- 2 months ago
MINI’s John Cooper Works range goes electric, and the big question is whether the new JCW models still deliver the go-kart feel, the sharp handling, and any real exhaust drama. On a first drive in the UK, the petrol MINI John Cooper Works Convertible and the electric MINI John Cooper Works Electric and Aceman are put through narrow, twisty Cotswolds roads to see how they compare in the real world.
The review also looks at how the cars ride on bumpy British roads, how much torque steer the electric JCW can produce, and why the lack of engine sound changes the whole experience. Charlie Cooper, grandson of John Cooper, joins the conversation to reflect on Mini’s racing roots and the story behind John Cooper Works.
This is a practical first test drive and review of the MINI John Cooper Works, MINI John Cooper Works Convertible, MINI John Cooper Works Electric, and MINI John Cooper Works Aceman, with pricing, performance, and everyday usability all in the mix. It’s a useful watch for anyone cross-shopping hot hatches, sporty EVs, and performance convertibles.
For viewers searching for MINI John Cooper Works review, electric vs petrol hot hatch, first drive, UK road test, MINI JCW Convertible, MINI JCW Electric, and sporty car comparison, this video covers the key differences in handling, sound, performance, and driving feel. It’s also a strong pick for fans of car reviews, EV reviews, and compact performance cars.
The review also looks at how the cars ride on bumpy British roads, how much torque steer the electric JCW can produce, and why the lack of engine sound changes the whole experience. Charlie Cooper, grandson of John Cooper, joins the conversation to reflect on Mini’s racing roots and the story behind John Cooper Works.
This is a practical first test drive and review of the MINI John Cooper Works, MINI John Cooper Works Convertible, MINI John Cooper Works Electric, and MINI John Cooper Works Aceman, with pricing, performance, and everyday usability all in the mix. It’s a useful watch for anyone cross-shopping hot hatches, sporty EVs, and performance convertibles.
For viewers searching for MINI John Cooper Works review, electric vs petrol hot hatch, first drive, UK road test, MINI JCW Convertible, MINI JCW Electric, and sporty car comparison, this video covers the key differences in handling, sound, performance, and driving feel. It’s also a strong pick for fans of car reviews, EV reviews, and compact performance cars.
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MotorTranscript
00:00hello in today's episode john cooper works electrifies the mini
00:03i drive on the wrong side of the road and i check whether the combustion engine jcw still sounds any
00:08good
00:11so let's find out together
00:27beside your run-of-the-mill internal combustion engine and electric gentrified shopping trolleys
00:32mini offers more powerful variants there are the internal combustion engine mini john cooper works
00:38formerly known as hatch mini john cooper works convertible and mini john cooper works countryman
00:44all four and then there are the mini john cooper works electric and mini john cooper works aceman
00:51bladder having no ice counterpart hence no electric in the name depending on the model we get between
00:58231 and 300 horsepower bear in mind that the electric three-door jcw is more powerful than its
01:05ice counterpart zero to 100 kilometers per hour time over on six seconds and jcw tuned suspension
01:13so we should be getting the mini go-kart fun right out of the box i'll start with the combustion
01:20engine
01:21mini john cooper works convertible i took the convertible so that we get the pure sound from
01:30the outside so we don't get any of that internal fake noise so i'll slow down and i'll let you
01:42listen
01:43to what's happening boost and off we go
02:13sorry about that i was uh tired of going behind the lorry but i really appreciate what the british roads
02:22are like they're quite narrow quite twisty here in the codswells anyway and therefore
02:29i don't feel like i'm breaking the law all the time because i'm not i'm literally below 60 miles an
02:36hour most of the time and uh that's absolutely brilliant sorry i'm approaching a crossing or
02:43junction and i think i should be on this side of the road yes it is my first experience uh
02:52driving
02:53in the uk i've been here twice already for uh various car events but uh car related events because
03:02one of them was uh toyota auris production launch in burn aston oh my god that was a long time
03:09ago
03:10and the other one was uh in goodwood for the rolls-royce factory tour uh in both cases
03:18you were driven around by people who know what they're doing anyway i'm slowly getting used to
03:25the roads to driving on the other side of the road the right side of the road as the english
03:30say
03:31and i'm finding the narrow and twisty roads
03:39complementing the mini that's
03:43one thing uh and second of all i really don't have to be going very fast to enjoy driving here
03:50because the roads are a bit bumpy uh there are high hedges and bushes around and there are very few
04:02speed limits you go 60 most of the time 60 miles an hour now i'm entering a 30 zone and
04:08this is like
04:08the second or third time i see any speed limit anywhere
04:16so that's um actually very good because you don't keep slowing down and accelerating all the time
04:23you're just going very smoothly along okay so we're going through a village anyway as you may have heard
04:28at the beginning of this section of the video um the mini john cooper works convertible
04:38doesn't sound like much there are no crackles and bangs there is no none of this nice
04:51gear change feeling it's a bit boring in this respect
04:58it drives and handles well i understand now what the british car journalists mean when they say their
05:06roads are bad yes their roads aren't perfect far from it but this is what makes cars designed in the
05:16uk
05:16for the uk for the uk so brilliant because they just handle so nicely softly in a good way
05:27because you don't want to be car you don't want the car to be all wobbly but you want the
05:32car
05:32to kind of go with the road and this is what uh this is what's happening here with uh with
05:43this uh with
05:44this mini uh now to get the feel of the road i've already driven the electric aceman john cooper works
05:50and
05:52uh despite it being considerably heavier it also feels very good on the road the steering
06:01plenty of feel there's a lot of grip there is uh not much wind buffeting i know i have the
06:08windows
06:08up but that's because of the microphone because of the sound i mean you have to hear me but comfort
