J01 JCW: "Johnny"

First, the Motoring File reports that MINI engineers refer to J01 JCW as "Johnny." I hope John Cooper would have been happy with this car bearing his name. Gabriel predicts a fall debut.

How will MINI balance the range-vs-weight equation on the JCW? Will it weigh even more than the pretender (the J01 SE with JCW trim)? How will a true Johnny be visually distinguished from the slower pretender? The photos in the Australian article linked by the Motoring File have more red paint.

 

That must be it. If the SE with JCW trim doesn't look exactly like the Johnny, how can they call it "JCW trim?" Did they consider calling it "JCW-ish trim" or "JCW-WISH trim?"

Perhaps the wheels and tires aren't considered part of the trim and the Johnny will get big 'uns.

 

But it will look just like the MINI Cooper SE with JCW trim?

Will the dual-motor, 370-hp Johnny a) weigh 2 tons, or b) have a range of 110 miles?

 

The latest on the "Johnny" from the MotoringFile.

MotoringFile's Gabriel Bridger writes:
As we predicted last year, the JCW Trim design we’ve seen on the standard J01 MINI Cooper will form the basis of the full JCW model. So much so that they will be very hard to distinguish for the average consumer.

So, as I feared, unless the J01 JCW gets special wheels, the only way to tell it from a regular J01 with the JCW trim package will be to take a chip of the Chili Red paint from a brake caliper and have it analyzed to see if it's real MINI paint or just red paint from a rattle-can the owner bought at Ace Hardware.

The Johnny doesn't get a bigger battery, so it will offer less range than the slower J01, but at least it won't weigh much more. An interesting addition is a paddle to the left of the steering column that offers a 10-second power boost. No word on how long the driver must wait before giving the power paddle another tug. Will Bimmercode let you turn the pull-to-pass paddle into a toggle switch?

Mr. Bridger speculates about other aspects of the car, such as its weight and 0-60 time, but the only words from someone who's actually driven the J01 JCW come from a MINI engineer:

Patrick Haussler, the J01 MINI Cooper’s head of chassis dynamics. At the recent Australian launch of the Cooper SE, he let slip a few intriguing details; “I think everybody is quite happy with how the [regular MINI Cooper Electric] cars turned out and the Johnny [the J01 JCW], is nearly finished, so there’s not too much refinement left to do. There’s still some work [beyond the handling dynamics] but I already like it very much. The things that you like with the Cooper SE, you will like it even more with Johnny.”

 

Specs! Lots of HP and LB-FT, but Johnny's very heavy. For comparison, a Tesla Model 3 Standard Range Plus with a single motor weighs 3862 pounds.

 

I wonder how much weight was saved by the i3's skinny bicycle wheels?

 

Speaking of wheels, here are the Johnny's JCW Aero Wheels (why don't they have "Spoke" in their name?). I assume they're also available with the regular J01 with JCW Trim, because everything else is, except maybe the brake calipers. However, what good are fancy red brake calipers if the fancy Aero Wheels keep them hidden?

I can't read the size on the Hankook Ion tires.

 

So they're already available "JCW Rallye Spoke 992" wheels, not as Gabriel Bridger called them, "new JCW Aero Wheels?" I'm comforted that this MINI wheel does, after all, have the word "Spoke" in its name.

Here, WerksRaeder24 is selling them with the Hankook Ventus S1 evo3 summer performance tires familiar to many SE owners.