Mini John Cooper Works Electric review: Fastest Mini you can buy is a hoot to drive, but hard to live with

This is the fastest-accelerating Mini you can buy today, the new-for-2025 John Cooper Works Electric. As you would probably expect, it’s an absolute hoot to drive. But is it a car that you’d be happy living with on a daily basis? Let’s delve deeper into the Mini JCW Electric, which now starts at £34,905.

First, there’s no denying it looks the bees knees. If you could draw your perfect hot hatch, the JCW Electric could well be that car. It comes with unmistakable styling. Extended rear spoiler: tick. Deep front bumper: tick. Stylish 18-inch alloys: tick. Lots of gloss black trim: tick.

And if that wasn’t enough, Mini being Mini, there’s a welter of personalised trinkets you can add to your JCW including a choice of six exterior colours, a multitude roof finishes, plus bonnet stripes. Inside, the cabin is a cocoon of black and red complete with the now well-established knitted-effect material on the dashboard and extremely supportive sports seats. It’s probably the poshest small car cabin on the market. Plus there’s bags of interior space upfront, with plenty of leg and head room. As usual rear space is tight, and the boot space is on the small side.

Jim McGill with the Mini JCW Electric in the Cotswolds | Mini

Power, charging and EV-range

Compared to the ‘standard’ Cooper SE, power comes from a 227bhp motor driving the front wheels, but — and it’s a big but — set on the left-hand of the steering wheel is a paddle labelled ‘Boost. This unleashes another 27bhp maxing the JCW Electric at 254bhp and 250Ib/ft of torque. It gets the same 54.2kWh battery as the Cooper SE which gives an official WLTP range of 251 miles. And with its 95kW maximum rapid charge rate, you can complete a 10-80% charge on a powerful enough charger in under 30-minutes. Three-phase 11kW AC charging is also available.

Performance and driving

As I mentioned, it’s quick. With the Boost engaged it’ll scamper from standstill to 62mph in just 5.9 seconds. That’s 0.2 seconds faster than the petrol-powered Mini John Cooper Works. The Electric version is always ready to explode into action. So far, so good.

Here things begin to unravel just a tad, which I have to admit I find a pity. Regular readers will know my preference is for cars with firm suspension. But even I found myself questioning the ride comfort in the JCW Electric.

Where to start? Probably with Mini’s tendency to always remind us that its new cars continue to have a “go-kart” feeling to them. It’s a big attraction both from a marketing perspective, and a real-world driving experience. Three-door Mini hatches are hugely enjoyable to drive. Full disclaimer: I have a 2015 1.5-litre, 3-door with 50,000-miles which I use as my daily runabout. Pepper white, black roof and alloys, bonnet stripes and rear privacy glass. I love it.

So you can understand my eagerness to get behind the wheel of the JCW Electric. Fitted with high performance Hankook Ion Evo tyres and boasting a little extra camber on the front axle, early impressions on the Cotswold roads highlighted the car’s eagerness to turn into corners with a sustained level of high grip. Climbing up the A44 heading away from Broadway it relished the tight hairpins.

I experienced something in the car that I haven’t felt for years … torque steer. It’s not something modern cars generally suffer from, but was prevalent in turbocharged hot hatches of the Nineties and Noughties.

Mini JCW Electric on the move in the Cotswolds | Mini

Torque steer? It’s the wriggling sensation fed through the steering wheel as the front tyres battle to cope with the significant amount of torque trying to find its way to the road. There’s two ways of looking at the feeling. Either you find it exciting, or for most people in this day and age, a little unsophisticated. I suspect the Mini engineers in the development phase opted to give the JCW Electric a personality which would appeal to keen drivers, rather than the ‘what is now the norm’ bland steering and drive more common with the raft of modern-day EVs. For that I applaud them. But the feeling does take a bit of getting used to and will, for some drivers, prove a step too far.

Back in the day, I took a first-gen BMW Mini Cooper S cross-country from Oxford to the Goodwood Festival of Speed. It was a sheer blast. Bone-hard suspension and superb grip allowing me to chuck the car into corners and have some real fun. My passenger sat quietly.

For the return trip, I became the passenger. And the bone-jarring ride quickly became uncomfortable. It wasn’t a pleasant ride home.

Now the 2025 JCW Electric is nowhere near as severe as that. There’s a sophistication to the chassis and the firmness of the ride which highlights it’s firm by design. It’s not uncouth. There’s no sensation of the suspension crashing or being brittle. It’s measured. But it does seem to identify ripples in the road surface that other cars would simply absorb.

Most of my drive was on good quality, smooth A-roads. But it was when I came into town that the jiggling became more noticeable and, to be honest, a bit wearing, which is a pity.

Mini John Cooper Works Electric pricing and upgrades

In standard trim the Mini John Cooper Works Electric starts at £34,905. But of course, there are a number of packs which will allow you to upgrade your car. The Level 2 pack adds tinted windows, a panoramic sunroof, heated front seats, adaptive LED lights, a head-up display, wireless smartphone charging and keyless entry, all for £1,300.

Add Level 3 and you get augmented-reality navigation, a 360-degree parking camera, adaptive cruise control with lane-keep assist, electric front seats, plus other features. It’ll set you back another £3,800. That takes the total price up to £38,705.

Interior shot of the Mini JCW Electric dashboard | Mini

Verdict

I’m torn. In football parlance, the Mini John Cooper Works Electric is a game of two ‘halfs’. It is an absolute hoot to drive. It’s undoubtedly quick and the cabin is to die for … as long as you have no more than two people onboard.

But I couldn’t live with it, if I’m honest. The ride is, sadly, much too firm even for me. I do though offer two solutions. If you’re committed to going electric, go for the Cooper SE Sport and add a few extras to it. Not only will you save a few quid and get a ‘JCW-lookalike’, but more importantly a car much more comfortable to live with day-to-day.

Alternatively, buy the 2025 petrol-powered Mini John Cooper Works. Now that’s a real package.