Mini Cooper S Jcw or not?

[Theodoreallen]

Hi guys,

Just wondering if anyone with Mini experience could answer this question. I'm going to build a track car out of the Mini Cooper S, but is it worth getting the standard or JCW version? I ask as I'll be upgrading the engine a lot, so s it worth paying the extra for JCW if I'll be replacing all the parts anyway?

Cheers

[nurseholliday]

No it's not, for the price premium of a JCW you can buy parts that will make a standard S more than surpass a JCW.

[Chr1sch]

Above is correct, a JCW is almost identical (assuming you are looking at the supercharged cars) they run a bigger intercooler, smaller and subtly different super charger, exhaust and bigger brakes (the standard brakes off the R56 generation)

Obviously there are other minor points, but my old 05 Cooper S with a 14% pulley, intercooler, cooler plugs and exhaust was every bit as fast as a standard JCW, in fact slightly quicker.

My only cautionary tale would be reliability - they are great little cars, but when stretched need to be run with the required amount of care/attention, particularly around cooler running plugs as they do tend to get hot n bothered under full throttle in higher gears

I'd also say the standard R53 brakes are crap...

[chuntington101]

Chr1sch said:

smaller and subtly different super charger

I thought they used the same M45 supercharger? Can you confirm what the differences in supercharger were? never heard anyone using the JCW supercharger over the stock one.

As other have said, lots of tuning stuff out there for the R53. No NEED to get a JCW unless you see one cheap.

[Theodoreallen]

Cheers guys!! So is the R53 better than the R56 in terms of reliability, track car potential and speed?

[Dave.]

Same 'charger, just a smaller (11% iirc) pulley.

[Chr1sch]

Yes thats right Dave. I was confusing the fact that the older R53's (up to 05 iirc) run the non teflon coated charger and are slightly less power

[JQ]

Chr1sch said:

Obviously there are other minor points, but my old 05 Cooper S with a 14% pulley, intercooler, cooler plugs and exhaust was every bit as fast as a standard JCW, in fact slightly quicker.

The question would therefore then be - how much did it cost you to do all that and what's the price difference between a standard Cooper S and a JCW? I've never modded a MINI, but every other car I've modded it would always be cheaper to buy one with the mods already done.

Unless the OP plans to go way above 210 bhp, I'd have thought it would be more cash efficient to buy a JCW and spend the mod budget on handling upgrades.

[Theodoreallen]

JQ said:

The question would therefore then be - how much did it cost you to do all that and what's the price difference between a standard Cooper S and a JCW? I've never modded a MINI, but every other car I've modded it would always be cheaper to buy one with the mods already done.

Unless the OP plans to go way above 210 bhp, I'd have thought it would be more cash efficient to buy a JCW and spend the mod budget on handling upgrades.

I'm planning on going quite a bit above 210bhp

[JQ]

Theodoreallen said:

JQ said:

The question would therefore then be - how much did it cost you to do all that and what's the price difference between a standard Cooper S and a JCW? I've never modded a MINI, but every other car I've modded it would always be cheaper to buy one with the mods already done.

Unless the OP plans to go way above 210 bhp, I'd have thought it would be more cash efficient to buy a JCW and spend the mod budget on handling upgrades.

I'm planning on going quite a bit above 210bhp

In which case getting a standard Cooper S would seem more sensible.

[Chr1sch]

JQ said:

Chr1sch said:

Obviously there are other minor points, but my old 05 Cooper S with a 14% pulley, intercooler, cooler plugs and exhaust was every bit as fast as a standard JCW, in fact slightly quicker.

The question would therefore then be - how much did it cost you to do all that and what's the price difference between a standard Cooper S and a JCW? I've never modded a MINI, but every other car I've modded it would always be cheaper to buy one with the mods already done.

Unless the OP plans to go way above 210 bhp, I'd have thought it would be more cash efficient to buy a JCW and spend the mod budget on handling upgrades.

Yes fair point, being selective on parts etc it probably cost me about £1400 on top of the car....

Over 210bhp reliably is pretty tough tbh

[mikey P 500]

If you want over 210bhp I would get a r56 mini (turbo) little more than a re map will see around 250bhp and has the potential for more power still with a few bolt on parts.

[Clubman270]

mikey P 500 said:

If you want over 210bhp I would get a r56 mini (turbo) little more than a re map will see around 250bhp and has the potential for more power still with a few bolt on parts.

Or even an FJCW R55

14630574625_12210ed2e9_b by Leccy Blue, on Flickr

Running adjustable BC Coilovers/RCA's/AEM intake/bigger FMIC/ re-mapped at 268bhp+ 260 ft lbs, goes pretty well & more than hold it's own out on track , runs 13.8 @ 102mph on the drag strip too