NAIAS 2015: 2015 MINI John Cooper Works Hardtop Revealed
Looking for a high-performance MINI? Meet the 2015 John Cooper Works Hardtop.
The latest addition to the MINI family has a 2-liter turbo-four that makes 228 horsepower and 236 lb-ft of torque. Zero to 60 comes in under 6 seconds, but the brand adds that it can jump from 50 to 75 in 5.6 seconds. Six-speed auto or rev-matching manual helps direct the power to the front.
Suspension for the JCW Hardtop includes a single-joint strut axle up front and multi-link in the rear, with optional dynamic damper control for those who want to switch between comfort and sport modes.
Inside, the driver is greeted by a new gauge styling, including a dark dial for speedometer and engine speed. Bolstered seats, dual-zone automatic climate control, automatic headlights, and rain-sensing automatic windshield wipers are standard, with heated front seats, glass roof and heated folding mirrors as some of the options available.
Price of admission for the JCW Hardtop begins at $30,600, and will go on sale this spring.
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23 Comments on “NAIAS 2015: 2015 MINI John Cooper Works Hardtop Revealed. ”
Seems like a lot of coin for a very small hot hatch.
These are going to be at the dealers optioned-up with $40k stickers.
Niche model has niche price and niche sales numbers…the world moves on. I personally don’t understand the appeal of a hot hatch with a luxury-car price tag. Hot hatches are supposed to be about affordable fun.
About the only time I have ever seen a man drive a mini, is in the Works edition.
Non-JCW Minis are a common sight at autocross events.
Convertibles you mean? You didn’t say Hardtop!
I feel like we get an announcement every autoshow of the same pictures of the same car that is somehow radically better b/c it has a few more HP and a much higher price.
They act like the design is timeless, but it has really gotten old.
Nobody said it was radically better.
Porsche has had great success selling basically the same timeless, classic design for 50 years now.
This generation caused me to lose interest. I liked new-Minis before, because they were the only non-penalty-box cars that were truly small. But now they’re not small anymore. This thing is about as big as a Golf, and it’s heavier. At $30k I’d rather have a loaded GTI, and at $40k I’d rather have any of a whole lot of other cars.
I’ve seen several former or current MINI owners express the same thing in car blog comments, with some going so far as to say the F56 is worse in every measurable way than the car it replaces. Some of these posts ended with “I bought a MKVII GTI”. Of course this is the internet, so grain of salt and all that.
What’s up with this iLivid software on the pictures now. If you want to play you have to download another piece of useless software to your hard drive.
Driving a mini JCW would be a blast. I’d love to drive some of the higher hp special models that don’t make it to the US.
The novelty of the Cooper’s design has worn out, only the most hardcore enthusiast / metrosexual could justify this purchase. Ohhh and GTI owner’s looking for a reliable hatch. Lmaoooooo!
Optioned out Minis are pretty popular in high income urban areas and a 30k ish vehicle isn’t that big of a deal for a lot of people. San Francisco in particular is wall to wall MINI. There’s a lot of people in highly urbanized areas that want a small vehicle and don’t mind a small one that doesn’t feel like a penalty box.
BMW is a strange outfit. This new N48 engine is quite a long-stroke engine compared to the N20 in the 228/328/428 etc. It is going to be in the new FWD 2 series as well as MINI.
The cylinder size is 500cc, because BMW decided that a 500 cc cylinder is the perfect size, and declared such in technical publications.
However, as is well known, the perfect size is 277.2 cc, not some size BMW picked out of thin air. Although, some researchers disagree and say the perfect size is 28 liters unfortunately rendering even a single cylinder engine too big even for a semi.
Them’s the breaks when you’re searching for perfection.
I would love to see a 2.2L V8 made up of 277.2 cc cylinders. Put it in an Accord just to mess with the B&B.
I was just thinking about this yesterday. Weld two 1200cc sportbike blocks together and you have a 2.4L V8.
At least it doesn’t sport the GTI’s plaid inserts.
Why do they need to add the word “Hardtop” to the title? When I hear Mini JCW, I don’t think “Oh yes, that’s the convertible surely.” Just seems like it’s putting on more heirs than necessary.
And the interior on these has always put me off. It’s trying SO SO hard to be retro and cool. I hate the circular thing in the center – it puts me in mind of an 02 Taurus. Then of course the leather, piping, velour, quilted, race, contoured seats. It’s all too much.
EDIT: Looks like there is no sat nav option in this expensive premium car by the looks of the center set up. Is this true?
And FWIW, I agree with the commenter above about the photos issue. Mine load much more slowly since a couple days ago.
Nah, that circular area gets replaced with a screen and a different button layout on satnav and/or infotainment screen options that’s controlled with a pared down iDrive stick.
The “hardtop” moniker comes from the frameless door windows…hardtops of old used that descriptive term all the way back in the 50s…two door hardtop, and four door hardtops were pretty popular in those days..
“JCW Hardtop begins at $30,600”
So well equipped it will cost as much as a Golf R?
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