SWEET JCW

Mini's fast Aceman is more practical than the 3-door

- ■MURRAY SCULLION

“Confident driving on unknown roads.” This message popped into the car's head-up-display while we had it on test. It's nearly beautiful, almost like a haiku or sonnet. At the time I was left wondering whether the Mini was being complimentary or maybe a bit pass-agg.

Perhaps it's a sort of polite Britishness born of the Aceman's Oxford roots, or it's a case of “lost in translation” from where the car is actually built, 7,500km or so east of Cowley, in Zhangjiagang, China. Either way, it's an oddly polite ode for such a little tearaway.

The Aceman JCW uses the same electric powertrain as the Mini JCW, meaning a single motor, front-wheel drive and 255bhp. It can manage 0-100kph in 6.4sec, so around half a second slower than the hatch but nearly a second quicker than the next quickest Aceman.