John Cooper Works S Review
This review has been a long time coming. It's taken a while for us to be able to get our hands on the Works 'S', and when we finally did in April, the car supplied by MINI developed an air-bag warning light fault, which certainly put a dampener on the whole experience, and also meant we didn't quite feel like hurtling around without knowing for sure we'd have full protection should things go a little pear shaped.
Well, it's the start of June, and I've finally got my hands on another MINI Cooper S, tuned by John Cooper Works in East Preston. The first example I had in April was overall quite nicely specced, with a few mod-cons, CD, Chili Pack (but with the 16" wheels for better handling). However, the latest machine that BMW have kindly let me loose in has virtually no kit at all. No CD. No Air-Con, no leather, no sunroof, no front fog lights. Not even map reading lights! This is about as bare-bones as you can get. But that's no bad thing. Basic equals light. Light is good.
So, this is it, 'The Works'. Top of the range, officially approved 200bhp MINI. And it's not cheap either. This 'almost bare bones' Works Cooper S still has a retail price of over £18,000 (that doesn't include the cost of actually fitting the kit that a customer would have to pay either). Now, whatever you might say, for a MINI with no 'toys', that's not cheap. This is why, I believe, so many questions and doubts still linger over the value of the John Cooper Works package. £3,500 for 37 horsepower extra seems like a lot of money, even more so when you consider so many aftermarket tuners seem to be getting the same or even more power for as little as around one third of the cost. Often I get the feeling the only thing the JCW kit sells on is the fact your Cooper is still fully warranted, and that it doesn't impact on service agreements such as TLC either.
That said, there's more to it than that, and more than just 'paying for a badge' too. In fact, the badges are so discreet, they're hardly worth the money anyway. Only a real 'in the know' MINI enthusiast would tell a works from the standard car at a glance. Front and rear badges (shown above) hardly shout 'look at me' and the elegantly engraved tailpipes while slightly larger, and sweeter sounding than the standard 'double beer can' affair, don't exactly leap out at you either. But it seems that's the point. As mad as it seems, John Cooper Works have tried to stick 200bhp in a small front wheel drivel hatch back, and make it somewhat graceful and refined piece of kit. When I think about it, it's bonkers.
When I very first drove the John Cooper Works S, I have to admit, I wasn't taken aback by it. In fact, I was down right disappointed. Take into account the fact that I already own a MINI Cooper S, and I drive it every day, and at the time I had also been driving around in an S which had a replacement cold air intake kit, and a loud aftermarket sports exhaust. I really wanted the Works to blow my socks off, and in the couple of days of 'regular' driving I had in it, and compared to my 'standard' S, it just didn't. I could feel a difference sure, mostly the fact that the car pulled better from low down, and actually felt smoother than the standard MINI Cooper S. But it just didn't seem to be all that more playful. The exhaust note is not far from standard, and the supercharger whine, while louder and slightly deeper in tone than the usual, wasn't as loud as a standard unit fitted with a cone type filter. So, I had a few runs, did some 0-60 tests, and then, for no apparent reason, the air-bag light came on. And that was pretty much game over. All in all, a little bit of a disappointing and short lived MINI adventure. I held off writing a report, because it was tarnished by the faulty car, and also I felt I hadn't had proper chance to play. I'm glad I did.
That brings me here, to John Cooper Works MINI Cooper S Adventure, Part II. I'd already managed to do my 0-60mph runs in the previous car (6.73 seconds) and I'd already taken plenty of nice still shots of the John Cooper Works 'bits' on t
