There’s a new Mini John Cooper Works and it’s all about power

This should have Mini fans rubbing their hands in glee. There’s a new John Cooper Works (JCW) model out and it’s the tuning division’s most powerful to date.

While the new car looks pretty much as you’d expect it to (it is a Mini after all), the BMW-owned company has tweaked it slightly to provide more differentiation from the MINI 3-door. If you’re buying a John Cooper Works though, looks are very much a secondary concern. What matters is what’s under the skin and that should put a very big smile on your face indeed.

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The 2.0-litre 4-cylinder engine is capable of pushing out 170 kW (227bhp), with a zero to 100 km/h time of 6.3 seconds if you’re driving the manual version and 6.1 seconds if you’re in the automatic.

According to JCW, it should sound pretty good too, thanks to tweaks it’s made to the pistons, turbocharger and exhaust system.

There’s also a new suspension, brakes, alloy wheels and a whole heap of optional driver aids that you’ll only really be grateful for once they stop you skidding into a tree after taking a corner just that little bit faster than your driving ability allows for.

Inside, there are JCW seats, entry sills, controls, cockpit displays, a central instrument display and car key in model-specific design; stainless steel pedals and driver footrest and a “Driving Excitement package as standard”.

There’s also a whole heap of driver aids, including park-assist and camera-driven active cruise control. And if you’re the kind of person that’s into the in-car social networking Mini’s been going for over the past couple of years, then you’ll be happy to know that’s included too. Then again, the entertainment features that come with Connected system — such as Spotify, GoPro, AUPEO!, Stitcher, Deezer, Audible, Napster/Rhapsody and TuneIn — could be genuinely useful for keeping you entertained when you’re using the car for your daily commute rather than thrashing it around bendy country roads.