Updated JCW Mini all about looking faster

A mid-life update for the most fiery car in the family turns up the styling temperature.

NOTHING changes when measured against the stopwatch – where it cuts more of a dash is in the look.

 So it goes for the refreshed edition of Mini’s fastest model.

Unveiled overnight and set to release in New Zealand in the third quarter of this year, the latest John Cooper Works street racer has the same power and performance figures as its predecessor.

 Don’t consider that to be a disappointment. Underneath the bonnet sits a 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder engine producing a very respectable 170kW and 320Nm, driving the front wheels via either a six-speed manual transmission or an eight-speed torque-converter auto. It’ll smack out 0-100kmh in 6.3 seconds in manual, 6.1 in auto. Quick enough for a hot hatch, right?

As much as the refresh stands as being an easy ride for the BMW-owned make’s engine tuners, it’s certainly kept the styling department plenty busy.

There are numerous upgrades to the look. Most particularly, the entire front fascia has been completely redesigned. 

There’s an imposing matt black grille with a striking hexagonal design, contrasted by a new red stripe along its centre, signifying that it is no regular Mini. 

Tough-looking, body-coloured air ducts sit below the grille on either side of the number plate mounting point, feeding cool air into the braking system. Another set of angular air openings is there to cool the powertrain. 

At the rear, there’s a new, super-aggressive diffuser finished in a shade of matte black that blends into the finishing edge of the flared rear wheel arches. 

Sitting square in the middle of this novel diffuser is a set of 85-millimetre stainless steel sports tailpipes with a contrasting chrome finish. 

To help slow the hot hatch down, Mini has redesigned the Bremdo-provisioned braking system. The four-piston front brake calipers are also painted red and adorned with the John Cooper Works logo. 

The 2021 model also achieves new lightweight John Cooper Works alloy wheels, which can be had in either a 17 or 18-inch sizing. 

A bespoke chassis tune for the suspension comes as standard for the JCW, and as an optional extra, buyers can tick Mini’s Adaptive Suspension box.

These electronically controlled dampers make adjustments to suit the road conditions in just 50-100 milliseconds, for a more dynamic ride. There will also be a number of different modes that can be selected depending on the driver’s mood, which includes ‘Lounge’ and ‘Sport’ mode. In other works, hit the switch to achieve various degrees of joltiness. But, still, it’s not being promoted as a limo, right?

Inside, the updated hatch comes with a host of new features including a redesigned central instrument cluster and an 8.8-inch touchscreen display.

The Mini’s infotainment software has also been updated, benefiting from a revised display that makes interfacing with the audio, navigation, communication and app systems more intuitive.  

The JCW also comes with a host of safety features as standard that include adaptive cruise control with stop and go functionality and parking assist.

Hotshot RS has gone but Focus ST will still burn

Ford NZ has reacted to news the fabulous Focus RS won’t continue with suggestion the ST is hot enough to fill in.

Will an underdog be accepted as king of the kennel?

More specifically, can a 206kW front-drive hot hatch fill the boots of a far more hyperactive four-wheel-drive big brother that, in the final tuning of its previous format presented to New Zealand, generated 257kW and smashed 0-100kmh in 4.7 seconds?

As hard as it might be for some revheads to accept the Focus ST incoming to New Zealand in June, price and final specification still undisclosed (and Covid-19 notwithstanding), having the cojones to satisfy RS-level expectations, that’s exactly what is going to happen, with news that the latter Focus has been killed off.

Ford New Zealand is pulling on its brave pants in responding to thought that, with the RS gone, it might lose a fanbase and struggle with ST to maintain the traction RS gained as an ultimate Euro-flavoured Blue Oval bad boy.

Corporate communications manager Tom Clancy believes the ST has enough flavour to win at least a look from the RS fanbase.

“The initial reviews from Europe of the … ST have been highly positive so we will see some RS customers and hot hatch enthusiasts in general checking out the new Focus ST.”

Ford has left those hardcore addicts no choice, with news that a famous badge with lineage going back to early Escorts now ends with $76,990 RS Limited Edition that came here in September of 2018.

The idea of developing a fourth generation RS hinged on it working with what’s turned out to be a developmental dead-end – a high-output hybrid turbo four-cylinder engine and an emissions-reducing 48V mild-hybrid system to meet tighter CO2 targets while retaining ballistic capability.

A company statement reads: “As a result of pan-European emissions standards, increased CO2 taxation and the high cost of developing an RS with some form of electrification for a relatively low volume of vehicles, we are not planning another RS version of the Focus.”

This doesn’t necessarily mean the RS will not re-emerge in the future – the statement is careful to apply specifically to this generation Focus – yet it does mean that for the time being the onus of being the ultimate family funster falls on a variant that, until now, has always been a stepping stone between the mainstream and the fully malevolent formats.

The new ST is certainly set to be a faster, more honed car than its predecessor. Notably, it comes equipped with a 206kW/420Nm 2.3-litre four-pot turbo – up by 22kW and 60Nm over the old model.

That means it is offering just 20Nm less than the last RS in its hottest factory format, though the power output is also 49kW shy.

It is also surely set to win a wider audience than the previous ST, or any RS, as they were manual gearbox models, whereas the next transfers to a seven-speed direct shift transmission.

Says Clancy: “The RS was more suited to enthusiasts as was the previous Focus ST.  

“Where we anticipate the largest customer interest/movement is from the fact that this is the first time we’ve offered a 7-speed automatic transmission with paddle shift in a Focus ST.

“We anticipate many new customers and customers coming from competitors who have had autos before the Focus ST.”

However, the ST is patently not on the same level as the last RS in respect to drivetrain tech, which stands to reason.

In production and on sale in its primary markets for almost a year, ST was developed at a time when Ford was committed to doing as it has previously done: Continuing it as a fun, but lower-tier, excitement than the RS which was – back then – was a definite starter. 

Which is why the RS alone had the full-out race-spec tech and aimed at utterly bonkers high-end specialist all-wheel-drive Euro fare – the likes of the Audi RS3 and Mercedes A35 and A45 - whereas the ST was designed more as a foil to front-drive hotties, most notably the Renault Megane RS and the VW Golf GTI.

The RS will certainly be remembered as a marvel of chassis technology and sheer aggression.

As other have noted, it’s been no stranger to variety. The first-generation car relied on turbocharged, 2.0-litre power sending drive to the front axle; the second also put power through the steering set and switched to a five-cylinder unit. The previous Focus RS returned to four-cylinder power, but adopted an all-wheel-drive system and lifted the game all the more. 

 Huge grunt from a 2.3-litre turbo engine (with 1.8bar or 26PSI of turbo boost) channelled via a six-speed manual gearbox and, in most-prized Limited form, a Quaife mechanical (meaning real, not a pretend electronic approximation) limited-slip differential at the front and it had a RS Performance Wheel Pack with 19-inch rims and Michelin Pilot Sport Cup rubber. All this, and a fun-tastic Drift Mode that unleashed it for impressively Hoonigan-style big skids (track use only, of course). 

That clever stuff showed in the price, of course. At $76,990, that last blast RS added $4000 to the sticker attached to the standard model and left it around $25k above the ST. 

So much for so little? As much as the RS sticker seemed to put it beyond the faint-hearted, it sold fast anyway.

And though, of course, the RS car park was always smaller than the ST’s, which in itself held something of a niche presence, it proved how strongly street cred can ‘sell’ a car, being utterly untroubled being noticed by those in the know.