It’s a brand that’s been around since 2002, and for 2025, gets a complete refresh. We headed to the RACQ Mobility Centre in Brisbane, to test out the new John Cooper Works (JCW) MINIs on the track.
According to Alex Brockhoff, General Manager of MINI New Zealand/Australia, “The MINI family is now complete”. The launch of the new JCW versions means that the complete refresh of the entire MINI range – including the launch of the all-new JCW Aceman – is done. This generation of MINI represents the biggest investment in the MINI brand since BMW took over, nearly 30 years ago.
He’s completely aware of just how valuable the MINI brand is as an asset to BMW, but – as always – backs that up with commitments to the brand being separated from BMW, so they can do more things, more quickly. The MINI brand is nimble and agile, he says.
A lot of comments from Alex are thrown around, like “JCW is pinnacle Go-kart”, and, “JCW is all about attitude and heritage”. It’s great that BMW/MINI are aware of that heritage, which stretches back to 1946 and JCW’s work in motorsport, including building winning Formula 1 cars. “Motorsport is always part of JCW’s history,” says Alex, “and it’s still part of the MINI heritage to this day.”
For that reason, MINI has taken on Charlie Cooper as their MINI Brand Ambassador. Charlie is the grandson of John Cooper, and races MINIs himself.
JCW as a brand was formed in 2002 and taken over by BMW in 2006. When you think back to its beginnings, it’s been almost 80 years since John Cooper started working his magic.
2025 MINI JCW launch: Models
There are three new models in the JCW range, including – for the first time ever – EV versions:
- JCW – 3-door (EV or petrol) – EV version is called the JCW E
- JCW Aceman – 5-door (EV only)
- JCW Countryman ALL4 – 5-door (EV or petrol) – EV version is called the Countryman JCW SE ALL4
Just last month, DriveLife drove both the EV Countryman and petrol Countryman almost 3,000km from the top of the North Island to the bottom of the South Island, as part of the 2025 Pork Pie Charity Run. While we didn’t drive the JCW versions, some of the driving impressions are the same.
While it may feel strange that MINI are now selling EV versions of the John Cooper Works, their stats show that in New Zealand, battery-electric (BEV) models in the MINI range now make up for 28% of sales. That’s an impressive number, and a market opportunity. As far as JCW models go, New Zealand – along with Australia – are often two of the countries where the greatest number of JCW models are sold as an overall percentage of MINI sales. Apparently, both countries are always in the top 5 in the world. We like our fast cars, what can I say?
Both the Aceman and JCW E have a single 190kW/350Nm electric motor, with the JCW Aceman doing the 100km/h sprint in 6.4 seconds, compared to 5.9 for the JCW E. Range for the JCW Aceman is suggested to be up to 355km, with the JCW E at 371km. Both models have a ‘boost’ mode; ‘only’ 170kW is available until you hit that boost button, that gives you the last 20kW of power – but you do need to be in Go-Kart mode to access it. The EV version of the Countryman also has this feature; the Boost button is only on the EV models.
The petrol version of the new MINI JCW has a 2.0-litre, 4-cylinder twin-power turbocharged petrol motor that drives through a 7-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission. The petrol JCW gets to 100km/h in 6.1 seconds, and has a top speed of 250km/h.
At the top of the power tree is the petrol JCW Countryman ALL4, with a 2.0-litre, 4-cylinder twin-power turbocharged petrol engine, that outputs 233kW of power and 400Nm of torque. This accelerates the JCW Countryman ALL4 to 100km/h in 5.4 seconds and tops out at 250km/h. It also has a 7-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission.
If you opt for the EV version of the Countryman, you get a 230kW of total power over 2 electric motors, for all-wheel drive, and 494Nm of torque. Range on this model is listed at up to 432Km.
Only the Countryman is all-wheel drive; both the JCW hatch and Aceman are front-wheel drive only.
The new, larger JCW Countryman is still expected to be the biggest selling model in the range, where it currently sits at about 40% of all MINI sales.
While the new EV JCW models are not super-fast, it’s not all about straight-line speed and acceleration, says Alex. “John Cooper Works cars are all about corners,” he says.
2025 MINI JCW launch: Interiors
A lot of work has been done on the inside of the new models, with important changes like the centre display now taking up the entire circle. We’ve been waiting a long time for this change, and it’s so worth it – this is how it should have been from the beginning.
The front seats are now one piece, and the funky cloth dashboard both looks and feels cool, and certainly in keeping with the brand’s funky character. We’ll cover off all these things when we get a JCW MINI to review.
