On Tuesday 9/27 my wife and myself headed up to Northwest MINI in Fife WA to meet up with our MA Brad Davis. We took our GP 0509 to be able to compare the two autos.

Arriving in Fife and stopped to top off the tank I look up just in time to see a Lighting Blue JCW Coupe with a Black roof sitting waiting to make a left hand turn. First thing that struck me is there is no doubt this is all MINI and sleek. A short while later we were introduced to the car in person.



First view up close and slowly digested the look. I admit that in all the posted images so far the side view has always made me nervous as something with it just did not look right, I have the pleasure of saying once I saw in person the car looks out of this world from all angles. Odd thing I noticed was that looking at it from the side the car actually appears shorter to my eye. I love the updated spliter on the Coupe and the proportions on the car just feel visually right.



The boot was quite interesting, the size was impressive. MINI seemed to have really thought about the design. The boot lid was actually pretty heavy and closes with a solid thump. I love the speedster style cover and its easy to remove.




We started by our MA and my wife driving the Coupe and me chasing in the GP. I love the look on the road from behind, the rear window just makes the car look lower than it actually is. The torque in the JCW Coupe is very impressive. The GP kept up but I could tell it would have its hands full. Hitting the corners the Coupe cornered (using the sports suspension) nicely but not as composed as the GP. The spoiler raising is a very good look on the car and really helps define its character. I found that to my eye the rear of the car just looks tons better with the spoiler up, when its down the tail of the car feels a bit visually week.

We then switched cars and I burned down a few decent corners and was quite impressed. I think with the JCW suspension it would have been better but still I was able to step the tail end out around a corner and get on the gas just in time to see a officer with the Fife PD coming down the street at me. Figured I was toast for drifting the corner and flying down the road. The officer passed and raised one finger and waved it side to side, the message was recieved heh.

The interior is all R56 but to me its more than just lopping off the rear seats, the car fits like a glove and feels like a proper Coupe. Coming from a GP have nothing but positive remarks for the Harmon Kardon sound system, the interior dimensions of the Coupe are like to make it one of the best places to listen to music.

Good things:
Exterior design and proportions
Torque
Body feels solid and weight seems to be carried quite low
Refined driving feel

Questionable points:
Lacks the visceral feeling of the GP
Needs a better suspension than the Sport suspension
Visibility just like all Coupes is limited while sitting at stop lights, but survivable

I would give the car a solid 4.5 out of a possible 5 stars. Both of us walked away terribly excited to take delivery of ours. It will have some things to address some of the weak points. While in many ways its equal or even better than the GP both cars have a lot going for them.

 

So, would you trade the GP for it?

I have seen two at Ottos, I think their blue/black one is now in the 'test drive' fleet and I hope to check it out this weekend. They look much better in person...

-Jac

 

Trade a GP for a JCW Coupe... Not in a million years. We are lucky we are not in a place where that is a consideration lol. I do like the JCW Coupe a bunch but its no GP replacement imo.

 

Pretty unfair question :P

Why would someone trade in a limited run car for a full production one?

I'd have the same thought as Jdurdick

 

Ok, it was late and I should have phrased that better... It was really a performance and driving feel question over a limited edition type thing. My bad!

Thank you for the in-depth review!

 

Performance wise the two are pretty closely matched. I prefer the feel of the steering in the GP, its a great balance. The Coupe feels good but lacks some of the communication I get through the GP wheel. I like the GP's clutch much better, the Coupe feels quite light in comparison. Driving position the Coupe wins. Each car has strength and weaknesses. I plan on doing a much deeper comparison once we get our Coupe in as the two will be much closer than the basic JCW Coupe I took for the test drive.