Anyone getting a F56 JCW?

Anyone getting a F56 JCW?

Author
Discussion

AOK

Original Poster:

2,297 posts

165 months

Sunday 12th April 2015
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Looking to order a JCW but can't find any info or reviews. Just wondered if anyone on here has one ordered?

Trying to work out...
a) whether this is standard equipment or is it just a feature of the 'jcw tuning kit' for Cooper S's?
b) whether to spec the variable dampers or just stick with the sport suspension. I'll mainly be using the car around town with the odd trip abroad and one or two track days
c) which gearbox do they use for the Auto? Is it the ZF 8 speed?

Thanks!

daydotz

1,741 posts

160 months

Tuesday 14th April 2015
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When I was looking the ZF box isn't fitted to any minis yet(this year was mentioned) it's a torque converter auto



Edited by daydotz on Tuesday 14th April 15:07

SlowStig

839 posts

170 months

Wednesday 15th April 2015
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I am waiting for a go of a demo car for a few hours before I investigate further, as I need it for ~20k a year miles and dont fancy 30mpg whilst doing so!

johnoz

1,012 posts

191 months

Wednesday 15th April 2015
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AOK said:
Looking to order a JCW but can't find any info or reviews. Just wondered if anyone on here has one ordered?

Trying to work out...
a) whether this is standard equipment or is it just a feature of the 'jcw tuning kit' for Cooper S's?
b) whether to spec the variable dampers or just stick with the sport suspension. I'll mainly be using the car around town with the odd trip abroad and one or two track days
c) which gearbox do they use for the Auto? Is it the ZF 8 speed?

Thanks!
As said, auto only at the moment
That flap is STD on the 210 challenge, its said its not going to be on the JCW!
Not sure on dampers, you choose....

FUBMW

39 posts

138 months

Monday 20th April 2015
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If that exhaust is standard, then I'm all in.

AOK

Original Poster:

2,297 posts

165 months

Wednesday 29th April 2015
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Taking it out tomorrow for a drive so will report back.

Seen the Rebel Green in the flesh and it looks awesome!

0llie

3,006 posts

195 months

Thursday 30th April 2015
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Look forward to hearing what you think.

Is the Manual available from launch over here? I know the USA are only getting the Auto to begin with

Crazyzxf

6 posts

114 months

Friday 1st May 2015
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daydotz said:
When I was looking the ZF box isn't fitted to any minis yet(this year was mentioned) it's a torque converter auto



Edited by daydotz on Tuesday 14th April 15:07
I believe mini uses the Japanese AW 8AT gearbox.
ZF doesn't have a 8 speed transverse auto, only the problematic 9AT which is in the Evoque.

daydotz

1,741 posts

160 months

Saturday 2nd May 2015
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Crazyzxf said:
I believe mini uses the Japanese AW 8AT gearbox.
ZF doesn't have a 8 speed transverse auto, only the problematic 9AT which is in the Evoque.
It was very vague I still am not entirely clear from my digging around the F56 forum
I just knew it wasn't a duel clutch box which actually maybe a more reliable then the DSG 7

chryslerben

1,168 posts

158 months

Saturday 2nd May 2015
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6 speed auto for launch jcw's followed by the manual trans later

jimmy156

3,681 posts

186 months

Saturday 2nd May 2015
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I had a poke around the new JCW at a dealer event on Thursday. Initial impressions are:

Unlike the on the R56 (IMO) the JCW bodykit improves the look of the car. The lower more agressive bumper help to make the longer front over hang on the F56 look more well resolved.

The interior is nice, a step above the R56 but not leaps and bounds like many have been saying. I don't like that plastic looking fuel gauge to the right of the speedo for example.

The brembo brakes are MASSIVE and look awesome. It hints at it being a really serious bit of kit. However to accommodate those brakes the wheels kind of "bow" outwards and there is still only a tiny gap between wheel and calliper. They would be very easy to damage!



