MINI did a real sneaky with the unveiling of MINI Superleggera Vision Concept with the press release, images and video all going live on late Friday evening on the 23rd May 2014. Where was my invite to Italy???

Two of the most stylish nations in the world met together to design a British roadster with Italian flair

Before you start moaning that Superleggera is only for Lamborghini therefore it’s not a real Superleggera. Superleggera means ‘Super Light’ to which it is with aluminium body panels & Carbon fibre chassis and the coach building company who made it  is called Superleggera.

Here is a quick history into Superleggera – Started in 1926, Touring Superleggera is forerunner of advanced automotive design and custom coachbuilding. The company is one of the rare firms offering the whole in-house productive cycle from the first sketch, all the way through surface engineering and structural analysis, style models and prototypes, to turn-key, low-volume production of special bodywork.

The company was located just north of Milan, near Alfa Romeo, Italian Citroën, and the former Isotta-Fraschini plant.

Carrozzeria Touring licensed the Superleggera construction system to Aston Martin, who designed and manufactured Superleggera chassis for the DB4 and DB5. Several other manufacturers created automobiles using Carozzeria Touring’s Superleggera chassis construction technology. Notable examples include:

Alfa Romeo 8C 2900 Mille Miglia
Alfa Romeo 1900 Super Sprint
Alfa Romeo 2600
Aston Martin DB4, DB5 and Lagonda Rapide
BMW 328 Touring Roadster
Bristol Cars
Ferraris 166, 195, 212 and 340 models
Lamborghini 350GT
Lancia Flaminia Convertible
Maserati 3500GT
Pegaso Z-102

With any great automotive design, anyone has to instantly recognise what is from a glance.

The front of the concept gives it away instantly with the round headlights but from the back I would have no clue to what it could be. Honestly from a distance it could be anything from Jaguar D-type to Marcos Mantis

The design language of the model is very minimalist with just surface creases to emphasis the contours and body line as coach builder Superleggera hand shaped sheet aluminium for the body. The deep lustrous paint is called Como Blue which really brings out the body lines and exposed aluminium touches.

Being a man of finer details there are a few you might miss with the bonnet stripes not actually being bonnet stripes but inlaid bonnet harks a small homage to British of yesteryears. Fuel cap on the front wing is another sporting touch to old racers, while that rear fin is such a Jaguar D-type detail.

There is going to be no question that you have been passed by a British car as the tail lights form the Union Jake.

This model doesn’t seem to be for posers but an out-and-out performance model with the exposed cross braces on the doors and smerk inducing BOOST button the steering wheel. Reading through the press release there was quick mention of an electric motor!

Hmmm will MINI receive the same engine setup from the i8 which shares the same 3 pot engine.

I have always been a sucker from carbon fibre and the concept doesn’t disappoint with a carbon splitter to cut the air infront while the two circular holes in the front bumper are designed to feed the engine air.

This coach building theme is carried on with interior as an infusion of exposed aluminium, Sabbia coloured leather and a digital console make for a real merging of form and function.

To enter this beauty you either literally jump into it or press the open button by the leather wrapped roll bars (I would personally choose to jump in). Whilst you’re in your in, as I don’t think I would want to leave as the seats are a hybrid mix of classic roadster and racing bucket seat with a four point harness.

Now where do I put my driving gloves and shades?

Before I wrote this article I watched a video by Jay Leno on Steve McQueen’s 1956 Jaguar XKSS a real race car for the road. It is definitely worth a watch as it shows what roadsters are meant to be and I think MINI hit the nail on the head with getting Superleggera to build the concept. But MINI could have got it horrible wrong like the Lamborghini 5-95 Zagato.

There is always air of will they or wont they build it with any concept but this concept raises a few more questions than answers…

Will MINI make the F56 bumper look as gooooooodddd as this concept!!!

Is this concept a look into the future? New MINI Roadster? Is this another Concept which wont see the light of day?

BMW tends to do that quite often with the insatiable BMW Z4 Zagato which should be been built

I want to hear your opinions on this concept – Do you like or loathe it? 

Next Blog Post: The Last Dash: MINI Lakes Run

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The post Automotive Renaissance: MINI Superleggera Vision Concept appeared first on JCW Adventures.

