Mini John Cooper Works Aceman review: Feisty, and fat-shaming with it
The Mini JCW Aceman is brimming with personality, but does it live up to its own legend?
AFTER eating my way through Tokyo (and covering the Japan Mobility Show along the way), I’ve come home noticeably flabbier, as the Mini John Cooper Works Aceman cheerfully told me.
Pointing out weight gain isn’t a built-in feature of the JCW (as those in the know will call it), but a by-product of the way it’s set up. It clued me into every extra kilo by setting the more doughy parts of my body jiggling each time it crested a bump or rolled over a pebble, its firm suspension sending little jolts through the cabin. The gall.
But then, it wouldn’t be a John Cooper Works if it didn’t ride like a go-kart. Compared to a regular Aceman, it has firmer springs, stiffer anti-roll bars and that most discerning of all suspension tweaks, a dash of front negative camber. These give it that delicious sense of immediacy when you flick it into a bend. You can’t trim its line through corners by adjusting your accelerator input, but you can whip through them fast enough to make your wife punch you on the shoulder.
This particular Mini is also a perfect reminder that the world is divided into those who see driving as a joyful pleasure and those who see it as a chore. It’s obvious who the JCW is for.
The badge itself has always been reserved for the brand’s raunchier offerings, the ones built to make even a supermarket run feel like the transport stage of a rally. It takes its name from John Cooper, the racing genius who turned the humble Mini into a rallying legend in the 1960s. (“Works” is racing shorthand for a team run by a car manufacturer, as opposed to a privateer squad tinkering in a shed.)
This new Aceman may not have petrol in its veins (no Acemans run on fuel), but it keeps the JCW attitude alive with spicy styling flourishes, such as a chilli red roof, black skirts, a chunky tailgate spoiler and chequered-flag logos.
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Those adorn a car I called the Goldilocks Mini in a previous review because it sits between the sprightly Cooper and the family-sized Countryman. It’s not big, but it’s roomy enough to live with if you don’t have a large family (or large kids).
As for the usual electric vehicle (EV) stats, there’s a 49.2 kilowatt-hour battery good for up to 355 km on paper, though you’ll see less if you drive it with any enthusiasm. A 95 kilowatt DC charger will take it from 10 to 80 per cent in about half an hour.
EV hardware aside, the cabin offers typical Mini brio, with knitted fabrics, toggle switches and an enormous circular OLED touchscreen. The graphics are cheerful and the menus, slightly bewildering, but the whole thing oozes character. There’s a panoramic glass roof (with a proper cover) and even a simple massage function for the driver’s seat.
Yet, it’s easy to see where the accountants wagged their fingers. Some cabin plastics look and feel cheap, there’s a narrow armrest between the front seats (nothing says “economy class” like a skinny, shared armrest), and the centre console has a storage shortage. Perhaps the biggest let-down is that the JCW isn’t particularly fast. The initial surge is there, but it fades before long. 0 to 100 kmh takes 6.4 seconds, which isn’t ho-hum, but also isn’t hee hee.
You do get some giggles by engaging the JCW driving mode, which perks the acceleration up, adds heft to the steering and fills the cabin with an artificial whirr straight out of Star Wars. The soundtrack actually does make you feel like you’re flying, right up until you glance at the speedo and realise you’re still being a law-abiding citizen.
There’s even a little paddle marked “Boost” that unlocks the motor’s full power, serving up 27 horsepower bursts for 10 seconds at time. It’s gimmicky, but it gives you something to do.
It’s a fun car, but the real question is whether it really lives up to the racing titan it was named after. After all, the first JCWs were snorting little beasts that seemed to take a perverse pleasure in punishing their drivers, while the Aceman is relatively benign.
I think purists will be dissatisfied, because purists always are, but viewed in its own right, this is about as raucous as an electric Mini can get. It looks the part, delivers drama with its sci-fi soundtrack, and it reminds you that better handling is more satisfying than better acceleration. I liked it mostly because, unlike most EVs, it’s packed with personality. Even if it’s the kind of personality that didn’t hesitate to call me fat.
Mini JCW Aceman Motor power/torque 258 hp / 350 Nm Battery type/net capacity Lithium-ion / 54.2 kWh (gross; usable capacity not stated Charging time/type 31 mins 10-80% (95 kW, DC), 5.3 hours 10-100% (11 kW, AC) Range Up to 355 km (WLTP) 0 to 100 kmh 6.4 seconds Top speed 200 kmh Efficiency 16.9 kWh / 100 km Agent Eurokars Habitat Price S$271,888 with COE Available Now
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