I begin with a question: is there a point in slapping a performance badge on an EV these days, when even in base form, so many of them boast sub-four second acceleration times? Will hallowed performance sub-brands of legacy carmakers mean anything to Generations Z and Alpha, or are they really just for old fogies like me?
I won’t speak for the young ‘uns, but there was a time when the word performance meant far more than just straight-line sprints and numbers on a piece of paper. The word used to carry a lot of weight, usually involving the shedding of the same, to achieve feel, balance, agility, dynamism, sprightliness – all subjective and unquantifiable aspects.
Which brings us to MINI – long known for go-kart this, handling that, and one of the earlier ones to dip their toes into the EV pool. Now, it’s John Cooper Works’ turn, and because we’ve associated JCW with punchy, pocket-rocket petrol engines for some 20 years, we had to hop over to the UK’s leafy Cotswolds to reset our minds.
Say hello to the first two zero-emissions JCW models – the JCW Aceman (bottom) and the JCW 3 door electric (above right). Both were launched in Malaysia earlier this month at the Malaysia Autoshow 2025 alongside the JCW 3 door petrol (above left). You’d have to be a really serious traditionalist to go for the petrol, because it costs RM319k. That’s RM85k more than the JCW Aceman and a full RM100k more than its battery-powered counterpart, thanks to EVs being currently tax-free.
The JCW Aceman looks the part, chiefly because it doesn’t go overboard. Besides the red and black here and there expected of a JCW vehicle, there are blacked-out MINI logos, subtle John Cooper Works logos and an equally-subtle bodykit and roof spoiler. Blink and you’ll miss those nostril-like depressions above the closed-off grille. Understated – yet it communicates its performance intent very successfully.
Exemplifying ‘less is more’ styling best are those wheelarch claddings. Simply by painting them gloss black, the wheelarches are artificially enlarged and any semblance of ‘SUV’ (not much to begin with, I’ll admit) is now gone. The vehicle now looks like a slightly-tall hot hatch, helped by red four-piston callipers that peek through 19-inch wheels (JCW Lap Spoke alloys for our market).
The interior has been suitably darkened to reflect the vehicle’s more purposeful nature – you can see red stitching throughout, a black fabric dash with a red chequered-flag motif on the passenger side, black synthetic leather JCW sports seats with knitted fabric at the shoulders, and a black-and-red-striped steering wheel six-o’clock NATO strap.
Where the low-key styling changes worked well on the outside, I feel the same approach isn’t as effective inside – after all, it’s a JCW and you do want to feel like you’re sitting in something a bit special. More interior badging wouldn’t go amiss – the only JCW insignia immediately visible are on the bottom of the steering wheel and the seats, and the latter obviously cannot be seen when you’re sitting in them.
But it’s still a novel place to be in, with the more-oval-than-circular MINI Interaction Unit (touch-screen to you and me) in your face and the toggle row below it that contains, from left to right, the volume knob, the MINI Experience Modes toggle, the key-shaped twist-to-start switch, the gear selector lever and the parking brake button. There’s also a panoramic roof, which you don’t get on the regular Aceman in Malaysia.
But what you’d most like to know is how it drives, and we’ll start with power. The JCW Aceman’s 258 PS and 350 Nm of torque are not monstrously more than the Aceman SE’s 218 PS and 330 Nm, but enough to slash the century sprint time by seven-tenths of a second, to 6.4 seconds. Top speed is also up from the regular Aceman’s 170 to 200 km/h – not that it matters a great deal.
Does it feel fast? Of course it does – all EVs do, by and large. But because the JCW Aceman tips the scales at just over 1.7 tonnes – light for an EV – in the higher ranges, it pulls strongly and continuously, where many EVs will taper off. Give it a good boot off the line and there’s some considerable torque steer to keep things interesting – but you’d best be alert.
Flick the left steering wheel paddle (marked Boost within a red circle) and an almost-comical 10-second countdown starts in the head-up display, during which you have an extra 20 kW, or 27 PS, of thrust (it’s part of the 258 PS figure, in case you were wondering). A JCW-only feature this may be, but with the almost-heart-attack-causing immediacy that comes with EVs anyway, you’ll never really need this. Certainly not on public roads.
Does it feel like a go-kart to drive? Well… somewhat. Yes, the steering is sharp, quick and precise, and the thick rim and thumb grips do wonders for tactile control. There’s little to no body roll, as you’d expect from MINI and JCW, with stiffer springs (no shorter than the regular Aceman’s; the 143 mm ground clearance is unchanged) and increased negative camber helping turn-in.
Still, the trademark sensation of being inches away from the ground is perceptibly dulled here, even as the underfloor battery helps to lower the centre of gravity. It goes to show that even the best of engineering and suspension tuning can only conceal so many kilogrammes and vertical centimetres before the laws of physics blow their whistle.
