second acceleration occasions? Will hallowed efficiency sub-brands of legacy carmakers imply something to Generations Z and Alpha, or are they actually only for previous fogies like me?
I received’t communicate for the younger ‘uns, however there was a time when the phrase efficiency meant excess of simply straight-line sprints and numbers on a bit of paper. The phrase used to hold a whole lot of weight, normally involving the shedding of the identical, to realize really feel, steadiness, agility, dynamism, sprightliness – all subjective and unquantifiable elements.
Which brings us to MINI – lengthy identified for go-kart this, dealing with that, and one of many earlier ones to dip their toes into the EV pool. Now, it’s John Cooper Works’ flip, and since we’ve related JCW with punchy, pocket-rocket petrol engines for some 20 years, we needed to jump over to the UK’s leafy Cotswolds to reset our minds.
Say good day to the primary two zero-emissions JCW fashions – the JCW Aceman (backside) and the JCW 3 door electrical (above proper). Each had been launched in Malaysia earlier this month on the Malaysia Autoshow 2025 alongside the JCW 3 door petrol (above left). You’d need to be a actually critical traditionalist to go for the petrol, as a result of it prices RM319k. That’s RM85k greater than the JCW Aceman and a full RM100k greater than its battery-powered counterpart, due to EVs being presently tax-free.
The JCW Aceman appears the half, mainly as a result of it doesn’t go overboard. Apart from the crimson and black right here and there anticipated of a JCW automobile, there are blacked-out MINI logos, refined John Cooper Works logos and an equally-subtle bodykit and roof spoiler. Blink and also you’ll miss these nostril-like depressions above the closed-off grille. Understated – but it communicates its efficiency intent very efficiently.
Exemplifying ‘much less is extra’ styling finest are these wheelarch claddings. Just by portray them gloss black, the wheelarches are artificially enlarged and any semblance of ‘SUV’ (not a lot to start with, I’ll admit) is now gone. The automobile now appears like a slightly-tall scorching hatch, helped by crimson four-piston callipers that peek by 19-inch wheels (JCW Lap Spoke alloys for our market).
The inside has been suitably darkened to mirror the automobile’s extra purposeful nature – you’ll be able to see crimson stitching all through, a black material sprint with a crimson chequered-flag motif on the passenger facet, black artificial leather-based JCW sports activities seats with knitted material on the shoulders, and a black-and-red-striped steering wheel six-o’clock NATO strap.
The place the low-key styling adjustments labored effectively on the skin, I really feel the identical strategy isn’t as efficient inside – in any case, it’s a JCW and also you do need to really feel such as you’re sitting in one thing a bit particular. Extra inside badging wouldn’t go amiss – the one JCW insignia instantly seen are on the underside of the steering wheel and the seats, and the latter clearly can’t be seen whenever you’re sitting in them.
However it’s nonetheless a novel place to be in, with the more-oval-than-circular MINI Interplay Unit (touch-screen to you and me) in your face and the toggle row beneath it that incorporates, from left to proper, the amount knob, the MINI Expertise Modes toggle, the key-shaped twist-to-start swap, the gear selector lever and the parking brake button. There’s additionally a panoramic roof, which you don’t get on the common Aceman in Malaysia.
However what you’d most wish to know is the way it drives, and we’ll begin with energy. The JCW Aceman’s 258 PS and 350 Nm of torque usually are not monstrously greater than the Aceman SE’s 218 PS and 330 Nm, however sufficient to slash the century dash time by seven-tenths of a second, to six.4 seconds. High pace can also be up from the common Aceman’s 170 to 200 km/h – not that it issues an excellent deal.
Does it really feel quick? After all it does – all EVs do, by and enormous. However as a result of the JCW Aceman suggestions the scales at simply over 1.7 tonnes – mild for an EV – within the greater ranges, it pulls strongly and repeatedly, the place many EVs will taper off. Give it a very good boot off the road and there’s some appreciable torque steer to maintain issues attention-grabbing – however you’d finest be alert.
Flick the left steering wheel paddle (marked Enhance inside a crimson circle) and an almost-comical 10-second countdown begins within the head-up show, throughout which you have got an additional 20 kW, or 27 PS, of thrust (it’s a part of the 258 PS determine, in case you had been questioning). A JCW-only characteristic this can be, however with the almost-heart-attack-causing immediacy that comes with EVs anyway, you’ll by no means actually need this. Actually not on public roads.
Does it really feel like a go-kart to drive? Properly… considerably. Sure, the steering is sharp, fast and exact, and the thick rim and thumb grips do wonders for tactile management. There’s little to no physique roll, as you’d anticipate from MINI and JCW, with stiffer springs (no shorter than the common Aceman’s; the 143 mm floor clearance is unchanged) and elevated damaging camber serving to turn-in.
Nonetheless, the trademark sensation of being inches away from the bottom is perceptibly dulled right here, even because the underfloor battery helps to decrease the centre of gravity. It goes to indicate that even the most effective of engineering and suspension tuning can solely conceal so many kilogrammes and vertical centimetres earlier than the legal guidelines of physics blow their whistle.
Keep in mind that I’m evaluating this automobile’s dealing with by MINI and JCW requirements, which, as you realize, are very excessive. It’s not only a good handler for an EV, or an SUV. It’s a very good handler, full cease. The JCW Aceman wolfed up the twisting, turning, slim and undulating B-roads it was given, and was clearly in its component; simply not the sharpest software in JCW’s field by way of driver engagement.
