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By Jonathan Crouch

The top JCW version of MINI's electric Aceman might be an acquired taste. Jonathan Crouch takes a look.

Ten Second Reviewword count: 36

MINI's Aceman ups the ante in this top 258hp John Cooper Works form. If your small electric crossover needs a fiery vibe and you don't mind paying for the privilege, you might just like this one.

Backgroundword count: 104

Sixties rally engineer John Cooper could never have imagined a MINI quite like the Aceman John Cooper Works. Or have envisaged that it would hail not from Oxford but from China. And be powered not by tuned combustion but by a tuned electric motor. He'd also have been pretty shocked by the weight. Still, that's what we've got here in the fastest Aceman we're likely to see. It's based on the bigger-battery Aceman SE but power is upped from 218hp to 258hp from the single motor on offer. Plus there's a whole heap more visual attitude inside and out. Let's take a closer look.

Engines and Tech Specword count: 206

As with the MINI John Cooper Works Electric hatch, this Aceman JCW has a 258hp electric motor, which in this case pushes the car to 62mph in 6.4s (half a second slower than its three-door stablemate but 0.7s quicker than a standard Aceman SE). Top speed is 124mph. It would go quicker of course if it didn't have to cart around so much powertrain weight. As with the Aceman SE, the bulk is down to a mid-mounted 54.2kWh battery pack (49.2kWh usable) which could give a range of 243 miles if you were to drive this car in the kind of manner a typical owner hardly ever would. The full 258hp output by the way (40hp more than an ordinary Aceman SE) along with 350Nm of torque, is only achievable for short periods via a selectable 'Electric Boost' function. Normal running sees the motor restricted to 227hp. Because power comes from just one front-mounted motor, that's some way short of dual motor rivals like the MG4 X-POWER or the smart #1 BRABUS. A closer match would be with other single motor hot hatch EV rivals like the CUPRA Born VZ or the Volkswagen ID.3 GTX. Neither of which will feel quite like this hot MINI does.

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