Bear in mind that I’m evaluating this car’s handling by MINI and JCW standards, which, as you know, are very high. It’s not just a good handler for an EV, or an SUV. It’s a good handler, full stop. The JCW Aceman gobbled up the twisting, turning, narrow and undulating B-roads it was given, and was clearly in its element; just not the sharpest tool in JCW’s box in terms of driver engagement.
I can say this because I also tried the JCW 3 door petrol and electric, albeit over far fewer miles than the JCW Aceman due to time constraints. Allow me a little detour with these two to illustrate a point about the Aceman. The hot hatches remind me of my two-year old – pint-sized, always straining at the leash, always looking for fun (or trouble) and always ready to dart in any direction at a moment’s notice. You almost feel like you’re just hanging on, such is their exuberance.
This isn’t at all surprising, of course, given that they’re lighter (versus Aceman, 3 door EV weighs 95 kg less and 3 door petrol weighs a cataclysmic 420 kg less) and lower. The JCW 3 door electric shares the JCW Aceman’s powertrain, propelling it to 100 km/h in 5.9 seconds. Meanwhile, the JCW 3 door petrol’s 231 PS/380 Nm 2.0 litre four-cylinder turbo engine is 27 PS down but 30 Nm up on the EV, and allied to a seven-speed DCT, does 0-100 km/h in 6.1 seconds.
Putting aside differing top speeds of 200 km/h for the EV and 250 km/h for the petrol, they’re so evenly matched on paper that it’s difficult not to believe they’ve been deliberately engineered to do so. Even if one’s from Oxford and the other’s from Zhangjiagang.
I initially dismissed the Chang and Eng numbers – surely the EV would feel far more rapid than the petrol? Wrong was I, for the OG JCW reminded me, almost with a slap on the wrist, of just how great an engine the B48 is. It’s eager, torquey and sonorous (blowing the EVs’ fake engine noises into oblivion), and that twin-clutcher joins in to make the car feel just as fast and responsive as its EV sister, in almost any situation. Plus, those turbo whooshes and exhaust barks – EV, kau ada?
Still on the hatches – despite the EV being a whole 325 kg heavier than the petrol, any difference in handling was not immediately discernible. Then again, we were driving on public, speed camera-ed roads – the track may tell a different story. The ride on both is harsh, exacerbated by the less-than-ideal roads (imagine Malaysian tarmac) which caused some hopping, but the petrol car’s adaptive suspension appeared to make body movements a bit less abrupt.
For these reasons and more, the JCW 3 door, be it petrol or electric, is the one for hardcore enthusiasts. Yes, you’ll need a titanium spine, but almost nothing else short of a true sports car can give you these levels of directness, dynamics and seat-of-the-pants driving. These are go-karts in ways the Aceman simply isn’t.
But unlike those two, the Aceman seats five quite comfortably, and while 300 litres of boot space is not a lot, you can fold the back seats down for 1,005 litres. This is the practical JCW; the JCW for grown-ups; the family JCW for those who think the Countryman has grown too big for its own good.
Although the JCW Aceman does ride less harshly than the hatches, it’s still a bit too firm for day-to-day comfort. You might argue that a plush ride is not what you buy a JCW for, and I’d agree, but if this car is meant to bring JCW to a wider audience who may be new to the brand, they should be eased into it. They certainly don’t need to feel this much of the road in an SUV; you already have the hatches for that.
Happily, that’s the only blot on an otherwise very well-mannered vehicle when driven normally – wind noise is practically non-existent and save for a bit of tyre roar, I can imagine the JCW Aceman to be a pleasant motorway cruiser. And if you like one-pedal driving like I do, flick the gear selector lever downwards once when in D to enter B mode. The regen level is natural and just right, and you can easily modulate the throttle such that you come to a perfect, controlled stop at the lights without touching the brake pedal.
On to range and charging. Because the JCW Aceman has the same 54.2 kWh lithium-ion battery (49.2 kWh net) as the regular Aceman, its WLTP range is 51 km less at 355 km. Charge at 95 kW DC and you’ll go from 10-80% in 30 minutes; hook it up to 11 kW AC and a full 0-100% charge takes five-and-a-quarter hours.
So, the MINI JCW Aceman. An EV that’s also an SUV that’s also a hot hatch. Make up your mind, some might say. Crowd-pleaser, some may cry. Jack of all trades and master of none, others might conclude. But in a world where we want to have our cake, eat it and sell it on TikTok Shop at the same time, I understand its rationale. There is demand for products that do lots of things moderately well. Think of the many roles of your phone. Can’t live without that piece of slab, can you?
At RM233,888 (without the longer warranty and service package, which would make it cost RM241,188), the JCW Aceman isn’t exactly cheap, but it’s only nine percent costlier than the Aceman SE, and the returns are definitely far more than that. It may help to think of it as a ‘top-spec’ Aceman instead of a performance spin-off, and if only the ride was just that bit softer, it would truly be the JCW for everybody.
MINI JCW Aceman driven in the UK
MINI JCW 3 door electric driven in the UK
MINI JCW 3 door petrol driven in the UK
