Thursday 27th February 2003

Mini Cooper Works

200bhp Performance pack sure to be a hit

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John Cooper Works has finished development of two new retrofit tuning kits for the new Mini. The Mini Cooper ‘Works’ and Mini Cooper S ‘Works’ will make their world premiere at the Geneva Motor Show.

The 'Works' kit for the standard Mini uses a modified cylinder head with higher compression, modified ECU, a special air filter and rear silencer to give an extra 11bhp (126bhp at 5,750rpm).

The kit for the S uses a more powerful and higher revving compressor to give a very useful extra 37bhp taking it up to the magical 200bhp mark. Sixty can be reached in 6.7 seconds and it will do over 140mph.

The kits will be available from both John Cooper Works and all official Mini Dealers from April 2003. The packs are fully approved by BMW and the warranty will remain unaffected.

18 inch wheels and sports seats are also available from John Cooper.

Prices haven't yet been revealed.

Mini Owners, Mini Links

[v8thunder]

The look reminds me of the '80s ERA Mini turbo. Bet it's fast but it's still a lardarse though.

[gnomesmith]

......it's still a lardarse though.

[danger mouse]

Lard arse has to be relative term.

My experience of acually driving the 'S' in standard "baby bim-trim", showed it to be no slouch in the chassis dept' if slightly under powered and stiff, but it did only have 3k on the clock!

Even with the works kit, the cooking Cooper is still out-gunned in terms of power and power to wieght by my 14 year old crx, and any new mini looks bohemoth alongside my proper '82 ten inch wheeled 1000.

The 200bhp 'S' works will be quite something though. CTR and Clio 172 look out!


Mouse

[danger mouse]

...just wonedering, in what way does it look like the ERA?

[gnomesmith]

Wheels a similar shape?

[danger mouse]

gnomesmith said: Wheels a similar shape?

... but twice the size, same as the rest of the car I guess...

[gilese]

Surely for your money a Clio 172 Cup is the choice? I personally can't see why the Mini has to be so heavy - ah its because its not really a small car - just because its shaped like a mini - check out the dimensions. Its neary the size of a Golf.

[marki]

But it won`t fall to bits like the Clio , and looks much much better imo

[raceboy]

But Schnitzer and Hartge can offer you more power for less money, only down side is you lose the TLC package

[buster]

Do you think this would be fun on a technical circuit?

[schueymcfee]

Thinking about trading the Jag for one. Not sure if it's me though, what do you think? A bit of a birds car?

[marki]

schueymcfee said: Thinking about trading the Jag for one. Not sure if it's me though, what do you think? A bit of a birds car?

No not a birds car ,, i recon it would be a fun town type nipping about car

[Guy Humpage]

They don't look girly if you choose the right colours.

Even the 'S' is not that quick in a straight line - 163bhp, 1200kg and long gearing see to that.

[davidd]

A mate has one (about to get a hartage kit on it as it is cheaper and gives more power). The car is great fun the word is 'chuckable'.

D.

[Captain Muppet]

marki said:

schueymcfee said: Thinking about trading the Jag for one. Not sure if it's me though, what do you think? A bit of a birds car?

No not a birds car ,, i recon it would be a fun town type nipping about car

Surely "fun town type nipping about car" means "birds car"

[marki]

If you say so

[andybax]

Had a Cooper for about a year and now a Cooper S. I really liked the standard Cooper and love the "S". The styling is a bit "quirky" and, who knows, it may date very quickly but I do like the overall package.

In the performance department, it's not an out 'n' out racer but again, the mix of pretty good performance and astonishing handling, makes it a really good fun car to drive every day. If BMW hadn't done this Mini-thing, I don't think I'd have bought a "small" car.

If I need a blast, I still have the Cerbera!

[danger mouse]

Careful Muppet,

...don't go taring all cars that are fun and nippy about town with the same brush. They are sometimes in possession of hidden talents...

I would say the Mk2 CRX's and Mk1 MR2s both fall into that catagory.

ototh, they are both faster than a Cooper 'S' as well

[rich-uk]

Well I've only put 450 miles on my new Cooper S and I'm very happy with it so far. OK it's not as fast as say a Civic Type R or a Focus RS in a straight line, but it definately goes round corners better than any car I've driven.

It's already wheelspinning out of corners, so a LSD may be on the cards as well as one of the 220bhp kits in a couple of years, but it only costs £14,500 (without options ), and you can't beat that for bang for bucks.

[plotloss]

Got a test drive in one of these next weekend cant wait!

Matt.