Driving the Most Fun Road in the Most Fun Car: 2025 Mini Cooper JCW On the Tail of the Dragon
A favorite among sports car drivers and motorcyclists, this undulating drive a ton of fun in the right car.
Even if the Tail of the Dragon, the twisty 11-mile stretch that spans the North Carolina/Tennessee border through the Appalachian Mountains isn’t on your bucket list, it’s worth the side trip to experience it. And it’s even better in a fun car like the Mini Cooper, which is designed for drives just like this.
That’s because this road is everything a fun drive should be, and mostly lacks the more harrowing features that can scare the average driver and passenger. The curves are mostly gentle with a few hairpins scattered among them, the hills are slight, and the overall elevation is only about 2,000 feet. The slopes of the hills are wooded, so there are few sheer drops from the side of the road, and there are many pull-off points along the way so slower cars can let others pass. If you need to stop and grab a photo, you can. There’s a lot to love about this road.
Driving it for the first time in the Mini Cooper John Cooper Works edition, the most powerful and capable of the brand’s trims, was ideal and an experience I’ll never forget.
This story is 100% human-researched and written based on actual first-person knowledge, extensive experience, and expertise on the subject of cars and trucks. Additionally, I was Mini’s guest for this test drive, but all opinions are my own.
Learning the Mini Cooper’s Best Features On the Country’s Best Road
It’s not always easy to assess a car while you’re behind the wheel; you get a sense for some things, like drive modes, acceleration, and braking, but exploring other features like the new multimedia system, rear seat amenities, and the feel of the cabin are better experienced when the car isn’t moving.
So I really thought this drive would be all about how the Mini Cooper, which was redesigned for the 2025 model year and has a new look and feel inside that continues to capture this car’s charm, drives. But the Tail of the Dragon had other ideas.
The twists and curves demand that things are neatly tucked away lest they take flight on the ride—passengers included. I came to appreciate the bolstered seats finished in leatherette and a woven trim made from reclaimed materials. I also really appreciated that the wireless phone charger, which is a vertical panel under the multimedia system, has its own “seatbelt” to keep your phone snuggly in place. And that the driver’s display is really a head-up display that, cleverly, pops up when you turn the car on. This kept my eyes firmly planted on the road while giving me great visibility.
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Mini Brought Back the Convertible and Did It Brilliantly
And, I really got to feel the delight of the Mini Cooper’s convertible top on our drive. There’s nothing like soaking up the sun on a lovely fall afternoon in the mountains.
Once the day warmed up, we pulled over and put the top down. I expected the function to be easy since it’s a power top; just push the button on the upper console, and the top does the rest.
But I didn’t expect this: the top first slides back to open what is basically a sunroof; continue to push the button and the top fully opens.
With the top down, the ride was quite comfortable. I put my hair in a ponytail to prevent hair-whip, but at lower speeds, I didn’t really need to. Our convertible included a rear seat windscreen to help prevent wind whipping through the car, but I don’t generally think those things work well; you’re better off with a good hair scrunchie or a snug hat.
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More Clever Convertible Features Added to the Experience
Here’s the sad truth about convertible tops: Mostly, they stay up. And they can lend to a noisy ride with the constant sound of wind and the road filling the cabin. Not so here. The ride along I-40, a busy highway filled with trucks and cars, was quiet and comfortable. On the roads through the mountains, it was even quieter, allowing for easy conversation and enjoying the Mini’s sound system.
Another sad truth about convertibles is that the top typically eats into the cargo space in the trunk—that’s usually where it’s stored. The Mini Cooper’s top folds back and into the car’s frame so it doesn’t take up interior space. Still, the trunk has an unusual opening; it’s not a lift gate like the hard top, of course. Instead, it folds down, more like a truck’s tailgate. I really liked this for two reasons: the space was easy to access and had more than enough room for my roller bag—two may even fit; and the liftgate was a convenient place to sit and take in the views when we got out of the car. This design is quite clever and adds to the Mini Cooper Convertible’s charm.
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What It’s Like to Drive the Mini Cooper JCW On the Tail of the Dragon
The Tail of the Dragon is a narrow, winding two-lane road that might be a challenge for larger SUVs, trucks, and cars (though we did see them). It’s ideally sized for small sports cars; however and the Mini Cooper fits right in.
The JCW, or John Cooper Works, the top of the line of Mini’s models, was a perfect fit. The speed limit on the road is 30 MPH, and it is very reasonable; it’s not easy to go a lot faster on much of the stretch.
The JCW’s 228 HP engine delivered the perfect amount of power for this drive. And with even more torque at 280 pound-feet, it was plenty peppy, accelerating quickly on straightaways and hills. It didn’t feel too powerful or underpowered, but for this road, just right.
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Convertible or Hard Top? This Makes the Choice Easy
While both the convertible and the hard top are essentially identical, sharing the same powertrain and the same multimedia system inside, center console storage box, armrest, seats, and decor, they are not engineered the same.
The convertible has a slightly stiffer suspension than the hard top to accommodate the rag top. I definitely noticed a difference in the steering and drive feel; the convertible just felt sportier. That’s not to say the 2-door hard top doesn’t feel sporty, it does. Just not as sporty as the convertible.
For drivers who don’t plan to use the convertible or just prefer a hard top, the Mini Cooper 2-door has a dual-pane sunroof, so everyone gets lots of light; the cabin feels bigger with all that glass, which is a nice touch and especially comforting for rear seat passengers; that space is pretty tight.
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What This Car Costs
The Mini Cooper comes in a 2-door, a 4-door, and the new Countryman SUV (also a 4-door model). Here’s how pricing shapes up:
- Mini Cooper C 2-door with a 4-cylinder 161 HP engine starts at $29,500
- The Cooper S 2-door increases power to 201 HP and starts $32,800
- The JCW we drove, delivering 228 HP, starts at $38,900
- The convertible conversion adds $5,100 to the price of the C and S models and $5,700 to the JCW
- The 4-door version is only available in the Cooper C and S and adds $1,000 to the price
- The Countryman SUV All4comes with standard all-wheel drive; the S model delivers 241 HP and is priced from $38,900, the JCW increases power to 312 HP and the price to $46,900, and the EV version delivers 308 HP, just over 200 miles of range, and is priced from $45,200
This Old-School Favorite Keeps Winning New Fans—For Good Reason
Anyone who’s ever owned a Mini Cooper will tell you: its old-school charm and novel functions will win your heart. But it’s the drive experience that will delight you, encouraging you to take the long way home, turn up the music, and command this tightly toned little sports car. But being able to lean into every curve is a delight, the sort of drive that leaves you smiling for days and anxious to go back and do it again. And I can’t wait.
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