Wednesday 29th February 2012

Mini unveils Countryman JCW for Geneva debut

John Cooper Works badging extends to Countryman soft-roader

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As well as the Clubvan concept, Mini is to bring a new range-topping Countryman John Cooper Works to the Geneva show.

The Countryman JCW will be the first all-wheel-drive JCW Mini, and also the first to offer an automatic gearbox as an option - a clear indication that Mini boss Dr Kay Segler is keen to expand the JCW sub-brand's line-up, much as he did in his previous incarnation in charge of BMW's M Division.

Saying that, although the Countryman gets uprated springs and dampers, strengthened anti-roll bars and a 10mm drop in ride height it's not expected to be quite as 'hardcore' as other JCW models.

Power from the 1.6-litre turbocharged four-cylinder engine is 211hp at 6,000rpm, while torque is up at 207lb ft between 2,000rpm and 5,600rpm, with the familiar overboost function pushing that up to 221lb ft for brief bursts. That's all enough to push the Countryman JCW to 62mph in a healthy-ish 7.1 seconds and on to a top speed of 127mph (although that falls to 7.5 seconds for the automatic version).

The fuel consumption also suffers in the auto - it can muster just 35.3mpg on the EU combined cycle compared with 39.2mpg for the manual version.

The new Countryman JCW will go on sale in the UK this autumn, with an expected price hike of roughly £5K over the 184hp Countryman Cooper S, bringing the JCW in at just under £28k.

 

[Sivraj]

As step to far and dilution of Mr Cooper's reputation me thinks!

[Fetchez la vache]

£28k?
Holy sh...

[Cotty]

Hear that noise, thats John Cooper spinning in his grave.

[DanDC5]

I could've sworn you're put the price at £28k? And I'll assume that's before options. Seems like a £40k Countryman is a very real possibility.

[thiscocks]

think I've just done a bit of sick

[TVR500Morgan]

How is this anything like a Mini ? John Cooper will be turning in his grave !!

[Gorbyrev]

love the way the Mini badges are so big to make the the bus seem a little bit smaller - that is one ugly critter - if you bumped into it you'd give it your wallet and run away - no, wait - if you buy it and spec it with all those options you'll do that anyway!

[blearyeyedboy]

There's a sentence floating around my head... it contains the words "turd", "polish" and "can't".

[Krikkit]

TWENTY EIGHT THOUSAND POUNDS. For a Mini?! (Even though it's not that Mini anymore...) And I thought the proper BMW's were good at over-sizing these last few years.

[hmanuk]

What a waste of time and effort. Period!

[johno333]

When will BMW be using that other old car name - The Maxi, which is more fitting . This is not a Mini and it does represent John Cooper's legacy. Laughable.

[crizhill]

Not a big fan of the countryman to start with either.

However it has just won the Paris Dakar and doing pretty well in WRC so a building motorsport reputation - needs more than 211BHP though !

[The Danimal]

Arrggghhhh my eyes!

[vapourtrail]

Foxtrot Alpha India Lima

......but it will sell like all MINI's do (not that MINI is a name you could use here). I saw a countryman parked next to a Merc C class estate and it towered over it!

[TheDeadPrussian]

28K plus options - too much.

[RichTBiscuit]

My Eyes!

So, it's HUGE and fapping ugly. Nice one Mini.

[corcoran]

A Countryman with a 'drop in ride height'. Many ironic lols.

[Roberty]

Should have been shot at birth, as with most of these Mini derivatives.

[RichTBiscuit]

I was talking to a Friend the other day about him wishing to buy a newer mini (he currently owns a 02' Cooper)


Him: I'm looking at the new mini countryman, what do you think?

Me: Ah right. How much you spending?

Him :Diesel with some options is about 23k

Me: 23k? For a Mini? Why dont you buy a year old 3 series estate?

Him: Yeah, but it's not a Mini....


That's the weird logic which keeps the Mini brand going and able to charge 30k for a tarts palace. Those marketing guys must be pretty pleased.

[maxwell99]

looks like a chavs handbag