The MINI Paceman is designed to be more of sporty looking Countryman with two fewer doors with a coupe like appearance without losing any of the MINIness, which adds to the reason why you buy a MINI? To be DIFFERENT. But there has to be some level of practicality to the car when you lose two doors and headroom, so MINI slimmed the dashboard and put a smile on your face with a centre console reminiscent of Mickey mouse’s face.

If you’re sat there and wondering what’s the point of it? Have you looked at the BMW 3 series coupe, Mercedes-Benz CL Coupe or Rolls Royce Wraith. Still don’t get the point? People buy cars on looks alone

I hope it’s starting to make sense. If not think of it this way, the MINI Paceman is the weird one of the family who likes to stand out and be seen. Just ask yourself this question – Who is the weird one in your family?  If you don’t know who the weird one is in your family is then it’s probably you!

MINI Shrewsbury kindly provided me with a JCW Paceman but it wasnt any Paceman it was the dealership principles, so I was interested to see what CD he had stored in his car…

Rocking the metallic absolute black with JCW red top roof, JCW Bodykit and the standard fitment of 18 inch burnished twin spokes wheels finish off the exterior road presence of the JCW Paceman. Under the hood there is the updated N18 JCW engine which develops 218 Bhp with 300NM of torque on overboost.

On the inside both the Chilli & Media pack were ticked so the Xenon lights,  auto lights & wipers, sat nav, MINI connected, Bluetooth were all there for the techno junkies to fiddle with. As you enter the JCW Paceman you are greeted to the JCW door sills and all around more comfortable seats compared to the hatch. The seats in the Countryman & Paceman are how they should have come in hatch with better support for the back and legs regardless of your size.

In the Paceman there is seperate seating for four, each with its own zone and cup holder. The boot space is more than ample for the MINI adventures ahead from the daily grind. This added space is down to Countryman platform being used, while the compact dashboard increases space for the front and back making it great gran tourer with lush sloping rear end.

As we taking about controversy the Paceman seems to be like a baby BMW X6. Its strangely the first MINI to have horizontal rear lights breaking the tradition of the vertical lights but the circle theme remains within the lights and cabin. I gather it was design decision to have horizontal lines to draw you away from how big the Paceman whilst keeping the elegance of a coupe.

Personally I loved the look of the Paceman when I saw concept, it looks miles better than the Countryman and its reminiscent of a BMW X6 which all the girlies love. But I sat there as an aficionado wondering if it would drive like a MINI or would that poor little 1.6 litre be up for the task for lugging around another half a tonne or something.

The Paceman was all ready to go outside of the dealership to what I could describe as a typical British day aka it was cold and raining. This made it a less perfect for video shooting but perfect for me to test out the ALL4 four-wheel drive system. I fired up the JCW Paceman to muted sound to which was a surprised by given the N18 likes to be abit more noisy when the sports mode is activated. I poodled out of the dealership letting the Paceman warm up before the test drive ahead, I pressed the sports button to see if we could get some more noise out of her but sadly she wasn’t playing ball.

That was disappointment number one, where is the noise? well the complete lack of it! I would have thought with sports button on the noise would increase but it clearly didn’t. Maybe the mapping on the JCW Paceman is either for performance or refinement, as no matter how I tried during the test drive it refused to pop n bang.

I tried to think of plausible reason for it not to do so and came to the conclusion it was either the lack of miles on the clock or MINI themselves have muted it because of the different target audience for the car. But like anything MINI it can be improved by the after market, so I whole heartedly recommend a sports cat, catback system or  a cheeky removal the resonator to make it sound fruity.

Back to the driving shenanigans, as I drove the JCW Paceman I didn’t think about the four-wheel drive system underneath me as there wasn’t any clunking or greater rolling resistance to get it going. The only difference arrived in the corner as the nature of the JCW engine encourages you to drive fast but the ALL 4 system allows you plant the gas mid corner. This added mid corner ability to put the down the power is what makes the JCW Paceman fun to drive as you learn a new technique of how to drive it through corners eagerly waiting to leave anyone behind in your rear view.

