RE: MINI Clubman JCW 306hp - on track | Promoted
Thursday 17th October 2019
MINI Clubman JCW 306hp - on track | Promoted
How do you follow up a Three Peaks Challenge road trip? Anglesey might just be up to the job
To find out more about the MINI Clubman JCW 306hp, and to book a test drive, click here
You may have read our recent dream drive which saw us circumnavigating the UK to visit its three highest peaks in the brand new MINI Clubman John Cooper Works 306hp.
In part two, the journey continues on to Anglesey. There we have a date with an empty track, 5 MINI JCWs and an enthusiastic trio of PH members wanting to put the new MINI Clubman JCW 306hp through its paces.
There'll be a full summary of the day from Dan soon, but for now it's over to our intrepid PHers to see how the new car performs versus their own previous-gen JCWs...
Discussion
howardhughes said:
It looks bloody awful. It may have over 300 bhp but It will never be a touch on the R53/R56 for looks.
It's the worst design to date.
I bet they drive well, I've not yet driven a new shape mini that wasn't brilliant fun behind the wheel of, this era of Mini design is certainly divisive, I'm absolutely not a fan. It's the worst design to date.
Looking at current BMW designs I also don't have an enormous amount of hope of a return to the handsome R53 and R56 days.
howardhughes said:
It looks bloody awful. It may have over 300 bhp but It will never be a touch on the R53/R56 for looks.
It's the worst design to date.
Here we go again, you probably think the Porsche Taycan is sublime then It's the worst design to date.
obviously biased here because just bought one for the wife but looks better than Countryman in my opinion, if you have not got anything constructive to say f
k off 
Standard PH approach, bashing a car which you have no experience of and haven’t driven.
Looks are subjective, but I think (in the right colour combination) it looks great, and is something a bit different in the ever expanding marketplace of 300hp 4-Cylinder ‘hatches’.
Have a go in one, then give your opinion.
I’ve spent 2,000+ miles in mine and it’s well built, well finished, has great technology on board and is a great steer with the addition of the front diff. The interior is better than the new M135i, which is on the same platform and has the same engine.
People stuck in the past think a MINI has to be ‘mini’ and look like something built in 1959. Take this, and the other models in the range for what they are and be objective.
Looks are subjective, but I think (in the right colour combination) it looks great, and is something a bit different in the ever expanding marketplace of 300hp 4-Cylinder ‘hatches’.
Have a go in one, then give your opinion.
I’ve spent 2,000+ miles in mine and it’s well built, well finished, has great technology on board and is a great steer with the addition of the front diff. The interior is better than the new M135i, which is on the same platform and has the same engine.
People stuck in the past think a MINI has to be ‘mini’ and look like something built in 1959. Take this, and the other models in the range for what they are and be objective.
MG7 said:
Standard PH approach, bashing a car which you have no experience of and haven’t driven.
Looks are subjective, but I think (in the right colour combination) it looks great, and is something a bit different in the ever expanding marketplace of 300hp 4-Cylinder ‘hatches’.
Have a go in one, then give your opinion.
I’ve spent 2,000+ miles in mine and it’s well built, well finished, has great technology on board and is a great steer with the addition of the front diff. The interior is better than the new M135i, which is on the same platform and has the same engine.
People stuck in the past think a MINI has to be ‘mini’ and look like something built in 1959. Take this, and the other models in the range for what they are and be objective.
How is the interior better ?Looks are subjective, but I think (in the right colour combination) it looks great, and is something a bit different in the ever expanding marketplace of 300hp 4-Cylinder ‘hatches’.
Have a go in one, then give your opinion.
I’ve spent 2,000+ miles in mine and it’s well built, well finished, has great technology on board and is a great steer with the addition of the front diff. The interior is better than the new M135i, which is on the same platform and has the same engine.
People stuck in the past think a MINI has to be ‘mini’ and look like something built in 1959. Take this, and the other models in the range for what they are and be objective.
novus said:
How is the interior better ?
I’ve owned both for 2 years each, albeit a Mini Countryman JCW.Better materials tbh. My old m135i was a bit naff under close inspection, and rather bland. Mini is like a disco, granted, but at least it has a sense of occasion about it.
As for driving, M135i kills it for outright performance but not for entertainment. Mini is way more engaging, unlike the M135i, which always felt a bit numb.
Looks wise. Well. Subjective. From some angles I feckin hate it, from some I actually really like it. But then I’ve always been a sucker for quirky looking cars. I’ve had over 40 cars now and this one has really surprised me. I’ve liked it way more than I thought I would. I would have had the hatch, but parental duty calls.
MG7 said:
Standard PH approach, bashing a car which you have no experience of and haven’t driven.
(...)
Have a go in one, then give your opinion.
Exactly. They're really well setup, almost neutrally so and they're very entertaining as a result. (...)
Have a go in one, then give your opinion.
But some prefer to slag off the way they look while also slagging off people buying them for looks/image reasons usually using worn out clichés that don't hide the poster's terminal bitterness. It's quite bizarre.
