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THE STEERING COLUMN

Welcome to the club, man

The Mini JCW Clubman may seem like just another fast hatchback, but it has one genuinely rare quality in a car

Published Sat, Apr 30, 2022 · 05:50 AM
    • The JCW Clubman busts the 100km/h mark in only 4.9 seconds.
    • The car's not just fast, it's even an inflation-buster.
    • For a sporty car, the JCW Clubman has gained a big dollop of power.
    • The JCW Clubman busts the 100km/h mark in only 4.9 seconds. Big Fish Publishing
    • The car's not just fast, it's even an inflation-buster. Big Fish Publishing
    • For a sporty car, the JCW Clubman has gained a big dollop of power. Big Fish Publishing

    Leow Ju-Len

    WHAT'S the opposite of shrinkflation? Bigflation? Whatever the word for it, the Mini John Cooper Works Clubman captures the idea perfectly. It picked up a few new features as part of a mid-life update in 2019, but more to the point for a sporty car, it gained a big dollop of power. It now has 306 galloping horses under the bonnet, roughly a third more than before.

    Granted, at S$275,888, its price today is also about a third more than it was a year ago, but most of that hike is down to the lamentably frothy state of the certificate of entitlement (COE) market.

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