PARIS MOTOR SHOW: JCW Clubman for Oz

If you ever doubted that MINI’s John Cooper Works badge has become its universal power-up badge, the JCW version of the Clubman should make you reconsider.

Once a hard-core, uncomfortably brutal machine based only on the three-door MINI Cooper S hatchback, the JCW treatment now applies to a whole range of warmed-over MINIs, including the latest MINI Convertible JCW, which goes on sale this week in Australia.

But now you can add the six-door MINI Clubman wagon to the JCW list, and it's coming to Australia.

Due on sale in Europe later this year, the JCW Clubman will receive the same boosted, powered-up engine the rest of the JCW variants receive, giving it enough power to shoot the full five-seater to 100km/h in 6.3 seconds.

The turbocharged inline four-cylinder petrol motor has been boosted to thump out 170kW of power, which puts it 29kW north of the Cooper S version of the same car.

Sitting across the engine bay, the 2.0-litre engine powers all four wheels, starting with 350Nm of torque from just 1450rpm, stretching in a flat plateau all the way to 4800rpm, with the power curve peaking between 5000 and 6000rpm.

With its 70Nm torque boost over the Cooper S All4 Clubman, it gives the JCW a 0.7-second advantage to 100km/h, while the power helps it to push on to a 238km/h top speed, which is 13km/h up on the Cooper S version.

Mini hasn’t given an official weight figure for the JCW, but the Cooper S chimes in at 1450kg (hefty for anything calling itself /mini') and you can expect the better-equipped JCW to add a few more donuts and cakes on top of that.

It will be available with either a six-speed manual gearbox or an eight-speed automatic transmission, the latter of which will come with standard steering wheel-mounted paddle shifters. While both transmissions deliver the same claimed straight-line performance figures and top speed, the automatic is thriftier despite weighing around 25kg more.

MINI claims it will turn in an NEDC figure of 6.8L/100km (with 154g/km of CO2), compared to the manual’s figures of 7.4L/100km and 168g/km.

Underneath, it will get tauter suspension, bigger Brembo brakes and unique 18-inch wheels and tyres, though a 19-inch package is homologated for it. If that’s not enough for grip retention, it also comes with an electronic diff lock (also known as braking the spinning wheel), dynamic traction control, stability control and dynamic damper control.

The biggest non-SUV MINI, the JCW Clubman is 4253mm long, 1800mm wide and 1441mm high, riding on a 2670mm wheelbase. Those figures are precisely the same as the Cooper S, indicating the car’s ride height hasn’t been lowered in the transition to JCW status.

Inside, the JCW benefits from the Cooper S’s interior layout, delivering full five-seat capacity with 360 litres of luggage space, or up to 1250 litres of load lugging with the 40:20:40 split-fold rear seats folded down.

Its standard (European, anyway) equipment list runs to a 6.5-inch colour monitor (though an 8.8-inch unit is optional), a head-up display, LED headlights and a toggle for different driving modes.

MINI Australia dropped the bombshell overnight, revealing the JCW version of the MINI Clubman making its debut at the French show will go on sale in Australia next year.

“We're extremely excited to announce that the John Cooper Works Clubman will be displayed at the Paris motor show, said Daniel Silverwood, Product Planning Manager for MINI Australia.

“It's going to be the most powerful production MINI Clubman… added to that it will be an all-wheel drive model as well. That will be something really exciting to experience – the combination of those two.

“It's a really fantastic car, and usually this is the bit where I tell you they're only going to make it in left-hand drive and we can't get any in…

“But no, because of the success we've had with John Cooper Works… we're pleased to hear confirmed that we will be getting this car next year – most likely the first half…”

-- with staff