To make the Paceman’s severe case of multiple personality disorder even worse, MINI gave it the John Cooper Works treatment. So the Paceman is now a smaller version of Countryman that is still pretty large but not very practical because it only has two doors; it is all-wheel-drive, but doesn’t have that much ground clearance; and it is powerful, but not that fast.

So if you want a car that makes your head hurt every time you think about it, the Paceman JCW features a 1.6-liter four-cylinder engine with twin-scroll turbocharger, developing 160 kW/218 HP and peak torque of 280 Newton meters (207 lb-ft), which can be increased to 300 NM thanks to an overboost function.

0 to 100 km/h (62 mph) takes 6.9 seconds in this car, with either the manual or automatic 6-speed ‘box, and it has a top speed of 226 km/h / 140 mph.

You also get an aero kit, sport suspension that brings the car lower to the ground compared to the standard version, 18 or 19-inch wheels, and some go-fast stripes.

The standard equipment includes: air conditioning and MINI Boost CD radio; variety of individualisation options and comfort-enhancing features, such as xenon headlights, Adaptive Headlights, Comfort Access, automatically dimming rear-view mirror and exterior mirrors, electrically operated tilting/sliding glass sunroof, Park Distance Control, harman/kardon hi-fi loudspeaker system, MINI navigation system; range of MINI Connected functions include web radio, in-car use of Facebook and Twitter, Dynamic Music, Driving Excitement, Mission Control and the MINIMALISM Analyser.