2017 Mini Countryman JCW revealed

British brand debuts its performance SUV.

23 January 2017 Dom Tripolone

2017 Mini Countryman John Cooper Works. Photo: Supplied

The Mini Countryman has had another growth spurt.

Overall the British brand's city SUV is now 175mm longer and 30mm wider, making it the least-mini Mini yet.

To move this extra bulk the British car maker has uprated its turbocharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder unit to produce 170kW and 350Nm in its range-topping John Cooper Works Edition.

Matched with either a six-speed manual or a eight-speed automatic transmission the Countryman has powered delivered to all four wheels.

Mini's performance SUV can also sprint from 0-100km/h in a claimed 6.5 seconds and has a maximum speed of 234km/h all the while sipping a claimed 7.4L/100km of fuel.

Adding to its sporty pretenses the JCW edition gets sports suspension with Brembo brakes and 18-inch alloy wheels along with aerodynamic features and exterior touches including badging and red accenting to differentiate it from the standard Countryman models.

Dynamic Damper Control is fitted as standard allowing the driver to select three driving modes Sport, Mid and Green.

Inside the JCW gets sports seats and steering wheel along with the gear lever kitted out in dark grey.

The Mini Countryman JCW comes standard with forward collision warning with autonomous braking, however, active cruise control, pedestrian warning with auto brake functions, auto high beam, road sign detection, rear view camera, front park assist are all optional.

The new Mini Countryman JCW will make its public debut at the 2017 Shanghai motor show in April with a look to launch locally in the second half of 2017.

For all the latest information visit our Mini showroom.

Drive Comments

7 Comments

Mr Majestyk | 2017-01-23 05:48:56

Uglier than a box full of spanners inside and out.

DJM61 | 2017-01-23 06:18:13

The car doesn't look very happy (grille & headlights). For 2017 designers have replaced the french curve with the ugly stick.

Honest but a bit trolly DJM61 | 2017-01-23 08:04:00

Give it a break already, go work for your community paper. No on here cares

Lindsay | 2017-01-23 08:20:21

Mini's performance SUV can also sprint from 0-100km/h in a claimed 6.5 seconds and has a maximum speed of 234km/h all the while sipping a claimed 7.4L/100km of fuel. What a load of codswhallop! You can't tell me that car sips 7.4 whilst accelerating 0-100 in 6.5 seconds!!! It is probably sipping 35 at that acceleration. Also the 6.5 seconds is not exactly setting the world on fire!!! Probably similar to an 9 year old 147 KW VW Jetta... I woulkd be saving my money.

Lindsay | 2017-01-23 08:25:35

Also, should have said... Mini is NOT a British manufacturer. It is actually BMW and has been since 1994. Author of the story is 23 years out of date!!!!!!

Sidney Mincing | 2017-01-23 08:59:40

Lindsay | 2017-01-23 08:25:35 has it in one. BMW has totally wrecked the idea and presentation of the iconic Mini and we now have a genuine design disaster that has no identity with the original '60's Mini. A total disaster!

Selector 2 | 2017-01-23 22:19:29

Good point Sidney, the original mini was something the Poms cobbled together in the backyard shed and it worked because there was nothing else around that matched its genre...now there is a whole segment of hot hatches, all light years ahead of the mini.