Overall i think it looked awesome, especially in bright red. However... The one the dealer had in had an OTR price of... over £32,000! I wonder what a basic one is going to cost?

Don Phil

621 posts

188 months

Saturday 2nd May 2015
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I test drove one today, pretty impressive to be fair. Very smooth, plentiful power delivery from low down revs, compared with my jcw clubman and jcw coupe I've driven. Only felt a smidge quicker though. It sounded good inside too, lots of crackles on the over run.

I liked the interior, though it felt a bit too normal, much like other modern cars. Not a bad thing, just not particularly special or different.

The handling was impressive, when pressing on the adaptive dampers really inspired confidence on less than ideal surfaces. Very impressive. Much comfier than the previous generation cars too.

The car I drove had lots of toys, and an eye watering price tag of £34k...

I'd certainly consider one in the future, but I'd want to try the manual (not expected before September according to the salesperson) before making my mind up. I'm not sure auto with paddles suits the mini, though there was nothing wrong with it I just prefer manual gearboxes in general.



Edited by Don Phil on Saturday 2nd May 20:37

AOK

Original Poster:

2,297 posts

165 months

Saturday 2nd May 2015
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So I drove one on Thursday. Here are my thoughts...

It seems like a great all rounder. My main concern was it would be too focused, but thankfully its nothing of the sort. More like a perfect half way house between a Cooper S and an R56 GP. What really got me though was how it makes you feel like you're in something far more 'special' than it perhaps actually is. It only had 15 miles on it so the drivetrain felt quite tight, but I certainly got a feel for it. The engine is much more torquey than any MINI I've ever driven... you get plenty of push from about 2-3,000 rpm but you end up pushing it beyond that for no real reason other than the addictively juicy noise the exhaust starts to bellow out (more on that later). In many ways it feels like a Mark 4 R32... stupidly quick for a car of that size, but not unmanageable. The car I drove had the variable dampers and it looks like almost every car coming to the UK will have them... and I see why! In sport mode the suspension is bone shattering but thankfully via the iDrive you can configure the suspension independently to the drivetrain/power in the 'Sport' and 'Mid' modes. I would opt for the softer suspension setting for both modes, but its brilliant to know that if you find yourself on the Dales or at Brands you can quite easily turn the suspension firm. I think there must be some kind of active roll bars as well, because there was ZERO body roll in some corners with the variable dampers turned up - this will certainly be useful if visiting a track.

Steering - not sure here, a little vague? Not as much feedback as I would have liked. In the car's defense, it does feel like its carrying more weight than you'd expect so perhaps the nimble and pointy steering you'd expect suffers slightly. It does get better when you turn it up to Sport mode though as the electric assistance eases off.

As with all the UK launch cars, this was an auto and I'm somewhat glad I got a chance to try it as I never would have if I was given the choice. Whilst I'm sure it would be a more interactive drivers car as a manual, the automatic box delivers enough (or more precisely, doesn't take away too much) enjoyment for the odd spirited dash that I will be putting it through... but for 80% of what I will be using it for (zipping round London on work, commuting, traffic) the auto box will actually suit me better - I usually hate auto's but it really felt very refined. I never thought I would order an automatic MINI but hey, it has impressed me!

Only thing I would add for anyone reading this with a view to ordering - I have a weekend toy and frequent access to other performance cars. If you're a keen driver and this is your 'one suits all' car, go with the manual box - yes, the auto is darn good but it CANNOT be better than a 3 pedal car, even more so a 3 pedal Mini!

Going back to that exhaust note, did I mention how awesome it is? The car is very well insulated (this is a much more mature and refined proposition than the R53 and R56 were) so you don't really hear it when its idling until you open the windows and yep, there it is purring away like you'd expect on any current hot hatch. Give it a blip of the throttle and its certainly playful. Note wise, it reminded me of the Gen 1 Audi TT's - a deeper burble than you expect. Push a little further and it crackles and pops with lovely over-run bangs when you ease off the accelerator too. Upshifts with the auto sound truly excellent - it does that 'fart' sound that all the German whips now do. Again, one of the way this car lulls you into thinking you're in something a bit special.

