Although more than £20,000 is expensive for a small car, the fact that the official fuel consumption average is higher than 40mpg and depreciation is slow means the JCW has low overall running costs. CO2 emissions are also low for a 215bhp car so annual road tax shouldn’t be too high. Opt for the ‘tlc pack’ when ordering as it means servicing costs – including some replacement items – will be fixed for five years or eight years depending on the pack chosen.

Carbon dioxide emissions of 165g/km are at the high end of the small car scale, but very low for one with this kind of performance, so it’s easy to choose a John Cooper Works with a clear conscience. The Paceman is not so kind to the planet with CO2 emissions of 172g/km with the manual and 184g/km with the auto. Economy is good too and the JCW is capable of 41mpg – although hard driving will soon see this fall.

The Paceman with the manual gearbox returns an average of 38.2mpg and 35.8mpg with the auto.

We’ve heard of no major reliability problems with this second-generation BMW MINI, so the John Cooper Works shouldn’t have any nasty surprises for owners.