I can say this as a result of I additionally tried the JCW 3 door petrol and electrical, albeit over far fewer miles than the JCW Aceman because of time constraints. Permit me a bit of detour with these two as an instance a degree in regards to the Aceman. The new hatches remind me of my two-year previous – pint-sized, at all times straining on the leash, at all times in search of enjoyable (or bother) and at all times able to dart in any path at a second’s discover. You nearly really feel such as you’re simply hanging on, such is their exuberance.
This isn’t in any respect shocking, after all, provided that they’re lighter (versus Aceman, 3 door EV weighs 95 kg much less and three door petrol weighs a cataclysmic 420 kg much less) and decrease. The JCW 3 door electrical shares the JCW Aceman’s powertrain, propelling it to 100 km/h in 5.9 seconds. In the meantime, the JCW 3 door petrol’s 231 PS/380 Nm 2.0 litre four-cylinder turbo engine is 27 PS down however 30 Nm up on the EV, and allied to a seven-speed DCT, does 0-100 km/h in 6.1 seconds.
Placing apart differing prime speeds of 200 km/h for the EV and 250 km/h for the petrol, they’re so evenly matched on paper that it’s tough to not imagine they’ve been intentionally engineered to take action. Even when one’s from Oxford and the opposite’s from Zhangjiagang.
I initially dismissed the Chang and Eng numbers – absolutely the EV would really feel way more fast than the petrol? Fallacious was I, for the OG JCW jogged my memory, nearly with a slap on the wrist, of simply how nice an engine the B48 is. It’s keen, torquey and sonorous (blowing the EVs’ pretend engine noises into oblivion), and that twin-clutcher joins in to make the automobile really feel simply as quick and responsive as its EV sister, in nearly any scenario. Plus, these turbo whooshes and exhaust barks – EV, kau ada?
Nonetheless on the hatches – regardless of the EV being an entire 325 kg heavier than the petrol, any distinction in dealing with was not instantly discernible. Then once more, we had been driving on public, pace camera-ed roads – the observe could inform a special story. The journey on each is harsh, exacerbated by the less-than-ideal roads (think about Malaysian tarmac) which brought about some hopping, however the petrol automobile’s adaptive suspension appeared to make physique actions a bit much less abrupt.
For these causes and extra, the JCW 3 door, be it petrol or electrical, is the one for hardcore fans. Sure, you’ll want a titanium backbone, however nearly nothing else wanting a real sports activities automobile may give you these ranges of directness, dynamics and seat-of-the-pants driving. These are go-karts in methods the Aceman merely isn’t.
However not like these two, the Aceman seats 5 fairly comfortably, and whereas 300 litres of boot house is just not quite a bit, you’ll be able to fold the again seats down for 1,005 litres. That is the sensible JCW; the JCW for grown-ups; the household JCW for individuals who suppose the Countryman has grown too huge for its personal good.
Though the JCW Aceman does journey much less harshly than the hatches, it’s nonetheless a bit too agency for day-to-day consolation. You may argue {that a} plush journey is just not what you purchase a JCW for, and I’d agree, but when this automobile is supposed to convey JCW to a wider viewers who could also be new to the model, they need to be eased into it. They actually don’t must really feel this a lot of the street in an SUV; you have already got the hatches for that.
Fortunately, that’s the one blot on an in any other case very well-mannered automobile when pushed usually – wind noise is virtually non-existent and save for a little bit of tyre roar, I can think about the JCW Aceman to be a pleasing motorway cruiser. And in case you like one-pedal driving like I do, flick the gear selector lever downwards as soon as when in D to enter B mode. The regen degree is pure and good, and you may simply modulate the throttle such that you simply come to an ideal, managed cease on the lights with out touching the brake pedal.
On to vary and charging. As a result of the JCW Aceman has the identical 54.2 kWh lithium-ion battery (49.2 kWh web) because the common Aceman, its WLTP vary is 51 km much less at 355 km. Cost at 95 kW DC and also you’ll go from 10-80% in half-hour; hook it as much as 11 kW AC and a full 0-100% cost takes five-and-a-quarter hours.
So, the MINI JCW Aceman. An EV that’s additionally an SUV that’s additionally a scorching hatch. Make up your thoughts, some may say. Crowd-pleaser, some could cry. Jack of all trades and grasp of none, others may conclude. However in a world the place we need to have our cake, eat it and promote it on TikTok Store on the identical time, I perceive its rationale. There’s demand for merchandise that do numerous issues reasonably effectively. Consider the numerous roles of your telephone. Can’t stay with out that piece of slab, are you able to?
At RM233,888 (with out the longer guarantee and repair package deal, which might make it price RM241,188), the JCW Aceman isn’t precisely low cost, but it surely’s solely 9 % costlier than the Aceman SE, and the returns are positively excess of that. It might assist to think about it as a ‘top-spec’ Aceman as a substitute of a efficiency spin-off, and if solely the journey was simply that bit softer, it could actually be the JCW for everyone.
MINI JCW Aceman pushed within the UK
MINI JCW 3 door electrical pushed within the UK
MINI JCW 3 door petrol pushed within the UK
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