Interior - lovely. No complaints here. The seats which come with the Chili Pack are gorgeous both in feel and support - yet again, they remind you of more expensive and serious cars. Media interface is great - having owned a few F-gen BMW's in a row everything felt familiar and intuitive. But why oh why does the iDrive twizzle-feature work in the opposite direction to BMW's though!? That was mildly annoying but I'm a victim of habit I suppose. A big surprise was the Head Up Display. Its cheap as far as HUD systems go, but only because its not a real one - it just projects the information onto a piece of plastic. Despite that, it really is useful and (just about) worth the money.

Biggest gripe on the inside was the armrest. How these-days a company with such resources and R&D expenditure can get the ergonomics of something like an armrest so catastrophically wrong, I cannot fathom. It's fine until you want to change the radio station, select your driving mode or do pretty much anything through the iDrive controller at which point it becomes an absolute pain whether it is up or down. I'll try and remove it perhaps.

All things considered, its the perfect all rounder which is practical enough to use everyday and feels properly special to boot.

Is it good? Yes
Will I be ordering one? Yes
What colour? Can't decide - they all look awesome

Thanks for reading. Hope its helpful.

Edited by AOK on Saturday 2nd May 22:44

chryslerben

1,168 posts

158 months

Sunday 3rd May 2015
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Good review AOK you've pretty covered all I'd have said about it to, the exhaust note is a riot though.

AOK

Original Poster:

2,297 posts

165 months

Saturday 9th May 2015
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Update - I ordered one last week but have told them I will provide a final colour choice next week - there are so many combinations of body colour, roof colour, stripe colour and wheels that I'm finding it hard to decide!

It would be rude not to take the two-tone JCW wheels and the red roof seeing as these are exclusive to the JCW. Thereafter, I've narrowed down my colour choice to Thunder Grey or British Racing Green (not Rebel Green) with the black JCW stripes... essentially one of the top two in the picture below. I've submitted the order with TG but very tempted to change to BRG as I think it will be very rare and I'd like something a little different. But TG will probably be better for resale.

Any thoughts welcome!


12TS

1,806 posts

209 months

Saturday 9th May 2015
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We've a thunder grey Cooper S and it's yet to come alive. You can see the metallic when you wash it, but I suspect it's a colour that would look great in the California sun. Maybe in a week or two when then weather picks up here it will look better.

Green for me. Looks good with the red roof

Prefer the white stripes

Edited by 12TS on Saturday 9th May 20:45

L3090

73 posts

138 months

Sunday 10th May 2015
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I worked for MINI for 3 years, I left 6 months ago and was told I could build my last demo.

Any car, any spec as a leaving present.

I chose a Thunder Grey Cooper S.

It was first seen on the R56 GP2, it looks the nuts.

Thunder Grey with a Red Roof would look special.

When the sun hits it, it looks amazing.

chryslerben

1,168 posts

158 months

Monday 11th May 2015
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got to be top right for me AOK TG with red roof and black stripes

rhubarb

507 posts

223 months

Monday 11th May 2015
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Think the top right looks ace too - and certainly different.

Thunder grey was at the top of my list but seeing it in the flesh - just looked too flat - I know its metallic but didn't look like it. It certainly doesn't look anything like the configurator - which does seem to flatter some of the colours. In the end I went Silver White with Red roof etc.

Have you got a delivery date? Mines been quoted as September for a manual

Dodd90

695 posts

162 months

Monday 11th May 2015
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Drove one of these when I picked up my Cooper SD last Wednesday. Brilliant car! I drove the auto version which is a great box! Couldn't get over how fun this car is to drive and the grin factor that comes with it biggrin I thought my last Cooper S popped and banged! I was forever on overrun just listening to the cracks and bangs it produced :P