Edited by nickfrog on Tuesday 15th October 11:29
5harp3y said:
howardhughes said:
It looks bloody awful. It may have over 300 bhp but It will never be a touch on the R53/R56 for looks.
It's the worst design to date.
you haven't seen the countryman then .... It's the worst design to date.
pb8g09 said:
Certainly looks better than the original Clubman, which I personally thought looked like a hearse.
If they stick this set up in the hatch/cooper then I’d definitely have over the new M135i.
I drive the hearse in the video.... that's cool, would be a boring place if we all liked the same.If they stick this set up in the hatch/cooper then I’d definitely have over the new M135i.
nickfrog said:
Exactly. They're really well setup, almost neutrally so and they're very entertaining as a result.
But some prefer to slag off the way they look while also slagging off people buying them for looks/image reasons usually using worn out clichés that don't hide the poster's terminal bitterness. It's quite bizarre.
Having run an F56 Cooper for almost 5 years before I got the Clubby, I've heard most of the negatives about new MINIs, and no, I don't work in a hair/tanning salon. Still don't get why people can be bothered commenting on something they obviously don't like from the off, loads of makes/models I don't like, so I just steer clear.But some prefer to slag off the way they look while also slagging off people buying them for looks/image reasons usually using worn out clichés that don't hide the poster's terminal bitterness. It's quite bizarre.
Edited by nickfrog on Tuesday 15th October 11:29
mikeswagon said:
Still don't get why people can be bothered commenting on something they obviously don't like from the off, loads of makes/models I don't like, so I just steer clear.
Same. It's utterly strange that some people only comment on stuff they don't like, and have never driven. I have had a Mini from all the generations of new Mini - F56 is by far the easiest to live with and the cabin and quality is a huge step up on the previous iterations. I've had an R53 Cooper, R53 JCW GP, R56 JCW GP and an F56 Cooper SD. They get progressively softer as you go through the years, but the F56 was still great fun to drive. I couldn't live with the R53 GP as a daily and found that the sweet spot was the R56 GP.
I have no gripes with Mini but I do think that this advertorial style is getting very close to the style of the typical PH reviews. In fact if PH posted a video with JUST the Dan Trent bits and called it a review I don't think anybody would have had a suspicion he was being paid.
It does make me wonder how balanced the reviews are in general though, and the more of these I see that sound/look/feel exactly like genuine reviews, the less authoritative I find those genuine reviews.
I have no gripes with Mini but I do think that this advertorial style is getting very close to the style of the typical PH reviews. In fact if PH posted a video with JUST the Dan Trent bits and called it a review I don't think anybody would have had a suspicion he was being paid.
It does make me wonder how balanced the reviews are in general though, and the more of these I see that sound/look/feel exactly like genuine reviews, the less authoritative I find those genuine reviews.
mikeswagon said:
Having run an F56 Cooper for almost 5 years before I got the Clubby, I've heard most of the negatives about new MINIs, and no, I don't work in a hair/tanning salon. Still don't get why people can be bothered commenting on something they obviously don't like from the off, loads of makes/models I don't like, so I just steer clear.
Fully agree with the rest of your comments though, I’ve owned a Mini and driven quite a few and I’m a big fan. Not sure why people think they’re a hairdresser’s car though, would have thought a JCW would be a bit out of budget for most that I know...dc2rr07 said:
Here we go again, you probably think the Porsche Taycan is sublime then obviously biased here because just bought one for the wife but looks better than Countryman in my opinion, if you have not got anything constructive to say fk off
Im an owner of a First gen R53 works, a simple understated car. I don't like the way MINI are going with the their new concepts and I'm sure that I'm not the only one. And as for the Porsche Taycan, you are right, seriously it obviously biased here because just bought one for the wife but looks better than Countryman in my opinion, if you have not got anything constructive to say fk off looks awful. 'Butter scrapped over too much toast' the clue is in the quote.
Sim75 said:
I’ve owned both for 2 years each, albeit a Mini Countryman JCW.
Better materials tbh. My old m135i was a bit naff under close inspection, and rather bland. Mini is like a disco, granted, but at least it has a sense of occasion about it.
As for driving, M135i kills it for outright performance but not for entertainment. Mini is way more engaging, unlike the M135i, which always felt a bit numb.
Looks wise. Well. Subjective. From some angles I feckin hate it, from some I actually really like it. But then I’ve always been a sucker for quirky looking cars. I’ve had over 40 cars now and this one has really surprised me. I’ve liked it way more than I thought I would. I would have had the hatch, but parental duty calls.
I quite like that.Better materials tbh. My old m135i was a bit naff under close inspection, and rather bland. Mini is like a disco, granted, but at least it has a sense of occasion about it.
As for driving, M135i kills it for outright performance but not for entertainment. Mini is way more engaging, unlike the M135i, which always felt a bit numb.
Looks wise. Well. Subjective. From some angles I feckin hate it, from some I actually really like it. But then I’ve always been a sucker for quirky looking cars. I’ve had over 40 cars now and this one has really surprised me. I’ve liked it way more than I thought I would. I would have had the hatch, but parental duty calls.
Edited by R12many on Tuesday 15th October 19:33
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