All Works and no play? (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)

All Works and no play?

We loved the first MINI Cooper S Works ddition and the latest version ups the ante still further. Essence goes giant killing.

There's an age old saying in boxing circles that a good big 'un will always beat a good little 'un.

It doesn't always hold true however, especially when you're driving the Goodwood race circuit in a 400bhp BMW M5 and trying to shake a 210bhp MINI Cooper S Works from your tail.

Down each of the Goodwood circuits straights, the M5 could inch inexorably away but through each twisty section, the MINI would close the gap back, registering an identical lap time to the German super saloon.

It's safe to say that this very special hot hatch punches well above its weight.

When the MINI was first launched, you could choose between the sedate One and the Cooper, which provided a touch more by way of pep - but not too much.

Sales soared but word on the street was that there was more to come from the MINI chassis. Much more.

Sure enough, in summer 2002 we got our first glimpse of a MINI with an intriguing letterbox-shaped aperture in its bonnet: the MINI Cooper S had arrived, bringing supercharged performance and transforming the warmed-over runabout into a genuine hot hatch contender.

This model really caught the imagination of the MINI fanatics and it flew out of the showrooms but forced induction only opened the door to a whole host of go-faster masters to offer performance upgrades for the Cooper S.

Only one of them is backed by the factory and its the real deal. John Cooper Garages boosted the car's power output from a respectable 163bhp to a decidedly hairy chested 200bhp.

An instant hit, this model beat cars like the Audi RS6, Ferrari 360 Modena and Porsche 911 in Auto Express magazine's 'Greatest Drives of 2003' test.

There were however, a few who grumbled that given the additional expense over the Cooper S, there really needed to be a little more power. After all, the MINI is an inherently heavy car, and even with 200bhp on tap, the £18,000+ Cooper S Works wasnt significantly quicker than a £16,000 Honda Civic Type-R.

Realising that the gripers possibly had a point that that the MINI chassis could certainly cope with even more power, a revised John Cooper Works offering was quickly prepared at the company's West Sussex Garages base.

In addition to the existing Works package, there's a freer flowing air filter with an inlet flap that opens above 4,500rpm so that the engine can gasp great lungfuls of cold air, injectors that will throw correspondingly large slugs of unleaded into the cylinders and a tweak to the engines electronic control unit that together add up to another 10bhp.

Even without gunning the car from cold, it's easy to notice the sharper throttle response and the way that the revised gear ratios mesh better with the engine's power delivery.

One criticism of the old car was that when accelerating from a standing start, it took a few seconds for the engine to really plug into the meat of the power curve. In those first few seconds, decisive advantages are lost, especially on a race track with slow chicanes to interrupt the flow.

The latest Cooper S still doesn't give an instant low-down wallop, but as long as the car can deploy its power cleanly, its no longer quite so breathless.

Traction, however, is an issue in a front wheel drive tot with this much grunt. Give the Cooper S Works the full treatment off the line and you'll see the traction control light blinking furiously. In the wet, its even more pronounced, with even moderate getaways from T-junctions and roundabout entrances provoking the electronic nanny into action.

It's an unusual entity, the Cooper S Works. Not strictly speaking a model in its own right, its more an upgrade package for the Cooper S devised by MINIs perennial partners in crime at John Cooper Works. The price quoted is £2,999 plus labour on top of the £15,180 asked for a Cooper S.

So, what that additional outlay get you? Aesthetically, you're looking at special Works 18" alloy wheels and a particularly fetching set of Works sports seats. Not to mention the John Cooper Works badging liberally smattered around the car.

Of much more importance is the havoc that the John Cooper tuning kit wreaks under the MINI's skin. Top speed becomes a rapid 143mph and the 0-60mph time is lowered to 6.4 seconds: you'll also get impressive in-gear performance thanks to 181lb/ft of torque at 4,500rpm.

The good news for existing Works Kit owners is that they wont need to chop their car in if they want the full quota of 210bhp. Instead they can have an upgrade fitted (new air filter intake system, injectors and calibration) at John Cooper Works, or any other official MINI dealer, at a cost of £335 (inc. VAT) + one hour's labour fitting time.

Both the new kit and upgrade are fully approved by MINI which means that vehicle warranty and MINI tlc service pack remain unaffected.

Granted, they won't get the benefits of the revised gearbox, but for the additional power, it looks money well spent. After all, its not just a backyard hop up kit. Every component of the John Cooper Works is the result of years of development work and innumerable road tests.

The gutsy performance and first-class handling are testament to 150,000 road miles of durability testing and 20,000 miles of high-speed testing undertaken by experienced and exacting engineers. It has been put through its paces in 35-degree heat and a freezing minus 20 degrees.

Few of us require many excuses to get behind the wheel of a MINI Cooper S and the Works edition makes the experience even more intense. With 210bhp on tap and the option of suspension and brake upgrades also offered, this MINI is not cheap, but you get what you pay for. Will it succeed? Let's just say that it has better than a puncher's chance.