Mini gives Paceman John Cooper Works treatment

MINI’S hot John Cooper Works Paceman ‘coupe’ will carry a $14,500 premium over the current range-topping S model when it goes on sale in Australia in May.

The fastest version of the company’s quirky, high-riding coupe range will retail for $58,600 and displace the $44,100 Paceman S as the top-spec model in the line-up.

A John Cooper Works version of the Countryman SUV on which the Paceman is based went on sale earlier this year for $56,800 which is $1800 less than its two-door sibling.

But the JCW Paceman will have a slight advantage over its Countryman equivalent with a zero to 100km/h sprint time of 6.9 seconds – one-tenth faster.

BMW Group Australia product communications manager Scott Croaker said the price jump between S and JCW variants was about more than just pace.

“There is a fair bit of extra kit you get with the JCW including the gear, the brakes, sports suspension, (as well as the) high performance engine,” he said.

Mr Croaker said that the local arm of the BMW-owned car-maker expects to sell between 200 to 250 Pacemans this year, with around 30 of those expected to be the JCW variant.

“JCW in Australia has the highest proportion of sales than anywhere else in the world. Overall about six per cent of our sales are made up of JCW models,” he said.

Maintaining the chunky styling of the regular Paceman that went on sale earlier this month, the JCW adds flourishes including black and red paint and 18-inch twin-spoke black alloy wheels.

Mini Australia general manager Kai Bruesewitz described the JCW Paceman as “a muscular go fast looking car with the high performance and incredible dynamics and drive enjoyment only found in a Mini”.

The saucy Paceman gets the latest version of Mini’s 1.6-litre four-cylinder twin turbo-charged unit producing 160kW of power with 280Nm of torque on tap that can be pushed out to 300Nm via an overboost function.

Currently the only Paceman variant available with Mini’s ALL4 all-wheel drive system, the JCW diverts a maximum of 50 per cent of the engine’s power to the rear wheels and up to 100 per cent in severe conditions.

Available with a standard six-speed manual gearbox and an optional six-speed automatic transmission, the fuel use of the Paceman JCW mirrors that of the Countryman’s with 8.0 litres per 100 kilometres for the manual and 8.3L/100km for the self-shifter.

Mini says that it has tuned the Paceman JCW for a sportier ride by including sports suspension with a dynamically tuned damper and anti-roll bars as well as an “extremely high performance” braking system.

A ‘Sport’ button allows the driver to adjust engine responses and in automatic guise can quicken up the shift times.

On top of the standard gear in the Paceman S, the JCW gets an aero kit, anthracite roof lining and instrument dials, gearshift and handbrake with red stitching, floor mats with red seams, sport leather steering wheel, sill finishes and a sports exhaust system.

Paceman JCWs also come standard with the Chilli package which includes automatic climate control, harmon/kardon audio system, rear-view mirror with anti-dazzle function and bi-Xenon headlights with headlight system.