It is addictive to be so leisurely with the throttle as you play cat and mouse with the grip levels seeing how early you can apply throttle through corners. So much so I doubled back on myself a couple of times on the test route, I was grinning to myself on the same section of the road with the locals wondering what on earth I was doing. Sorry guys I practising for this years World Rally Championships ; )

The JCW Paceman with the ALL4 feels more planted than hatch with a feeling of a freight train once you get going. Yes I meant when you get going as the extra weight has blunted the performance, the tail wagging happy nature of the MINI is a little lost under the four-wheel drive and extra weight. It not as rampant as the JCW Hatch which chirps under full-bore acceleration, instead the revs need to be at least 3,000 Rpm before you feel power but the low-end torque nature of the turbocharged engine gives nice shove and responsive throttle off the line.

Despite the reduced performance to 7 seconds compared to the Hatches 6 seconds dash to 60, the JCW Paceman is still a joy to drive even with the higher centre of gravity, ride height and ALL 4 system all having no effect at all on the FUN factor.

I wanted to say NO to buying one as the Paceman is nowhere near what a MINI should be in size and weight but I was left with an impression this is a DADDY’S Car. What do I mean by that? While the MINI Countryman is the yummy mummies car, the MINI Paceman is Daddy’s Cool car!

Why Daddy’s Car? You have all the added practicality of SUV sized MINI with all the benefits wrapped in a sexy coupe body, yet you can still have FUN regardless of the weather and what lies ahead. It’s the perfect I am now a DAD car without making you look like a numpty sat behind I have given up mobile called the MPV.

Dad’s all across the world should rejoice that they can buy a COOL family car with big boot to drive every day regardless of the weather

ps Every Paceman should come preloaded with the song Daddy Cool by Boney M

There is BIG elephant left in the room which is the price. How do I put nicely its £29,535 for a base model before you start specing. My test drive model came to £34,000 which is hard to swallow given the options available at the price from a Land Rover Evoque to the Frankenstein styled Nissan Juke Nismo (I secretly like the JUKE’s weirdness). The Evoque is on par on price and you get genuine off road ability but every Mr & Mrs Jones has one. On the other hand the Nismo Juke is a cheaper JDM alternative with a starting of £20,500 and at that price you get Nismo Bucket Recaros as STANDARD!!!!!

Hmmmm they even made a Batman Edition

Lets step back for a second as you buy a MINI to different from everyone else in the first instance. All MINIacs like to add their own personal touch to make their own and make sure no MINI is truly alike. Is it a rational decision to pay £9,000 more than 2 wheel drive Nismo Juke or more than a frugal two-wheel drive Evoque with a diesel engine at £29,200. Yes, the Evoque maybe more appealing to some and Nismo Juke weird to others but the JCW Paceman gets Four wheel drive as standard.

On a performance standard point of view the JCW Paceman is significantly faster than the Evoque at a similar price, which comes in form of the devils juice of a Diesel engine. Here is a bomb shell for you, to rival the JCW’s performance level who have to pay £41,000 which is a COMPLETE UTTER JOKE!!! But the base Nismo JUKE fights back with no of four-wheel drive and with an equally as punch 1.6 litre turbocharged engine which musters up 197 bhp. The Nismo Juke will sprint from 0 to 60 in 7.8 seconds which isn’t quite enough to keep up with the Paceman at 7 seconds flat time. Nice try Juke Wukey

Now that I have enlightened you the JCW Paceman doesn’t seem so expensive given the performance, looks and build quality compared to its rivals. The JUKE is a value proposition, the Evoque is just the poor man’s Range Rover and the MINI Paceman is the modern mans’ choice for an urban SUV. Its been a dumb media hype which has had everyone thinking and including me that JCW Paceman is expensive when it’s not! The Paceman is great car to drive which makes you feel good whilst you know its that bit more special than its rivals

Review Score: 4/5

The MINI JCW Paceman is an odd ball of the MINI family, logically it makes no sense but looks alone sell cars. This looker does have style and substance which makes it the perfect gran tourer for long MINI Adventures away or Daddy cool to have FUN on the school run

Huge Thank You again to MINI Shrewsbury for their support and allowing me to review the JCW Paceman

Next Blog Post: The Last Dash: MINI Lakes Run

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The post Heavy Muscle: MINI JCW Paceman Review appeared first on JCW Adventures.