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2015 MINI John Cooper Works Hardtop Spied In Production Guise

Just a few weeks still separate us from the unveiling of the Mk3 MINI John Cooper Works Hardtop as we’re expecting it to be shown in production guise at the NAIAS in January. In an ironic twist of faith, as we were showing you the new JCW accessories for the Cooper S model, our spy photographers caught up with the real deal somewhere in Germany.
2015 MINI JCW Hardtop Spyshots 10 photos
Photo: CarPix
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However, unlike the accessory range, this model is showing us basically everything we need to know before MINI actually formally introduces it to us. Sure, there’s some camouflage here and there but not nearly enough to hide the overall design cues of the John Cooper Works model.

New air intakes on the front bumper

Design-wise we’re expecting the production version to be extremely similar in shape to the concept. Both BMW and MINI made a habit lately of bringing out cars that look exactly like their concepts.

We can notice two new air intakes at the sides of the bumper, on top of what the Cooper S model offers. That means, we now have 4 air intakes up front, more than enough for this sort of car.

Moving towards the back you’ll notice the red John Cooper Works brake calipers both front and back and the new door sills. The rear bumper also has a different design compared to the Cooper S, showing four mesh grilles and a new look for the tailpipes in the center, right between the fog lights.

231 HP mill rumored to power the beast

It might seem like nothing these days, but the 231 HP 4-cylinder 2-liter turbocharged engine that will be used under the bonnet of this car is more than enough. In this segment, there’s only one other car that rises to this level of potency and that’s the Audi S1.

At the moment, the engine hasn’t been confirmed but our insider in Munich told us that the John Cooper Works MINI will be using the same plant as the 225i Active Tourer. That means it will also have a hefty amount of twist that raises up to 350 Nm (258 lb-ft).

Our spy photographers claim that one of the prototypes they spied also had a couple of extra gauges installed on the left side of the instrument cluster. Since they weren’t installed on this car we’re guessing that they were either used for testing purposes or they will come to the market as optional features.

Transmission wise, we expect the new JCW to come with both a 6-speed manual gearbox and a 6-speed auto, both similar to the ones used in the rest of the range.

Prices and other details are expected in January, as we said, but don’t hope that this hot hatch will sell for less than $30,000.
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