Faster Mini JCW Clubman gains ‘Pure’ variant

A NEW ‘Pure’ variant will be introduced to the facelifted and significantly more powerful Mini Clubman John Cooper Works (JCW) wagon when it reaches Australian showrooms in the fourth quarter of this year, helping soften a hefty $6000 price hike over the outgoing model.

Priced at $57,990 plus on-road costs (the regular JCW will be $62,990 + ORCs), the updated Clubman JCW Pure is still $1000 more expensive than the current flagship Mini wagon but a redeveloped engine enables it to dash from 0-100km/h 1.5 seconds more quickly and become the fastest factory Mini with a V-Max of 250km/h.

The upgraded powerplant churns out 225kW from 5000-6250rpm, and 450Nm of maximum torque is developed from 1750-4500rpm. This is a big step up from its predecessor, which reached Australia in March 2017 with outputs of 170kW from 5000-6000rpm and 350Nm from 1450-4500rpm.

Mini has applied the same engine upgrades to the Countryman JCW SUV, which will also be $6000 more expensive than before at $65,900 plus on-roads but lacking a Pure variant. Its 0-100km/h time drops to 5.1 seconds, a reduction of 1.4s over the original that went on sale here in August 2017.

Both get a new eight-speed torque converter automatic transmission with launch control function and a limited-slip differential at the front to help make the most of Mini’s ALL4 on-demand all-wheel-drive setup.

Responsibly, Mini has stepped up braking performance in line with the more muscular JCW engine outputs, installing 360mm ventilated rotors up front and 330mm ventilated discs at the back, supported by improved cooling and better brake pedal feel.

Suspension on the JCW wagon and SUV has also been tweaked, with a 10mm ride height drop and geometry changes to deliver “heightened agility and a new level of cornering pace”.

The Clubman JCW Pure includes adaptive suspension, JCW ‘Grip’ 18-inch black alloys with Michelin Pilot Super Sport tyres, JCW part-leather sports seats, an 8.8-inch multimedia display with ‘Professional’ satellite navigation system, custom exterior trim on the door mirrors, grille, headlights and tail-lights, piano black interior trim, black roof rails and a new LED exterior lighting setup including Union Flag tail-light clusters.

Going for the full-fat Clubman JCW and its Countryman equivalent adds two-tone 19-inch JCW ‘Circuit’ alloys, leather upholstery, a head-up display, 12-speaker Harman/Kardon premium audio, electric front seat adjustment and heating and additional door mirror trim. The wagon gets sports suspension while the SUV has adaptive dampers.

Meanwhile, Cooper S variants of both the Clubman and Countryman will ditch their eight-speed torque converter automatic transmissions in favour of a seven-speed dual-clutch unit that also replaces the entry level Cooper Countryman’s old six-speed torque converter.

Prices of facelifted Cooper and Cooper S Clubman variants respectively remain at $37,900 and $45,900 plus on-roads.

The Cooper S Clubman has an 8.8-inch multimedia display with ‘Professional’ satellite navigation system, piano black interior trim, black roof rails and new LED exterior lighting including Union Flag tail-light clusters.

Mini sold 185 Clubman wagons in Australia to the end of August this year, down 44.1 per cent, while the Countryman SUV has found 613 homes (down 19 per cent). Overall Mini sales are down 15.5 per cent, with the hatch 6.3 per cent behind year-on-year with 1269 sales and the cabrio drop-top is down 17.6 per cent on 169 units.

*Excludes on-road costs