Road Test: Mini Hatchback 1.6 John Cooper Works 3dr

Even snooty old BMW knows a good thing when it sees it. Cooper branding ensures that its hot-selling new Mini tastes of fish and chips when it could so easily have been sauerkraut. The standard Mini Cooper is a fabulous little car, one of the undoubted high points of last year, but with the dust settling and only 113bhp to play with, what it needs is a bit of extra mustard. English mustard. Which is where John Cooper Works comes in, complete with BMW blessing.

You'll struggle to spot any visual differences over the standard Cooper but the Mini looks best when it's naked, the way nature intended. Anyway, this isn't about lairy wheelarches and spoilers you could eat a medieval banquet off. A fast Mini is about uncorrupted handling, real-world performance and easily exploitable power.

On paper, it stacks up like this. The Cooper Works team has divided its efforts between engine, suspension and braking tweaks. Noise and emissions legislation meant that it all had to remain legal and, while extracting untapped potential was clearly the aim, nobody wanted to ruin the standard car's excellent ride and general level of refinement.

Mini tuning, a subculture in itself, has grown up. But has the car? Well, it's difficult to see how the 2002 Works Cooper could have the same seismic impact that its legendary predecessor had back in '64. But a few thoughtful changes have at least turned it into something genuinely worthy of the badge.

Let's start with the engine. Eighteen months in the pipeline, the conversion hoists the Brazilian-made 1.6-litre engine's power output from 113bhp to 130bhp. Cooper Works has managed this by fitting a high compression polished and gas-flowed cylinder head, which is then twinned with a free-flowing intake and stainless steel exhaust system.

There's nothing particularly high-tech about this bid for extra horsepower - indeed, there isn't even all that much of it - but it conforms to the legislation and doesn't infringe the warranty. Like I said: Mini tuning for grown-ups.

As for the suspension modifications, both the springs and dampers have been changed, and the car now sits 30mm lower. Again, those with more extreme tastes might find it a bit tame, but the Cooper gentlemen would no doubt advise you to return when the full-house 200bhp supercharged Works car is unleashed much later this year. That little fire-cracker will definitely need bigger brakes; for now, changes on the Works car are limited to the fitment of composite pads.

The Mini's 130bhp doesn't sound like much but, believe me, it's just the ticket. Fire it up and the exhaust emits the sort of mellifluous metallic zing that's sadly absent from the standard car. With its chunky steering wheel and beautifully tactile gearchange, though, the ordinary Mini Cooper already feels like a little grenade, and it's not long before you discover that even a modest Works makeover guarantees extra fireworks. OK, it's only fractionally faster to 62mph (a claimed 8.7 seconds against 9.0), and an all-out top speed of 127mph against the standard car's 124mph is academic, but the difference is in the feel. And this Cooper feels absolutely on the money.

Sure, the fundamental brilliance of the basic car helps, but it's amazing what 17bhp can do. The roads around Goodwood racing circuit - sharp gradients, one or two devious little off-camber uphill numbers - are exactly the sort that (a) highlight the brilliance of the normal Mini's chassis and (b) expose its engine's 4,000rpm flat-spot. In the Works Cooper, the extra power and flatter torque curve mean that you need only concern yourself with (a).

It's still some way short of genuine hot hatch status, but just as I'm getting nostalgic for my Renaultsport Clio 172's manic acceleration, I notice that the Mini's steering remains uncorrupted by torque-steer. It's comfortable and fast, and while it still does its best work higher up the rev range, it's always responsive. Nor is it all about grip at the cost of handling finesse. Although I'd like more throttle adjustability, the Works Mini is sublimely well balanced through a sequence of fast third or fourth gear corners. We hit a few nasty mid-bend bumps, too, but the Mini shrugged them off. Sadly, it won't really oversteer, but then it doesn't understeer much either. All in all, it's brilliant.

Turning the Cooper into the car it should have been has a price. The engine tuning kit costs £2,408 (inc VAT and fitting), the open air filter £175, the suspension tweaks £964 and the brakes £230. Add that to the £11,600 of a basic Cooper, chuck in some alloys, metallic paint and a CD player, and you're deep into Honda Civic Type-R territory. Look, who exactly is blowing whose bloody doors off here?