drove a friend's mini JCW the other day. Actually had pretty impressive pickup and it was one of the better tranny/clutch combos I've driven lately.
The clutch has seemingly 2" of travel, it's really odd...but super-easy to modulate (at least in relatively normal driving, I didn't completely abuse it since it isn't mine). I know the handling limits are pretty high but it was VERY strange driving a FWD car (haven't driven one since 2003)...the front end gets extremely light under throttle and there is substantial torque steer.
Fun little car, very economical between the mileage, price, and insurance...maintenance is picked up by the dealer for a few years.
Minis don't get a lot of discussion on here, especially the JCW since they aren't that common, so I thought I'd throw it out there...

 

seems like a fun car. If the JCW has alot of torque steer I wonder how the diesel version is going to drive (about 230 tq!). Can't wait til it comes out.

 

A friend of a friend had a modded JCW making 225 whp. I was taken for a ride in it and the car was pretty damn fast and seemed to handle pretty well. Too bad it lasted him all of 1 year before the motor grenaded. I even hear that stock ones are riddled with problems.

 

Love the JCW minis, minus the torque steer.
Now that they're coming out with 'All 4' AWD models(like the countryman), it's actually a lot more appealing than before.
Fun little cars.

Dan

 

I drove my brother-in-law's 2008 Cooper S. It's a fun little thing and certainly among the very best FWD performance cars.

I was checking out used prices. The Mini seems to retain its value pretty well.

 

The JCW is making a lot of power for a FWD car that small and light. If you can ever get a ride in one, look at the 2006 Mini Cooper S GP. It's essentially a JCW on steroids and they actually took steps to reduce the torque steer. I believe it's at about 240 HP and somewhere around 220 TQ. The GP only weighs about 2400 lbs too, hah.

 

The GP is not quite that strong. I think it makes 215hp. Still, I like that car a lot. Only 415 were brought into the US and each one has its number displayed on the roof. Pretty cool.

 

Maybe whp? I have always heard 240. I thought the JCW were close to 215?

 

http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/car/06...st/specs_page_2

Went back to check the specs - it's 215hp. Back then the JCW made 207hp.

 

I've always had a soft spot for the new Mini Cooper S cars and the JCW, etc. derivatives. They seem to move pretty well for their class of car at track days. A lot of them out there too.