I was lucky enough to take an 08 John Cooper Works S for a spin yesterday. It was fun! Shame it was pissing down with rain, but it did give me an excellent opportunity to test out the traction control. It works - you can actually put the power down and even go around corners! I was suitably impressed.

I think I will have to take it for another test drive to see how it handles the dry weather though.... just for comparisons sake.

they are very capable cars and also not bad on fuel. i like them, shame they cost so much over here.

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Used to have 2000 Cooper Classic Sport 500, No 338, currently miniless

Compared to the standard Turbo Cooper S I wouldn't say I found the JCW astounding in any way, it simply did everything a bit better. It was quicker, handled better and braked better. But it does cost a fair bit ($48k + orc) and the standard Cooper S is a very competent car anyway (They both give me that same grin as I get when I drive my classic Mini - no other car can).

The worst I saw the fuel economy go was 9.9L/100km, which is pretty good considering that is about the best I can get out of my daily driver. Holding a cruising speed it did a lot better - certainly enough to make you wonder why you would ever buy a Prius.

Yeh I'm getting the old fashioned 45mpg out of the standard bini - around the 6l/100k mark. Happy with that. Seems to run better on 98 than 95 octane too.

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1969 Mini Cooper S MKII (1330)
1972 Honda 750/4 (his),1976 Honda 400/4 (hers)
1982 Honda CB1100RC (ours)

Try turning it off, its all over the road like an unregistered dog

Im a big fan of the Bini's - I look forward to them coming into work. Not so much for the work to be done but more so the test drive.

Matt

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You're not wrong - whilst I revelled in the effectiveness of the traction control in the rain, I wouldn't be keen to drive it hard in the wet without it. My TX5 Turbo is a handful in the wet, and it is nowhere near as fast.