2025 MINI JCW launch: Go-Kart mode
New to the range is Go-Kart mode; We experienced Go-Kart mode on the recent Pork Pie Charity Run, so it will be interesting to see the transformation between ‘Core’ drive mode and Go-Kart drive mode on the JCWs today.
This mode firms up the dampers, sharpens the steering and throttle response. As a point of difference, when selecting Go-Kart mode, you get some applause and ‘yee haws’ coming through the car’s speakers.
2025 MINI JCW launch: Kate Reid (Lune)
One surprising appearance today was from Kate Reid, MINI Australia’s Local Ambassador. She tells us the first car she actually can remember was when she was 3 years-old and her dad bought a Mini. Kate has a really interesting background, including a degree in Aerospace Engineering that she then took to F1 and the Williams team, in the mid 2000s.
It was as a 13-year-old that her dad took her to see the F1, when the race moved to Melbourne, and this was her first-ever experience of seeing an F1 car in the flesh. That, along with other memories of her father’s rallying career, cemented her in all things automotive, including working in F1 as a young woman.
From F1, incredibly, she moved into croissants. Yes, it feels like a long reach, but that’s what she did. She used discipline gained as an aerospace student, and applied that to making the best croissants that she could. In fact, the New York Times voted her croissants the best in the world in 2016, and again in 2023.
I had visions of Kate working out of a poky little corner in the back of someone else’s bakery, but no; her company Lune employs over 320 staff, and has stores in Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane. I’m told by others at the event that there are often queues of people trying to buy a Lume croissant.
In 2017 – well before she joined MINI as an Ambassador – Kate was able to buy her first-ever brand-new car, and it was a MINI. So, the tie and history were there, even before MINI Australia approached her.
2025 MINI JCW launch: Track Time
Our first warning for the day starts with keeping an eye out for wallabies jumping out on the track, or Water Dragons simply ambling across. If there was a sign this wasn’t New Zealand, that was it. I did spy some wallabies while driving on the track, but they all seemed happy simply to be spectators.
Otherwise, the briefing was standard stuff; look where you want to go, get your seat and steering wheel setup right, use all the brake pedal’s travel – and use it hard. Our first event for the day was some track time with the petrol versions of the JCW, JCW Convertible (that we won’t see in New Zealand), and the Countryman JCW ALL4.
The thing I love about the RACQ Mobility Centre’s track is that it isn’t flat. It’s setup much like a normal road, with more rises and dips than straights, and in some places, traffic lights and intersections. Flat racetracks can be a little boring – hills, and corners on hills are much more fun, and it feels like New Zealand roads in that respect.
I grabbed the JCW Countryman first and followed a JCW Convertible and JCW onto the track. I had fond memories of the new Countryman on some rather tasty roads during the recent Pork Pie Charity Run, and I expected the JCW version to be even better. Right off, it makes better noises. There are real crackles and pops coming out the back of the car, and in Go-Kart mode, the engine sounds fantastic.
Gear changes are very quick, and I follow the other cars easily…until we start to go a bit faster. The JCW Countryman handles well at normal speeds, but at speed it struggles with grip when fitted with Continental Ecocontact tyres – even though it’s all-wheel drive. There’s a fair amount of understeer out of the corners, and while I’m not struggling to keep up with the JCW hatch and convertible, the car is working harder to do that. The steering feel is a bit lifeless too; it’s ok but could be better. The brakes bite very well, and some feedback is given to the driver on this front.
I love the performance, especially on the parts of the track where we use full acceleration, and with 233kW of power, it gets up and goes very well. The Countryman JCW is a nice option for a family guy/gal that wants to haul the family around, but have some fun sometimes, too.
Next up, I’m into the JCW hatch, and in seconds, it feels so different to the JCW Countryman. It’s lively in the corners, rotates on its chassis very well, and there’s far more steering feel – I can now feel what the front wheels are doing. It’s a lot more fun, and understeer is far less than in the JCW Countryman. Now this is a go-kart MINI. It’s pretty responsive too, and although the JCW Countryman has more power and can get to 100km/h faster, the JCW feels like it can use its power better and get it down to the road. I love this car on the track and it’s obviously a favourite for all those driving today.
After our track time, I chucked the GoPro into each car and took them out again – it only reinforced my view. The JCW Countryman ALL4 has all-wheel drive, but its weight and height work against it on the track.
