MINI Cooper JCW Cabrio 2010 Review

MINI Cooper JCW Cabrio

Road Test

Price Guide (recommended price before statutory and delivery charges): $56,900
Options fitted to test car (not included in above price): Colour line $250, rain sensor and auto lights controls $200, Black bonnet stripes (no cost option), non-metallic paint in Chilli Red (no cost option)
Crash rating: 5 stars
Fuel: 98 RON petrol
Claimed fuel economy (L/100km): 7.1
CO2 emissions (g/km): 169
Also consider: Audi A3 TFSI Cabrio, Volkswagen EOS 147 TSI, BMW 125i Convertible

Overall rating: 3.0/5.0
Engine/Drivetrain/Chassis: 3.5/5.0
Price, Packaging and Practicality: 2.0/5.0
Safety: 3.0/5.0
Behind the wheel: 3.0/5.0
X-factor: 3.0/5.0

About our ratings

The new MINI has been a handy money spinner for BMW over the past decade, attracting hundreds of the thousands of new customers from right around the world. Even so, it has never really grabbed me by the collar and demanded my attention. Until now...

As the first John Cooper Works (JCW) MINI I've reviewed, and a convertible at that, I didn't quite know what to expect. The standard 1.6-litre 128kW/240Nm MINI Cooper S is not a slow vehicle by anyone's measure, but didn't have that killer instinct that can make you puff your cheeks out and raise your eyebrows in a combination of admiration and alarm.

To be honest, it wasn't until three days into the test that I really began to understand the JCW Cabrio. To really appreciate the vehicle you need to have the top down, be on a mountainous ribbon of road that twists its way through an old growth forest and have the sport button pressed. But I'm getting ahead of myself...

The first couple of days in the MINI Cabrio were relatively mild. I drove the car to and from work each day, picked up the misses from her university night classes and even did a fairly large (for me) $140 grocery shop.

And almost all the food fit in the ridiculously cramped boot! For the record, MINI claims the Cabrio has 125 litres of boot space with the roof open, 170 litres with the roof closed (but a useful 660 litres with the rear seats folded down), but fair dinkum, fitting anything in the Cabrio's boot is difficult at the best of times.

As a city runabout the MINI JCW Cabrio is a good performer, and remarkably efficient considering its performance potential. MINI claims the JCW Cabrio's average fuel consumption on the combined city/highway cycle is 7.1L/100km. Before my last hurrah that took me through up through the Victorian high country, the average figure was approaching that at 8.3L/100km… Not too bad if you consider the driving style used around was best described as vigorous.

Direct steering typifies the hotted-up MINI and I actually preferred this in urban environments as it takes less effort to navigate corners. Another 'performance' attribute is the stiff suspension which trades off with a very firm ride. This trait is great for hard and fast driving on ultra-smooth hot-mix roads, but it gets very jiggly over uneven surfaces, such as tram tracks or pot-holed roads. Scuttle shake is also noticeable in these situations and sometimes vibrates the rear view mirror. It's not chronic, but its presence is felt.

While I'm complaining, another couple of bugbears included the obscured tachometer. The numbers three, four and five were blocked by the top of steering for this 185cm driver, and the situation wasn't remedied by tilting the tiller as instrument cluster is connected to the steering wheel column.

Also, don't expect to fit three adult buddies in the car either. Rear head room is good, but legroom is not. There's enough room for a couple of short kids in the back, but that's about the extent of it.

The Cabrio has a hill holder, which is very useful on sloped take-offs by reducing your reliance on the handbrake and though the interior looks a bit gimmicky, everything works well when you get used to the layout. It's not as intuitive as some interior layouts however. One example being the electric window controls, which are located on the centre console near the heating/cooling dials. Passengers new to the MINI instinctively go for the door handles, then have to ask where the controls are.

That said, the switchgear is good and the old school flick switch toggles (some of which activate the roof) add a touch of retro-cool to proceedings. Speaking of the roof, it's an excellent little unit. Made of cloth, the roof withstood some bitterly cold and wet Victorian conditions, sealing very securely with the windscreen in and windows.

It's also very fast to fold away and has a two-stage mechanism, allowing you to partially open the roof (sunroof style) when you want a bit more privacy and weather protection. Just hold the roof toggle switch and before you know it (15 seconds in total) it's done. It also works while rolling, so long as you don't exceed 30km/h.

I'm probably not the target market for a MINI Cabrio -- rarely would I drop the top for the pose factor. Ultimately I'd prefer a tin-top purely the improved rigidity, but in the case of the JCW it is a blast to drive the wheels off the car far away from the big city with the top down; the sound of the exhaust backfiring and popping on the overrun.

Granted, I had to wear my snowboard jacket and a knitted beanie while cranking the heater to full bore to keep my extremities from freezing up in the Victorian high country, but the feeling of freedom was almost as good as riding a motorcycle.

Comfort levels are good but lateral support is average. For a car capable of flinging its occupants through corners at high velocities, it needs more support and the seats don't look sporty at all. MINI’s own optional sports seats are an ideal (but costly) solution.

When push comes to shove the MINI JCW Cabrio won't shy away from a fight, able to dispatch the zero to 100km dash in just 6.9secs. That's a whole half second quicker than the Cooper S Cabrio's 7.4sec run.

The clutch is nicely weighted and getting the engine's 155kW/260Nm to the front wheels is child's play. The six-speed manual is a nice little cog-swapper as well, with a good shift feel and nicely spread ratios. It'll cruise on the highway at 2500rpm in sixth gear doing 100km/h and will push close to 7000rpm when you're going at it hammer and tong, the latter of which is exactly what the vehicle was designed for.

While it's easy to pick the flaws in the vehicle -- the significant torque steer, the lack of the front wheel traction and the car's 'allergic' reactions to mid-corner bumps -- the MINI JCW Cabrio is an involving and at times remarkably rewarding car to drive.

If you hit a minor pot-hole or rut when navigating a corner at full tilt, the MINI JCW Cabrio will usually be pushed slightly wide of its intended line. But it's not pants-wettingly-scary-stuff, because communication through the chassis tells you when and where it's going to shimmy, giving you have plenty of advance notice.

The go-fast MINI accelerates with imposing force for what is a very compact drop top and together with strong brakes and a fairly high grip threshold, it imparts a certain level of confidence to push harder and faster. As you tip the front end into corners, the suspension loads up promptly and the car leans on outside wheels well, able to tracks surely through smooth corners -- the tighter the better it seemed.

However the turbocharged 1.6-litre engine has so much torque at such low revs, up to 280Nm on overboost from around 2000rpm, it has a propensity to torque steer as the twisting forces scramble to work their way free of the front axle.

Forcing the car close to its limit through hilly, twisty roads -- sitting in second gear, pushing hard between 5000 and 6700rpm -- it sporadically struggled to get power down. Thankfully the ESP system is very good and while it works hard, it rarely hampers your rhythm.

It's true that the front end could use improved grip, yet it takes little effort to tailor your driving style to suit the aggressive power output characteristics.

At the end of the day, I'd rather have the somewhat raw feel, the hardcore power delivery, complete with loud pops and backfires when you lift-off after fully loading up the throttle, than an overly-gentrified runabout.

Super quick and very enjoyable on well maintained roads, the MINI JCW Cabrio isn't perfect but its tenacious character and hard-charging demeanour are infectious.

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