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This classic electric Mini costs $100,000, but just look at it

We all love the original Mini, so when a British company decided to develop an electric version of it using a restored original body, we took notice. Enter the Swind E Classic Mini. Electric cars are allowed to have a soul, and this one is just as cute as a Mini with a little gas motor. Swind, a UK-based tech and engineering company, didn't just produce a half-baked version of an electric Mini. The powertrain is a bespoke, in-house design developed by the company's own engineers. The body has contemporary corrosion protection to make sure it doesn't rot like an original from the 1960s. Also, new brake and suspension parts ensure it'll feel relatively modern to drive. Don't expect any mind-blowing specs and numbers from the little EV, though. It uses a 24 kWh lithium ion battery pack and the electric motor produces 110 horsepower. Zero to 60 mph is achieved in 9.2 seconds. That's not impressive on today's world, bu is still quicker than this Mini would have been with its original gas engine. Top speed is 80 mph, and range is rated at an impressive 125 miles. That's plenty for this little city runabout — road trips won't be this Mini's job anyway, especially if you have to run it near top speed just to keep up with traffic. Swind says it'll get to a full charge in four hours via its fast charging capability. Weight is kept to only 1,587 pounds, so this will be one of the lightest electric cars on the road. The benefits of modernizing and electrifying the Mini help out in other areas, too. You can check option boxes for an infotainment system with navigation. USB ports come standard, as do heated leather seats. Curiously, air conditioning is an option. If you prefer no power steering, that's possible; performance tuning packs are available, but there's no explanation for what that entails. There's more space in the boot for stuff with the gas tank removed, and weight distribution is improved at a 57/43 split (it was 68/32 originally). Now we move onto the less desirable portion of this Mini: The price. Converted from pounds sterling, this Mini goes for $100,970. You can buy a whole lot of car for that money, or you can have an electric Mini. At least Swind is really building it, unlike the one-off shown by Mini at the NY Auto Show last year. Production is limited to only 100 cars that all come with a one-year unlimited-mile warranty.

2015 Mini John Cooper Works Hardtop First Drive [w/video]

In its previous iteration, the Mini John Cooper Works three-door was a bad little mother. It looked like an engorged puffer fish facing down a shark, sounded like squadron of hornets with even the tiniest provocation of the throttle, and turned corners like it was angry at them. It was hard riding and ill mannered in all sorts of daily driving situations, but supremely satisfying when used in the all-out-attack mode for which it was designed. I dug every minute I spent in one, when really concentrating on driving. (As a commuter or passenger, not so much.) It only took fifteen minutes of driving on the lilting, tree-lined roads outside of New Haven, CT, to realize that the 2015 Mini JCW Hardtop was a lot less pissed off. And with more power, refined ride quality, a better interior, and an available automatic transmission, a lot more suitable for a wide variety of drivers. The little hellion has matured. On that grownup tip, the first of the many '15 JCWs I sampled was fitted with a six-speed automatic transmission. Cue collective shocked gasp. I'll forgive you if you didn't know an auto was going to be available equipment on the JCW, as Mini product planners had to remind me that it had been offered for the first time on the model-year 2013 car. Even then, the manual trans saw an impressive 75-percent take rate, so it's not as if many of the auto-shifters made it to the street. That could change in this new generation, where the 6AT acquits itself quite well. Wheel-mounted paddles offer near immediate response to requested shifts, and programming for the sport setting causes gears to be held up to the top of the tach. The manual is far more engaging, even if the automatic is quicker than the human hand. The six-speed Getrag manual transmission is still the better option, even the car is two-tenths of a second slower to 60 miles per hour with it (6.1 vs. 5.9 seconds), and less fuel efficient in the city (23 vs. 25 miles per gallon). The manual uses a long-levered shifter that still feels positive going between gates, and a short-travel clutch that's got nice weight and an easy catch point. It also offers defeatable rev matching, smoothing out even very aggro downshifts. Mini measures the manual as slower than the auto, but I had a lot more fun using it to harness the increased power of the 2.0-liter turbo four-cylinder engine.

Mini JCW GP to be hatchback only, no 'Ring record attempt in sight

The 2013 Mini John Cooper Works GP is dropping weight and lowering its lap times, but one thing it won't be losing is its flat roof. Like the original JCW GP package, Evo says that despite the fact that sportier Mini Coupes have been caught testing, the new GP will only be offered in the three-door Cooper hatchback body style. And that's perfectly fine with us.
Evo spoke with GP development chief Jorg Weidinger who said that as a part of the car's history, "It was a hatch, it is a hatch and it should stay a hatch." Weidinger also said that Mini is not planning to set any Nürburgring records with the new JCW GP even though earlier reports indicate that the car is a full 20 seconds faster around the 'Ring than its 2006 predecessor.
The new Mini John Cooper Works GP weighs 121 pounds less than the John Cooper Works Hardtop, offers a fully adjustable coil-over suspension and it will have a starting price of $39,950, (including $700 for destination) when it goes on sale later this year.