New MINI JCW Electric 2025 review: fast, frantic and playful

Verdict

John Cooper Works’ first stab at an electric hot hatch has its flaws, but it’s hard to deny that it’s a huge giggle to drive. Fast, frantic and playful, there’s an awful lot to make you smile, which is a huge hurdle that very few electric cars have managed to overcome. Still, once many prospective buyers put on their sensible hats, the cons can become too much to overlook. The small rear-seat space, the potentially limited range and particularly the relentlessly firm ride make this MINI a little harder to justify.

Torque steer is a sensation that will be fairly unfamiliar to new car drivers. But those who have owned an earlier turbocharged hot hatchback from the noughties, or any of the more punchy Saabs from the same era, will know all about the wriggling sensation from the steering wheel as a big whack of torque is trying to make its way through the front wheels and onto the asphalt. Depending on your point of view, it was something that felt either quite exciting or a little uncouth. 

We have a sneaking suspension that MINI engineers fall into the former camp, because it’s a sensation that’s well and truly back with this: the John Cooper Works Electric. We’re sure that some clever electronic trickery could have ironed it out of what is the fastest-accelerating Mini you can buy today. But when the engineers were trying to develop some personality for an EV designed to appeal to keen drivers, they took the JCW down a slightly unconventional route. One which wiggles from side to side a bit.

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Keep that front end pointing vaguely in a straight line, and the MINI’s not short on performance either. Power comes from a 227bhp motor driving the front wheels, but flicking the paddle labeled “Boost” behind the left-hand spoke of the steering wheel means another 27bhp chips in – and the JCW can sprint from 0-62mph in 5.9 seconds; that figure undercuts the rival Alpine A290 by half a second, and blows the similarly priced Abarth 500e clean out of the water with its seven-second time. It also undercuts the petrol-powered Mini John Cooper Works by 0.2 seconds.

And while that car needs to be in the right gear at the right time to extract its full performance, the Electric model is always on it. The throttle response is well judged - lively but not too lively. 

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MINI is regularly at pains to remind us all of the “go-kart” feeling that runs through each one of its new cars. At times that claim feels like a bit of a stretch, but the John Cooper Works Electric hits the mark better than pretty much anything else in the brand’s current range. Helping on its way to achieve this are some JCW-specific features; these include a little extra camber on the front axle and some-high performance Hankook Ion Evo tyres.

With no engine up front, the Electric version feels even keener to turn into corners than its petrol counterpart, and once loaded up through the turns, it’s more responsive to throttle adjustment mid-corner. Unlike some of the less sporty rubber fitted to lesser Minis, its tyres have impressively high grip levels, and everything remains fairly predictable once their limits arrive.

But for all of the areas where the John Cooper Works Electric impresses, there’s one crucial way in which it doesn't feel like a go-kart – and another where it does, but we’d much prefer that it didn’t.

In the first camp is the steering. Yes, it's incredibly responsive – so much so that we found ourselves initially applying too much lock into a corner until we'd fully dialled into its sensitivity – but that level of sensitivity needs some feedback to be fully trusted, and the JCW offers very little at all. Feel and feedback can make any car more fun, but it’s even more important in a hot hatch, so it’s a shame there’s not much to rely on here.

Then there’s the ride comfort - an area where we’d happily sacrifice some kart-like behaviour for a little more compliance. The JCW is very firm over bumps; it picks up ripples in the road surface that barely register in most other cars. In some ways, this makes the mix of strong acceleration and that torque steer even more exciting and even more of a giggle, but when you’re just in the mood to settle down and take it easy, the MINI still feels like it’s up for another round. The set-up isn’t unduly crashy or brittle, so it’s clear that there’s sophistication to the chassis, but the constant jiggling over any road surface does become rather wearing on a longer journey. 

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According to WLTP data, the longest journey that the JCW can stretch to is 251 miles before its 54.2kWh battery runs out of juice. Our time behind the wheel was spent driving enthusiastically, so we’ll reserve our full judgement until we drive the car in more mixed environments, and take our figure of 3.2 miles/kWh with a slight pinch of salt. That’s a real-world range of 157 miles, recorded on a mild day – a high of 15 degrees centigrade – so there’s space for that to improve in warmer temperatures and drop lower still in winter. 

At 95kW, the charging speeds are roughly on the money with the MINI’s closest rivals, 15kW faster than the Abarth, and just 5kW short of the Alpine. Officially, a 10-80 per cent charge takes 30 minutes.

Setting aside the MINI’s on-road manners, potentially limited range and some very tight rear seats, the main thing that has kept buyers coming back is the car’s unmistakable style, and performance car fans are in for a treat with the JCW. A deep front bumper, an extended rear spoiler, 18-inch alloy wheels and lots of gloss black trim can be enhanced with the likes of bonnet stripes, multitone roof finishes and a choice of six exterior colours. Inside, there’s a clear black and red theme, with supportive sports seats and the knitted-effect material on the dashboard.

Prices for the JCW start from £34,905, with a couple of packs upgrading the car from its standard spec. The £1,300 Level 2 pack adds adaptive LED lights, keyless entry, heated front seats, a head-up display, wireless smartphone charging, tinted windows and a panoramic sunroof. On top of these features, the Level 3 pack adds electric front seats, adaptive cruise control with lane-keep assist, augmented-reality navigation and a 360-degree parking camera, among other features. This pack costs £3,800, taking the total cost up to £38,705. Those numbers tally up fairly nicely with the A290, with its base model starting from £33,500 and the Premiere Edition rising to £38,500.