Shocks to the System

We head to the home of Mini to try out a pair of unlikely performance siblings

- By: Calvin Fisher

MINI JCW ELECTRIC Powertrain: permanent magnet synchronous electric motor Transmission: single-speed automatic Power: 190 kW Torque: 350 N.m 0-100 km/h: 5.9 seconds Top speed: 200 km/h*

MINI JCW PETROL

Powertrain: 2.0-litre, four-cylinder, turbopetrol Transmission: 7-speed dual-clutch

Power: 170 kW Torque: 380 N.m 0-100 km/h: 6.1 seconds Top speed: 250 km/h*

Ah, Britain. Home of the Beatles, Queen, and also the queen. It's also the land of Mr. Bean, fish and chips, and a motoring icon as important as the Porsche 911 but at a tenth of the price. We're referring, of course, to the Mini. We won't indulge in too thick a history lesson but to mention that the original front-wheel-driven, transverse-engined Mini hatchback was an engineering marvel penned by Alec Issigonis. And that it genuinely changed the course of the compact passenger vehicle. And that his friend John Cooper, an F1 team manager, would collaborate with him to create nothing less than the precursor to the hot hatch with the Mini Cooper derivative, and ultimately the Cooper S. Every one of these could be driven to the track, get raced hard, then be driven back home without so much as flinching - and would underpin a legacy that has brought us here. To the Cotswolds in England to attend the launch of the latest iteration, the 2025 Mini Cooper JCW.