JCWs have always been rambunctious little cars; a less subtly styled and more sledgehammer way to pick apart a Great British B-road than the Minis beneath it. This first impression suggests nothing has changed.
Heck, this is a firm car, making a meal out of visibly smooth surfaces and betraying every knot, rut and bump to its driver with no real end game; on tighter roads it can be a challenge keeping it tucked neatly between the white lines.
It’s a clenched-fist of a car, presumably to keep all that weight in check, and you may quickly pine for a stricter diet regime to tease more nuanced agility from it.
We’re familiar with firm performance cars, of course, but the precision and accuracy they chase isn’t quite evident here.
Works Minis were never the most eloquent, of course, and perhaps the experience simply feels disjointed without a snorting petrol engine and snicking manual ’box to mirror the brash responses beneath.
The JCW Electric is still fun, mind you, but there’s little nuance to the ragged thrill of wrestling it through corners.