You can get a Cooper Works Mini right NOW!

PALMA DE MALLORCA, Spain — Good news for American Mini fans: the 208-horsepower Mini John Cooper Works cars are coming to the U.S. at the same time buyers in the U.K., Europe and Japan are getting them. That is to say, right now. The U.S. is Mini's No. 1 market.

Another nice bit of news is that, whereas the R53 JCW Mini coupe had all sorts of enhancements possible in the U.K. and Europe, but a shorter list for North American indulgers, the second-generation R55/R56/R54 (coupe/Clubman/convertible) will get pretty much exactly what is available to buyers living next to the factory in Oxford.

Then there was always the confusion over the variety of sport packages available to Americans. Previously, the JCW Performance package from the factory included just the engine upgrade, new exhaust and a few badges. The rest was left up to a search through the JCW catalogue for further dealer accessories, versus Europe and the U.K. where the JCW cars were fully tricked units with even more treats available. Only in the final year of R53 production, North America at last got more stuff made available as Mini started to integrate the John Cooper Works copyright and catalogue into its list of owned brands.

Now that the John Cooper Works brand is a fully fledged subbrand of Mini, U.S. buyers can get everything right from the start. For instance the recalibrated stiffer Sport suspension package from the factory (that does not lower the car height at all) costs $500 extra and includes such items as new springs and dampers. There's also an available, hotter dealer-accessory suspension kit that lowers the JCW Minis by four-tenths of an inch and really stiffens things up for $1,295, plus installation.

A curiosity in the performance numbers also comes out of putting the European and U.S. specs side by side. How is it that the Euro-JCW coupe gets to 62.1 mph in an estimated 6.5 seconds while the U.S. car gets to 60 mph in just 6.2 seconds? Mini engine expert Andreas Schüers explains that, this is because the optimal shift point from 2nd to 3rd gear happens at 97 kph — or 60.3 mph — and so a slight pause in power delivery occurs, but the U.S.-spec standard of 60 mph squeaks by just under the threshold.

What this means to you: Since the U.S. sells slightly more Minis than the U.K. in a normal sales year, we finally get the goods to match the numbers.