Everyone knows that the MINI John Cooper Works Concept revealed earlier this year at the Detroit Auto Show previews very accurately how the production car will look like. However, MINI didn’t offer any details about the car’s mechanical part and its performance specs.
Taking into account that the current MINI Cooper S is powered by a new 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder direct-injection gasoline engine which develops 189hp (192PS), the most logical technical solution for the JCW model would be an uprated version of the same engine.
That seems to be case, as sources from MINI told Autoweek that the upcoming MINI John Cooper Works will feature the 2.0-liter engine with “around 230 hp.” The new engine will succeed the existing turbocharged 1.6-liter four-cylinder direct-injection gasoline unit which produces 215 hp (218PS) in the recently launched MINI John Cooper Works Paceman.
In the new MINI JCW and MINI Four Door JCW the new uprated 2.0-liter engine is expected to produce 231 hp and 258 lb-ft (349 Nm) of torque, an increase of 23 hp and 52 lb-ft (70 Nm) on the old 1.6-liter engine.
Consequently, the new MINI JCW should be faster than the previous model, which accelerated from 0 to 100 km/h (62 mph) in 6.5 seconds and hit a top speed of 238km/h (148mph).
In the Mini JCW, the new 2.0-liter engine will be linked to either a new six-speed manual or an updated six-speed automatic transmission. Both the three-door and five-door Mini JCW are expected to debut at the 2015 Detroit Auto Show.
By Dan Mihalascu
PHOTO GALLERY
