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2021 Mini John Cooper Works GP First Drive | Loud, harsh, expensive, hilariously fun

The Mini John Cooper Works GP has always represented the pinnacle of Mini performance. It’s the most-powerful, lightest and most uncompromising in its pursuit of going fast. And it has never hidden that purpose, wearing bold bodywork to convey its seriousness. Even with a reused powertrain and no manual transmission option, the new 2021 Mini John Cooper Works GP delivers the raw, entertaining driving experience you would expect. As such, it should be a treat for Mini fans, but for the brand agnostic, there are better hot hatch options. From the outside, this Mini GP is the most radical of all. It pulls its design straight from a Frankfurt Motor Show concept complete with unique carbon fiber fender flares that stand proud from the actual fenders. The rear wing is bigger than ever and bisected in the middle. Contrasting the dark gray paint are bright red accents and stripes. It looks remarkably menacing, which is impressive for such a cute little car. Matching the appearances is the GPÂ’s output. It shares the same engine and transmission with the John Cooper Works Countryman and Clubman, and thus the same mantle of being most powerful Mini in history with 301 horsepower and 331 pound-feet of torque. The GP feels substantially more potent, though, since the engine has just 2,855 pounds to haul around ­-- that's nearly 800 pounds less than the next-lightest Clubman JCW with the same engine. For further comparison, the regular Cooper S Hardtop weighs about the same yet has only 189 horsepower. Combined with a smooth, fast-spooling turbo, the GP rockets all over the place. And if youÂ’re not keeping a firm grasp of the wheel, your steering could be all over the place, too. Plant your foot and the wheel starts wriggling as torque steer rears its head. ItÂ’s uncouth, uncivilized, but also kind of fun if youÂ’re up for a ragged experience. Perhaps not so much if you were looking for a precision instrument to combat the Civic Type R and Veloster N. Further differentiating the Mini from those hot hatches is the GPÂ’s sole eight-speed automatic transmission option. No, itÂ’s not as engaging as a six-speed manual would be, and yes, it's a step behind the best DCTs and other automatics. However, it shifts smoothly and quickly with smart shift logic in normal or sport shift modes. Leaving it in automatic would be just fine, but then you'd miss out on tapping the 3D-printed aluminum shift paddles.

Trump calls Germans 'very bad,' vows to stop their car sales in US

TAORMINA, Italy -Talks between President Trump and other leaders of the world's rich nations at the G7 summit on Friday were expected to be "robust" and "challenging" after he had lambasted NATO allies and condemned Germans as "very bad" for their trade policies. Trump's confrontational remarks in Brussels, on the eve of the two-day summit in the Mediterranean resort town of Taormina, cast a pall over a meeting at which America's partners had hoped to coax him into softening his stances on trade and climate change. According to German media reports, Trump condemned Germany as "very bad" for its trade policies in a meeting with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, signaling he might take steps to limit sales of German cars in the United States. "The Germans are bad, very bad," he reportedly told Juncker. "Look at the millions of cars that they're selling in the USA. Horrible. We're gonna stop that." White House economic adviser Gary Cohn on Friday confirmed the reports. "He said they're very bad on trade, but he doesn't have a problem with Germany." Cohn said Trump had pointed out during the meeting that his father had German roots in order to underscore the message that he had nothing against the German people. Trump's spokesman Sean Spicer said Trump had "tremendous respect" for Germany and had only complained about unfair trade practices in the meeting. Juncker called the reports in Spiegel Online and Sueddeutsche Zeitung exaggerated. The reports translated "bad" with the German word "boese," which can also mean "evil," leading to confusion when English-language media translated the German reports back into English. "The record has to be set straight," Juncker said, noting that the translation issue had exaggerated the seriousness of what Trump had said. "It's not true that the president took an aggressive approach when it came to the German trade surplus." "He said, like others have, that (the United States) has a problem with the German surplus. So he was not aggressive at all," Juncker added. In January, Trump threatened to slap a 35 percent tax on German auto imports. "If you want to build cars in the world, then I wish you all the best. You can build cars for the United States, but for every car that comes to the USA, you will pay 35 percent tax," he said. "I would tell BMW that if you are building a factory in Mexico and plan to sell cars to the USA, without a 35 percent tax, then you can forget that." Last year, the U.S.

Cars selling highest above MSRP and lowest below MSRP

Automakers have returned to offering incentives and promoting new vehicles after a few years of tight inventory and elevated prices. Despite that, prices are still higher than they should be, as a new iSeeCars study found that the average new car is priced above MSRP, though they’re slightly less painful than they were a year ago. iSeeCars found that the average new car price has been marked up to 7.2 percent above MSRP, down from 8.9 percent a year ago. Interestingly, the five most overpriced cars came from two premium brands, while four of the five priced the lowest below MSRP were EVs. New cars selling highest above MSRP Mini Hardtop: 25.5% above MSRP Porsche Taycan Sedan: 23.1% Porsche Cayenne: 21.9% Porsche Macan: 21.3% Porsche Taycan Wagon: 20.9% Cadillac CT5-V: 20% Porsche 718 Boxster: 19.9% Toyota Corolla Cross Hybrid: 19.4% BMW X3 M: 19.4% Cadillac CT4-V: 19.3% Porsche, Mini, and Genesis were the three most overpriced brands overall, with Buick, Acura, and Infiniti landing as the lowest-priced brands. Electric vehicles dominated the list of the 10 most-discounted vehicles: New cars selling lowest below MSRP Hyundai Kona Electric: -4.6% VW ID.4: -3.6% Ford F-150 Hybrid: -3.3% Kia EV6: -2.5% Hyundai Ioniq 6: -2.4% Nissan Maxima: -2.2% Chrysler Pacifica PHEV: -2% Nissan Ariya: -1.9% Hyundai Ioniq 5: -1.9% VW Arteon: -1.8% Those numbers align with what we saw in the market last year, as EV sales grew, but far slower than many had hoped. iSeeCars executive analyst Karl Brauer said. (For a sense of that, you can look back at our coverage of most marked-up cars and most discounted cars from 2023.) “The market appears to have reached a saturation point for electric vehicles," Brauer said, "with both prices and sales struggling compared to a year ago. The high cost of full-size trucks and SUVs, along with the cost of fueling them in the face of inflation and reduced consumer spending power, has dampened demand for these notoriously pricey vehicles.”