We have been fans of the MINI since we drove that first one, and several have been part of the GRM fleet over the years. During the press intro for the all-new John Cooper Works, we thought, Hey, this might be the best one yet. Yes, the new MINI is bigger than its predecessors. It’s also more powerful and comes from the factory with giant Brembo brakes. Plus it (finally) features a real BMW engine under the hood, in this case a Twinpower Turbo four that cranks out 228 horsepower
Could this be the perfect MINI for today’s times? Our friends at MINI arranged an extended loan with the car. We promised that we wouldn’t take this one apart and turn it into a full-on race car, but we want to see if their point is valid: Is the John Cooper Works the best street MINI that can also gobble up some track days?
We shall see.
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Plus it (finally) features a real BMW engine
In the late 90s i could have told you that a Dodge Neon was faster than a BMW 318ti, but i certainly could not have told you that BMW would soon build an even more enthusiast-y fwd sport compact than the Neon, with a Neon-derived engine design. 
I do think it's interesting that you can buy a MINI with the same engine as a $100,000+ BMW i8.
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