The guys from The Straight Pipes were lucky enough to get their hands on a MINI JCW GP and they reviewed the car in their usual fashion. Since there are only 3,000 of these cars scheduled for production, I guess anyone who gets to drive one should be considered lucky by any metric available. As for these guys, not only did they have a car for their reviewing purposes for a week, one of them also experienced it on the track.
And that’s an important thing to mention because the MINI JCW GP is supposed to be used in that sort of environment first, and on the streets second. The car was developed, just like the two other GP models before it, to be a hardcore version of the regular JCW hardtop. This is supposed to be the most focused offering from Oxford and it delivers on track. That also means it will have certain shortcomings on the road though.
The guys do go over everything though, from the design both on the outside and the inside to the way the car drives, feels and sounds. If we’re to judge the car by their faces, I guess the amount of smiles per mile does lead to only one conclusion: this MINI is fun. On the other hand, it also has some issues, like the front axle and its setup that could’ve been done a better to provide better grip. A clear example in that regard is the Honda Civic Type-R which has more torque but without the GP’s torque steer.
The MINI JCW GP on the other hand, even though it has the widest tires ever fitted on a production MINI, still lacks grip in certain situations. And even so, the car is agile, has a short wheelbase and can be thrown around for days without getting bored. Check out the video below.