06:14wise it's fine even with the windows down the weather today is perfect the roof can be operated
06:21at speeds of up to 30 kilometers per hour so that's probably like 20 miles an hour it takes 18
06:28seconds to open or close and regardless of the speed you can open the sunroof-like 40 centimeter section
06:38above the uh drivers and passengers head i don't think you'll be doing that at v max of 245 i
06:48think
06:48kilometers per hour but if you want to you can you can definitely shut it then
06:57now for some reason mini decided not to go electric with the convertible i don't know why because
07:07to be honest with lack of engine sound in the regular mini cooper cooper s and now the john cooper
07:16works
07:17i could just as well be driving in convertible and i would be enjoying myself just as much
07:21maybe there was a problem with maintaining the rigidity but then you've got the battery underneath so
07:29it should be it should be fine oh this looks like harry metcalf's curve i know it's not
07:37but it feels a bit like it it looks a bit like it uh i am in the cotswolds and
07:42i think
07:44jeremy clarkson's farm is somewhere in the area and therefore since i know him and harry metcalf our
07:50neighbors probably his farm is harry's farm is probably somewhere around here as well anyway
07:56sorry about that uh i digress i think this would lend itself well to the electric powertrain
08:03but i guess if i wanted to take this on a sort of a longer trip rather than just commute
08:10around town
08:12i might want to have a petrol engine to keep me going the rest of the car is pretty standard
08:19the infotainment system for now is standard like in other mini products however as of july 2025
08:31there is going to be a software update which will include an extra john cooper works section of the
08:39infotainment where you will have uh acceleration track time um g-force meters all that sort of thing
08:48and uh yeah that's gonna come as an over-the-air software update something that car makers are very
08:54proud of these days because tesla has been doing it for only the last five or seven years but everybody's
09:00doing ota these days yay okay so let's go back to the base and uh pick up that uh mini
09:12john cooper works
09:13electric and see if uh if that's any good
09:24very narrow road john cooper works is the umbrella name for sporty minis this brand was revived when
09:38bmw launched the new era bmw but the mini cooper history started in 1961 when john cooper saw racing
09:45potential in the classic mini recounts his grandson racing driver and mini john cooper works ambassador
09:51charlie cooper so my grandfather was very good friends with alec isagonis who's obviously the
09:57designer of the first mini and he told my grandfather about his new design my grandfather was very keen to
10:03see it it was a unique car in 1959 wasn't supposed to be a race car was was was a
10:09family car
10:11um but my grandfather took it uh to uh the monza grand prix when he was running a formula one
10:17team
10:17the cooper formula one team and let all the drivers have a go before the race which uh is crazy
10:23that's
10:23how times were back then um the the drivers uh usually would get a local hire car before grand prix
10:30quite often so their testing was done in in local cars um and quite often being crazy racing drivers they
10:37crash them and and in italy and monza quite often they would hire fiats and they would see them all
10:43on
10:43on upside down around the circuit the drivers pushing it but when my grandfather took the first one of the
10:49early minis there the drivers didn't seem to roll it they said this car has really good balance and stays
10:54on the road and that inspired my grandfather to to start the the mini cooper he thought this little car
11:01could be a race car mini's history shows john cooper was right mini cooper won the rally monte
11:07carlo three times and recently mini john cooper works won its class in the 24 hours of nurburg ring
11:14electric mini john cooper works isn't fit for racing especially endurance racing just yet
11:18but how is it to drive on public roads now i'm in the mini john cooper works electric it's very
11:28agile very
11:29fast there is a fair bit of torque steer at least here on these uh english country roads since the
11:38petrol
11:38john cooper works doesn't sound like much i might just as well be driving the john cooper works electric
11:46then i mean it's very fast it's very responsive and on narrow twisty country roads it gives you all the
11:55fun you need maybe even a bit too much fun i think i'd be happy with the cooper se which
12:04again is consistent
12:05with what i said about cooper s versus cooper se the electric mini in the hatch form is in my
12:16opinion
12:17the better hatch right now i'm not sure whether i would go for the electric countryman that depends on
12:27what are your needs for me a countryman is big enough to be the main car and this is definitely
12:34not going
12:34to be the main car however as your fun car assuming you don't want the roof open roof top-down
12:45experience
12:46the hatch is more than adequate and on these roads i don't even have to exceed the speed limit
12:55isa has sounded maybe once or twice during during the entire day so
13:02it's a brilliant little car unfortunately it doesn't sound as much so what do we expect from the mini
13:13john cooper works franchise do we expect go-kart like fun handling you got it do you want it to
13:24sound like
13:24anything well you're not gonna get it neither in petrol or electric form so sorry about that these days are
13:38gone
13:41prices of the mini john cooper works and john cooper works electric start at 40 650 euro
13:47the jcw aceman starts at 43 150 jcw cabrio 44 650 and jcw countryman all four at 53 920 euro
13:59and the
14:00leasing offer is pretty competitive as well for my countryman cooper s all four monthly leasing installment
14:05i could drive a jcw countryman all four with better spec and save a fuel tank's worth of money so
14:11is the
14:12future of mothering going to be electric do we have to go down that route i mean i don't mind
14:19this car
14:20as a second third car in the household but uh i think i would like some engine sound and some
14:27exhaust
14:27sound and uh that's what john cooper works used to be about what do you think let me know in
14:36a comment
14:36section below wrong side if you like my sarcastic down to earth and possibly mildly amusing car reviews
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14:58as it helps me move the youtube algorithm thanks for watching and i will see you in the next one