2025 MINI JCW launch: Gymkhana
Our next event was to head to the skidpan and do a timed gymkhana. Not on grass obviously, but with water everywhere, grip would still be an issue.
For this event, we’d be driving EV MINIs, with two JCW Es and a single JCW Aceman for use. Heading out in the JCW E for a few practice runs, it’s no Hyundai Ioniq 5N, but it is still fun. This is one driving event where having instant torque on call would help plenty.
For the start, I held the brake pedal and then floored the ‘gas’ pedal to activate Launch Control. While the first cone was only 5 metres away, fractions of seconds count when it’s a competition. We pulled times down more and more with each run and ended up on a single timed run each. The JCW E feels so nimble on the gymkhana, although it can run out wide if I stuff up my braking – but that’s not the car’s fault. DriveLife took the trophy home for the best time, when my timed run was 21.4 seconds. Interestingly, the next closest time was just 0.01 of a second slower – and that was from another New Zealand driver. I felt for the Aussies there today because of this (not really).
So, what about the Aceman? It’s longer and heavier, so slower, right? The Aceman surprised me when it was consistently quicker on the gymkhana than the JCW E – true story. When I was out with the Go Pro, I took the Aceman on the track and without even thinking about competing, set a time of 20.9 seconds – half a second faster than the JCW E.
2025 MINI JCW launch: Drag Race
Our last competition for the day would be a simple drag race; two JCW Es would start from a coned box each, drive like hell for 300 metres, do a U-turn and head back to the starting box – and stop before knocking over any cones.
This might sound easy, but once that red mist kicks in when you are directly driving against someone else, all logic and common sense disappears. We got one practice run each at 75% speed, just to get a feel for it. As an observer of those before me, when competing for real, it was so obvious when a driver had hit the Boost button – they accelerated away from their competition all too easily. You wouldn’t think 20kW of power would make that much difference, but it was there in plain sight, as cars shot forward, beating the opposing car when the driver had forgotten about Boost mode.
When it was my turn, it was Launch Control activated, and shoot forward once we got the green light. That red mist occurred for me too, and I came in too hot for the U-turn, and went wide. I thought it was all over until I looked over at my competition – he too had gone too fast and went wide. We both came out of the U-turn neck and neck, and hit the Boost button at the same time. Boost only lasts for ten seconds, but that was enough. I got the JCW E into the box a split second before the Australian, and New Zealand took a two-from-two for the day. It felt worth going if just for that, although we might not get invited back again.
2025 MINI JCW launch: Summary
We covered almost 3,000km of driving in the new Countryman recently, on the 2025 Pork Pie Charity Run, so we got to know it damn well. Is the petrol JCW version better than the standard petrol Countryman? No doubt – but it depends on what you want. No JCW Countryman buyer is someone who doesn’t like performance, or doesn’t like a bit of exhaust noise, or doesn’t like a bit of JCW-bling. Its handling wasn’t quite what I expected, but you could easily switch out those EcoSport tyres for something gripper when the time came. It’s no JCW (hatchback) and it’s never going to be because of its size and weight, but it’s still a great option if you have a family and need that space but also want something a bit special. The all-wheel drive will help on trips to the mountain, at least.
We didn’t get to experience the EV version of the Countryman SE today but hope to book one in to test soon.
Then there’s the new JCW model, the Aceman as a pure-EV model. This car really surprised me in essentially outperforming the smaller, lighter JCW E on the gymkhana. It feels like a go-between model, and I guess that’s what it is – for the growing family that doesn’t quite need something as large as the Countryman (yet).
The honey of the range is undoubtedly the JCW. As a petrol model, it’s nimble, quick, planted and sure-footed. It totally proved itself during track time, and was a lot of fun to boot. It’s great to see that the car hasn’t lost that fun factor, when you drive it harder than you might with police about. I can’t see the petrol JCW being any more difficult to live with than the standard petrol Cooper, the ride still feels good – well, on the racetrack, at least. Let’s see what it’s like in the real world, when we book one in to test.
Does that mean the EV, JCW E is a no go? Not at all. It too still feels like a fun car and makes some sort of electronic exhaust-type of noise. For those 28% of EV MINI buyers who want bling and the JCW name, the JCW E might be the answer. We would have loved to compared the petrol and EV models of the JCWs on the track and get real-world impressions between the two, but that will have to wait until another day.
For the moment, we’ll reserve further thoughts until we get to spend a week in each model and see what they are really like, on a day to day basis.
