IT’S worth reminding ourselves just how the Mini choice has grown since BMW took the reins, because long gone are the days when buying one was a simple affair, with just one body style to choose from.

Even when the BMW Mini first went on sale, there were so many options and packs to personalise your purchase that indecisive sorts could dither for days trying to decide what to order.

Today, it’s even more complicated.

Mini has morphed from a three-door hatchback into an entire brand, with the Hatch being joined by Clubman, Clubvan, Convertible, Countryman, Coupé, Roadster and most recently the Paceman joining the line-up.

Based on the high-riding Countryman, this new Paceman features a coupé-like sloping roofline that brings the Range Rover Evoque to mind.

But I am road-testing the John Cooper Works version - at the very top of the Mini price range - which looks wicked in its black and red paintwork with what looks like Satan’s fork etched on the bonnet.

You sit higher than in the regular Mini, which makes getting in and out easier. It’s a three-door model, unlike the five-door Countryman on which it is based, and a strict fourseater.

The interior has the familiar Mini layout, with a big central dial which on this car included a satellitenavigation system.

Standard gear includes no less than 11 John Cooper Works pieces of equipment, including a threespoke sport steering wheel, twin exhaust system and highperformance braking system, featuring red calipers behind the alloy wheels.

At the back, the tailgate lifts up to reveal a useful sized boot, which can be enlarged by folding down the rear 50/50 split seats.

The JCW version is armed with a 1.6-litre turbo-charged engine packing a 218bhp punch. There’s a rasping exhaust note to accompany this power, which shoots the car to 62mph from a standing start in 6.9 seconds.

The ride is firm, but not uncomfortable, and can, on occasions, feel twitchy and even awkward. More often than not, though, it is remarkably composed, with the suspension absorbing all kinds of hits in its stride and seldom nudging the car off its line at all.

There’s some initial body roll in corners which is to be expected with a car of this height and weight, but all in all it’s a great set-up for fast road use.

At higher speeds the initially slightly artificial-feeling steering gives way to impressive feedback and accuracy and the front end becomes nicely active mid-corner, pulling towards or pushing away from the apex depending on your throttle inputs.

You have to feed the power in progressively to get the best from this car, but there is plenty of grip through the corners and it’s genuinely good fun to drive quickly.

The Paceman shares the five-door Countryman’s chassis and is linked to four-wheel drive which gives its own advantages and drawbacks.

Through corners a natural tendency towards slight understeer is countered with a squeeze of the accelerator pedal, which turns it into neutrality and rapid forward motion in a heartbeat. With a relatively soft power delivery, though, it’s done so in a very forgiving way.

The JCW Paceman isn’t about to catch you out or spit you into a tree.

In fact it’s almost impossible, within the limits of sane driving, to get the rear end to move much at all.

It feels agile and eager to attack bends in the same way as the smaller JCW hatchback, but physics demand that it cannot match the go-kart traits of the smaller sibling.

There’s some turbo lag and there are faster-responding turbocharged engines out there, but this is a userfriendly choice and is as happy trundling along at urban speeds as it is howling along mountain passes.

Either way, the gearbox is on the firmer side when you’re sliding the lever between the six ratios, but it’s set up well, with just enough notchy feeling to let you know each gear is properly located. Its only flaw is that it’s a little too easy to find reverse instead of first.

But the driving experience isn’t the real reason people will buy this car.

It’s the other factors that the driving experience is balanced with, like the raised driving position – which, with the amount of headroom still on offer, reminds you how big the Paceman really is – and the duallayer boot floor for extra practicality.

It’s not quite a family car but it does have useful luggage space.

Getting in and out is easy aside from a notable rearward stretch to grab the seat belt. The Paceman cuts out some of the light for rear passengers compared to the Countryman so it’s less suited to carrying four people.

There are a number of reasons why the JCW Paceman shouldn’t make sense and it’s certainly not a cheap choice, but it’s unique in its blend of looks and talents and it’s a blast to drive.

Fact file

Mini John Cooper Works Paceman

PRICE: £29,535 (Paceman range from £18,975)

ENGINE: 1.6-litre turbocharged four-cylinder petrol producing 218bhp

TRANSMISSION: Six-speed manual gearbox driving all four wheels

PERFORMANCE: Top speed 140mph, 0-62mph in 6.9 seconds

ECONOMY: 38.2mpg

CO2 RATING: 172g/km