Dec 30th, 2013
There is little question the original JCW GP is a special car — an incredibly special car. It was thrown together at break-neck speed with off-the-shelf parts and yet it’s one of the most satisfying cars I’ve ever driven at any price. Sure, MINI had some trouble selling all of them at the time, as they have with the GP2, but since then it’s become a classic with ever-slowing depreciation. That original MINI JCW GP will surely be a classic.
In contrast, the new GP is a much more serious car. Road testing and development took place primarily at the Nurburgring, led primarily by a MINI race car driver. Instead of a few months, the second generation JCW GP was two years in the making. In those two years, MINI JCW fitted an entirely new, bespoke suspension. MINI spec’d unique tires and a specially-matched six-pot braking system that was designed to stop cars almost 1,000 lbs heavier. The result was nothing short of phenomenal. Whether on the track or on the road, the 2013 JCW GP is astonishing in its ability to change direction, stop, and go. Yet it’s not just the quickness of the new GP that exhilarates. It’s the car’s feedback at every touch-point.
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Dec 26th, 2013
Drive TV – a Youtube favorite of ours features a handful or different shows that explore every corner of the automotive world. One of our favorites, Tuned with Matt Farah recently took a JCW GP to the Silver State Classic. An open road challenge in the Nevada Dessert, it’s a timed event that involved speed, endurance and math. And on a long holiday weekend it’s also a perfect thing to sit back and enjoy. continued →
Nov 8th, 2013
The MINI JCW GP is a car that we here at MotoringFile hold in rather high esteem. While certainly not for everyone, it’s a package deal of everything the second generation MINI has to offer in terms of a pure driving experience and special JCW touches. It’s a car MINI created not to make money on (because like the 2006 GP, MINI likely lost money on this model), but out of sheer brand enthusiasm.
We’ve reviewed it on the track and on the road and fell in love with it both times.
Turns out we’re not the only ones who feel that way. EVO has included the second generation MINI JCW GP in its list of final contenders for EVO Car of the Year. continued →
Oct 10th, 2013
Despite being on the market for awhile, MINI looks at its current range of JCW accessories as just coming into their own. As cars get older owners typically start to think about modifications and MINI wants to remind us all what they have on offer. Thus we now have these videos detailing a few key products and accessories.
All eight videos after the break. continued →
Jun 26th, 2013
The following is the story of one man (Karl Muller) and his obsession (we’d call it healthy) in transforming his 2009 factory JCW MINI into a JCW GP. A few months back Karl started to pepper our inbox with questions about the GP. It quickly became clear that Karl was on a mission and had both an attention to detail and persistence to actually pull off what seemed impossible – re-create the GP from a stock 2009 JCW. We’ll let him tell the rest.
I didn’t intend to take this so far. What started out as a quest to simply acquire the new GP rear diffuser morphed into a GP parts obsession culminating in my 2009 factory JCW now sporting the rear diffuser, underbody panels, GP coil over suspension, the GP rear spoiler, and the GP aerodynamic splash guard. continued →
May 14th, 2013
Australian motoring site and friends of MotoringFile, Ausmotive.com, are reporting this morning that MOTOR Magazine has named the second generation JCW GP as the latest winner of their “Bang for your bucks” award. One judge called the GP the “best MINI I’ve ever driven, especially on a track.” We couldn’t agree more.
Head over to Ausmotive.com for their full take and some down under GP photos. You can also catch the full MINI Australia press release after the jump.
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May 3rd, 2013
Since the release of the 2nd generation JCW GP we’ve been debating how it compares to the original. And while we’ve found that the new GP runs rings around the first generation on the road and track, the jury is still out on which actually looks better. So we wanted to take another look at both with back to back photos comparing details of both cars. Which one wins out? Lets hear it in the comments. continued →
