MINI JCW Electric

TORQUE steer is a sensation that will be unfamiliar to new car drivers.

- Alex Ingram

But those who have owned an earlier turbocharged hot hatchback from the noughties, or any of the more punchy Saabs from the same era, will know all about the wriggling sensation from the steering wheel as a big whack of torque is trying to make its way through the front wheels and onto the asphalt. Depending on your point of view, it was something that felt either quite exciting or a little uncouth.

We have a sneaking suspicion that MINI engineers fall into the former camp, because it's a sensation that's well and truly back with this, the John Cooper Works Electric. When MINI was trying to develop some personality for an EV designed to appeal to keen drivers, it took the JCW down a slightly unconventional route. One which wiggles from side to side a bit.

Keep that front end pointing vaguely in a straight line, and the MINI's not short on performance either. Power comes from a 227bhp motor driving the front wheels, but flicking the steering wheel paddle labelled 'Boost' means another 27bhp chips in - and the JCW can sprint from 0-62mph in 5.9 seconds; that figure undercuts the rival Alpine A290 by half a second, and blows the similarly priced Abarth 500e clean out of the water with its seven-second time. It also undercuts the petrol-powered Mini John Cooper Works by 0.2 seconds.

And while that 228bhp car needs to be in the right gear at the right time to extract its full performance, the Electric model is always on it. The throttle response is lively, but not too lively.