2015 Mini John Cooper Works Hardtop: First Drive

What it is: 2015 Mini John Cooper Works Hardtop, two-door compact luxury sports hatchback

Price Range:  $30,600 and up, and up and up

Competitors: Volkswagen Golf R, Subaru WRX STI, Audi S3, Mercedes-Benz GLA 45 AMG

Alternatives: Mazda Mazdaspeed 3, Ford Focus ST, Ford Fiesta ST, Fiat 500 Abarth

Pros: Fun to toss around, comes standard in manual, really fun styling and design

Cons: Cost, overtly “fun” styling

Would I Buy it with My Own Money:  I’d say a tentative yes, but only IF I was just going for styling with a little performance. If, say, I was strictly going for a hot hatch, I’d probably go with a more affordable option like the Fiesta ST, Golf R or Mazdaspeed 3.

When Mini made its return to the U.S. market back in 2001, the tiny cars were cute racing go-karts in the eyes of the American buyer — if they were remembered at all. The teensy cars with cartoonish colors and Union Jacks stood out in a world of big beige sedans. Nowadays the market has a lot of really good hot hatchbacks that run the gamut of cost, but the 2015 Mini John Cooper Works Hardtop comes in at the top of the range. The question is whether it's worth all that sterling

First a quick refresher on British racing history. John Cooper Works was started by the son of racing legend John Cooper—the man known for creating tiny, rear-wheel drive race cars that everyone from Sir Stirling Moss to Bruce McLaren ran in Formula 1. The tiny rear-engined cars won 16 Grands Prix and two back-to-back World Championships and earned the Cooper family a fast name in racing history. When John Cooper struck up a partnership with British Motor Company to soup up the uber-efficient Mini in the 1960s, the Mini Cooper was born.

Fast forward to 2000 when John’s son, Michael started a bolt-on tuner company in his father’s name—for an added cost you could get a few more horses and a few more lb-ft of torque as well as some special badging, all without voiding your warranty. In 2008, BMW bought John Cooper Works and started rolling out the performance versions of the colorful Mini, which it had acquired in its purchase of the Rover Group in 1994. The first and second iteration of the new BMW-owned Mini Cooper John Cooper Works editions left many a driver and rider with sore kidneys and a light wallet.