2004 Mini Cooper Supercharged 6 Speed * Excellent Cond * No Reserve* on 2040-cars

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2020 Mini Cooper John Cooper Works GP is relatively efficient

The 2020 Mini Cooper John Cooper Works GP is on track to be a heck of a hot hatch what with its over-the-top styling and 301 horsepower and 332 pound-feet of torque. It's also going to be a bit more frugal than the competition. We know this because the EPA released fuel economy numbers for the little monster. In town, the GP will return 24 miles per gallon, and it will get 30 mpg on the highway. Combined driving will result in 26 mpg. The Volkswagen Golf R with it dual-clutch automatic ties the Mini on the highway and in combined driving, but is down by 1 mpg in town. The Honda Civic Type R and Hyundai Veloster N each get worse fuel economy across the board. Both get 22 mpg in town and 25 in combined driving. The Honda then gets 28 mpg on the highway and the Hyundai gets 29 mpg. In defense of the other cars, they are more practical, as they all have usable rear seats, whereas the Mini has ditched its vestigial rear chairs. The Honda and the Hyundai also only come with manual transmissions, which nowadays aren't usually as efficient as automatic transmissions. But on the other hand, the Mini makes more power than all but the Honda, which beats it by only by 5 horses, and it makes substantially more torque than the rest. Regardless, if you happen to want to use just a bit less fuel in your hot hatchback, the Mini may be the choice for you. Related Video:    

Next Mini Clubman disguises all six doors

After revealing the new Mini hardtop in various guises, the next new model in the pipeline from the retro British marque is the Clubman. And here it is. Though still wearing some swirly camouflage, this Clubman prototype - previewed by the concept showcased last year - is clearly nearing production readiness. Since it'll have to differentiate itself from the four/five-door version of the new hardtop, the Clubman is expected to be even longer than the model it replaces. And this time, it'll have rear doors on both sides; and from these spy shots, it looks like they'll be conventional, full-size, front-hinged portals, instead of suicide doors. Around back you can also see the taillights peeking through the camo, on split rear portals instead of the one-piece, top-hinged tailgate on the standard-wheelbase model. At this stage, we wouldn't be surprised to see the new Clubman appear for the first time at the upcoming Geneva Motor Show. Whenever it does bow, it'll serve as the second pillar of the brand's reconfigured product lineup, following the new hardtop and preceding the upcoming next-gen Countryman crossover, Superleggera roadster and Minor city car.

2017 Mini John Cooper Works Clubman ALL4 | Pint-size performer with a premium price

Last September, Mini revealed the Clubman John Cooper Works (JCW). It applied the same general JCW formula used on the regular three-doors to the longest Mini by giving it even sportier suspension and the potent 228-horsepower turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine. But from there, Mini gave the Clubman JCW even more torque than other JCW models, and the most of any Mini model, with a total of 258 pound-feet. It also fitted standard all-wheel drive. On paper, it sounds like the ultimate performance Mini, and it doesn't hurt that it's about the most practical model. So how did it hold up in practice? First of all, this Mini has a serious weight problem. You might be tired of alarmist auto journalists whining about the increasing size of vehicles, but it's a major issue with this Mini. It actually weighs more than a V6 Chevrolet Camaro. The Camaro weighs 3,435 pounds, and the Mini weighs 3,450. That's for the manual transmission version, too. Our automatic-equipped test car weighed more than that. As a result, it feels noticeably slower than the competition, despite making 228 horsepower and the aforementioned torque. There's an area in which the Clubman JCW could easily lose some weight, and that's in the all-wheel-drive system. It's a Haldex-style system that only kicks in when the front wheels start to slip, so it's only beneficial for traction in bad weather, not for improving the driving experience by, say, reducing the car's understeer. That's fine for more mainstream Minis, but the JCW line is all about performance and speed, so if the all-wheel-drive system doesn't improve the driving experience, it should simply be dropped to make the car lighter. Despite the Mini's prodigious portliness, there are good points. The engine is very smooth, and power comes on almost instantly. In more aggressive driving modes, the exhaust pops and burbles almost every time you lift off the gas pedal. T he eight-speed automatic paired with this engine was equally up to the task. Shifts were fast and smooth. And it even worked well leaving it in automatic mode. It held gears smartly, and it would downshift while braking to ensure you had the right gear when taking off again. The Clubman JCW also has the brand's trademark corner-carving skills. Body roll is nearly absent in the normal driving mode, and what little was evident is removed when switching to Sport mode. The car responds immediately to each steering input, and it has tenacious grip through corners.