Anyone gone from Cooper S to JCW?

[Alex Z]

I’ve currently got a 66 plate Cooper S with the manual gearbox and am considering swapping to a three year new JCW with the 8 speed automatic. Anyone else made a similar upgrade? Were you happy with the change?

It’s convertibles in my example but I’m sure the hatch would be close enough.

[nickfrog]

I drove both and went for the JCW mostly for the brakes, seats and perhaps noise (although that might be placebo on my part).

The JCW seemed to turn in a bit better too but that might be down to the tyres.

I am hoping that the JCW will hold its value a little better as they are rarer.

[Pando99]

Any more info on living with a JCW?
I as i am looking at a 21 plate 3 door in indigo blue.

[nickfrog]

Had mine 15 months. It's a 17 reg on 25k miles. Nothing has gone wrong but I still extended the fully comp MINI warranty. I'll probably need a new battery this year though as it's 7 years old.

It's pretty quick tbh both in a straight line and in terms of lat grip. Changed the P Zero * rated for * rated Hankooks. Quite an improvement on traction with fresh rubber.

It's not as playful as previous gens but it's very neutral where the old one would slide it's rear much more easily although the fresh front rubber does help unstick the rear on a big lift.

I might chip it to 300ps if I stop renewing the warranty.

It's probably lost £200 to £250 / month which is fine by me.

[TameRacingDriver]

Haven't had an F56 Cooper S although I did have an R53 MCS and now have an F56 JCW, to be honest, it's been a great little car. Mine is fairly stock, with just the JCW Pro exhaust and a K&N Typhoon, so it sounds very rude. I love it, a nice comfy car that is good at covering distance on one hand, then a total idiot when you want it to be. I may consider upping it to circa 300 bhp though, even though it's pretty damn quick as standard, I reckon that will just make it mental for what is still a fairly small car.

[Pando99]

Cheers for the info
I got the colour wrong..its Island blue.
We had a 2008 MCS back in 2010 for 3 years. We enjoyed it.
We had a RS4 for the last 9 years from new so a toy to have some fun with

[Alex Z]

Nice to see this bumped. I didn’t make a change in the end as I couldn’t find a car with the spec I wanted
The chip shortage meant that Mini had removed the HUD and HK audio upgrade options for a while, but the slightly newer cars are just coming down to the price it’d want to pay.

[Pando99]

This is the colour i'm looking at.
Not a big spec but adaptive suspension. Looks like fun. Back for a drive tomorrow

[nickfrog]

Really like the colour. Is there anything missing in the spec that is likely to be an issue for you?

Mine is relatively low spec too and I was amazed how quickly I acclimatised to stuff that I thought were essential like auto wipers or hands free.

I couldn't live without cruise though.

[Pando99]

No spec doesnt bother me. If i'm buying a top level car of a model it should have most things anyway.
I had a RS4 for last 9 years and the only thing i specc'd on it was black pack and 20" wheels.

[Pando99]

Did you change the tyres to non run flats or do they not use them nowadays?

[nickfrog]

Run flats were an option on the JCW. One best avoided lol.

I would always go for the smallest available wheels. Particularly on the JCW as the 18' are diamond cut.

[TameRacingDriver]

nickfrog said:

Run flats were an option on the JCW. One best avoided lol.

I would always go for the smallest available wheels. Particularly on the JCW as the 18' are diamond cut.

While I tend to agree with your thoughts on wheel size, I actually really like the diamond cut (Cup Spoke) wheels, they really suit the car, especially with some spacers, and I don't find the stock car to have poor ride at all, and the handling seems fine (in fact, very good) to me.

However, mine are a little scuffed, and the bad news is that they cost double what a normal alloy wheel repair would cost. At that point, you have to consider whether to go for new wheels or restore the Cup Spokes.

I would think that if I went for new wheels, I'd want to lower it, as I think a lot of aftermarket wheels end up looking naff on a car with on stock suspension, however, I wouldn't want lowering springs on as I think the ride and handling is very well judged for British country roads, it would be easy to spoil it,, and I've heard the likes of the Eibach have creaking issues; also, I'm not sure I have the appetite for fork out nearly 2 grand on KW Street Comforts along with the fitting and setup.

I'll probably stick with the 18s as I like the looks and it drives well, keeps it fairly original looking too.

[nickfrog]

Or you could simply have them powder coated.

[TameRacingDriver]

nickfrog said:

Or you could simply have them powder coated.

True! But I have seen them powder coated and I'm just not a fan of them then. If I was going to go for that option, I'd probably just look for some OEM 17s instead.

[nickfrog]

You should be able to swap with someone who wants to upgrade to 18:s.

[TameRacingDriver]

Aye, but no intention of changing at this point, as I like the wheels. When the time comes I'll see how I feel but I'd guess restoring these will still be cheaper than new wheels (just!).

[nickfrog]

Yes but then there is only so many times you can do it, sometimes only once and they will go milky again, guaranteed.

[TameRacingDriver]

nickfrog said:

Yes but then there is only so many times you can do it, sometimes only once and they will go milky again, guaranteed.

Hmm, I've heard that before. The downside to flashy wheels I guess. They're ok at the moment so I'll stick for now.

[12TS]

Pando99 said:

No spec doesnt bother me. If i'm buying a top level car of a model it should have most things anyway.
I had a RS4 for last 9 years and the only thing i specc'd on it was black pack and 20" wheels.

You may want to check that. While a JCW is well specced there are things missing. HUD decent sounds etc.

YMMV may vary of course