MINI JCW Convertible : WORKS ZEST AND PLAY

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MINI's Convertible shows its serious side in John Cooper Works form. Steve Walker reports.

If you thought a MINI Convertible was mainly a car for cruising around the fashionable districts of our urban centres and looking good, possibly in a slightly limp wristed kind of a way, then think again. The MINI Convertible John Cooper Works is a turbocharged drop-top with real fire in its belly. MINI says it's the fastest small premium cabriolet in the world, which is a little like claiming to be the tallest one-armed unicyclist in north of Doncaster but one tickle of the accelerator and you'll get what they're on about.

This is the second generation of BMW's MINI convertible and those doyennes of the extra pokey Mini at The Cooper Car Company were allowed to get their greasy mitts on it virtually from the outset. They came up with a comprehensive tuning kit to turn the quick Cooper S into the manically unhinged John Cooper Works model. The JCW Convertible is the drop top version of that car and there's been no thought of turning the wick down in the drop-top to preserve occupants' expensive hairdos. The Convertible MINIs weigh around 100kg more than the hard-topped cars thanks to the roof mechanism and the strengthening measures employed to keep the body rigid in the absence of a fixed roof. This means that the 1.6-litre turbocharged engine has a little more work to do in the JCW Convertible than in the JCW Hatch but with 211bhp at its disposal, that shouldn't be too much of a problem. The same engine produces 175bhp in the standard Cooper S (and in the Peugeot 207 GTi in case you're interested) but the John Cooper Works tuning kit makes revisions to the air filter, the air mass meter, installs a modified turbocharger with a larger air-intake pipe and tweaks the exhaust system to achieve its extra thrust. These modifications were originally created for the MINI Challenge racing cars and when you listen to a JCW MINI sitting at idle, it leaves you in know doubt that there's some race car DNA under the surface.

"â€¦a comprehensive tuning kit to turn the quick Cooper S into the manically unhinged John Cooper Works model."

Performance-wise, the MINI JCW Convertible can sprint to 60mph in 6.9s which is 0.4s slower than the lighter hatchbacked car. The top speed is also down but losing 2mph off a 148mph maximum isn't going to worry many prospective buyers. The peak torque output of the car is a hefty 260Nm but a committed jab of the throttle triggers the temporary overboost function which might evoke memories of KITT's chasm-leaping `turboboost' button for Knight Rider fans but merely gives an extra 20Nm of grunt for a brief period. Just as important as the vigour with which the MINI JCW Convertible fires itself up the road are the measures it takes to stay on it. The car rides on specially tuned sports suspension which aims to provide the car with its razor sharp handling focus without proving unbearably harsh on the road. There's also a Sport button which activates a special engine control map, sharpens the steering and quickens the throttle response for those times when you're feeling like a real hooligan. The MINI JCW Convertible can be spotted by its special 17" alloy wheels which, together with their run-flat tyres, tip the scales at just 10 kilos each. The John Cooper Works logo also makes an appearance on the grille, the boot, the brake callipers and the door sills. In addition, there's a host of styling accessories that, in typical MINI fashion, allow buyers to personalise their vehicles. The interior is finished in Piano Black with an Alcantara sports steering wheel. The automatic canvas roof of this car can be fully retracted or closed using a roof-frame mounted toggle switch in just 15 seconds. In the event of a driver being caught unexpectedly by a sudden downpour, this function will fully operate with the car at speeds of up to 20mph. As an alternative to the complete top-down driving experience, the full-width of the electric roof can be retracted by approximately 40cm to create the effect of a sunroof. This function can be operated at speeds of up to 75 mph. Unlike its predecessor's fixed anti-roll bars, the MK2 model features a single-piece roll bar situated behind the rear seats, ensuring passenger safety in the event of a crash. The roll bar will extend in milliseconds at the point of impact to protect the car's occupants should the car overturn. Clever use of space means the luggage capacity of the MK2 car is considerably improved, at 125 litres roof-up, 170 litres roof-shut and 660 litres roof-up and rear seats folded. The far-reaching modifications made to the MINI JCW Convertible don't come cheap but then this isn't your typical souped-up small car. As well as the features designed to make you go faster, there's a host of electronic safety features including ABS braking with brake force distribution, CBC Cornering Brake Control, DTC Dynamic Traction Control and DSC Dynamic Stability Control. The extent of the seriousness with which MINI treats the performance of this convertible is indicated by the inclusion of EDLC Electronic Different Lock Control. This does not feature on standard MINI products and only comes fully into play when the DSC stability control is disabled by the driver. It works to distribute drive between the two front wheels to improve traction when accelerating hard out of corners or in other situations where one wheel has less grip than the other. Unlike a stability or traction control system, it doesn't reduce the amount of power available when slip is detected so the driver retains full control. Anybody who owned one of the old MINI Cooper S models would laugh aloud at its claimed 33.6mpg consumption figure, since driving the vehicle as it begged to be driven would often send average fuel figures dipping below 20mpg. The contemporary turbo engine in the MINI JCW Convertible is a lot easier on the juice, with a combined figure of nearly 39.8mpg, although this too will dip significantly if you get a bit enthusiastic. The old engine wasn't exactly a unit that would win any green awards either, churning out 202g/km of carbon dioxide. The turbo engine does far better at 169g/km. This MINI Convertible is no fashionable urban runabout, although it's likely that many will still be used as such. The JCW tuning kit transforms it into a potent compact performance car and while owners are asked to pay handsomely for the privilege, where do you get a convertible with this kind of capability for less?

Facts At A Glance
CAR: MINI John Cooper Works Convertible
PRICE: £22,000 - on the road [est]
INSURANCE GROUP: 18
CO2 EMISSIONS: 169g/km
PERFORMANCE: Max Speed 146mph / 0-60mph 6.9s
FUEL CONSUMPTION: 40.9mpg (combined)
STANDARD SAFETY FEATURES: Six airbags, ABS with EBD and CBC, runflat tyres, DSC, DTC
WILL IT FIT IN YOUR GARAGE?: Length/Width/Heightmm 3699/1683/1407mm