John Cooper Works 2015 R57
Discussion
We had a car quandary recently; my Cupra does everything efficiently and goes pretty much as quickly as you ever want to travel on public roads, it’s also a very capable, no fuss, track tool. We have a VW Caravelle for trips, carting the bikes around and taking friends out. Which left our old S3 as a somewhat redundant car, except in snow, which the van on appropriate tyres also does well. Anyway, one of our friends brought his MCS convertible down and let us take it out for a spin. Well that was it really, our five year old was hooked and we had a great time zooming around the country lanes with the roof down, so our hunt started for an appropriate car with the main requirements being that it had to be small, fun, roofless, cool (to our eyes) and pretty impractical.
We looked at the latest MCS at the local main dealer first and were surprised that it was pretty much the same size as my Cupra, so that got ruled out. Which meant it was going to be a late Gen 2, with the latest engine and updates for the 1.6 turbo to avoid future issues. After trawling the classifieds, we came across an ideal car, ironically in Newcastle, where I went to get my Seat and a return train ticket was bought and off I went. It was pretty special in the flesh, complete with funky interior and controls, low mileage and probably one of the very last 1.6 turbos they made, in fact, the software / engine maps on it were nearly identical to the Mini GP. There were a few issues (rattles as standard
) and the handling, as I discovered on the way home was shocking, although two run flats and two normal tyres didn’t help that. The engine felt very quick for “only” 211 bhp, although it turned out to be a bit more than that.
As soon as it got back, I checked everything over, changed the tyres for four pilot super sports, swapped the front wishbone bushes for power flex items and found the perfect tyre pressures (33 psi all round). This completely transformed the car, it was like a different vehicle. Gone was the unstable rear, awful tram lining and lack of confidence over bumpy roads; instead we now have a tight, agile car that turns in well, has loads of front end grip, a mobile rear when you want and is just brilliant, engaging fun.
Next up, I took it to see Will at Performance Torque who does all my mapping. As usual he didn’t disappoint, a lovely smooth map, bags of torque abs and headline of 255 which matches the cars grip a lot better. It is a lovely linear map and pulls ever more strongly to the red line, so traction hasn’t been harmed.
The end result? We are absolutely loving this little car. Lots of family trips, roof down, music on, the exhaust sounds lovely and it’s great to drive. On a personal note, I’m really impressed, it’s just fun, and although it’s obviously not as quick as my car, you can have so much fun at much more sensible speeds. For something that has had its roof cut off, the handling is brilliant, although I may add a thicker rear ARB at some point and if it was going on track it might get a Quaife too, but certainly not essential for our needs. I think you can say we are definitely Mini converts now and love the JCW additions driving across the Shropshire countryside after a long train commute, roof down, moon out and the smell of woodsmoke in the air, really is a nice way to end a long work day! ![](https://thumbsnap.com/sc/qawMY5Md.jpg[/img]</a> <a href="https://thumbsnap.com/IbMeoMSt" Target="_blank" rel="nofollow">[img]https://thumbsnap.com/sc/IbMeoMSt.jpg)
We looked at the latest MCS at the local main dealer first and were surprised that it was pretty much the same size as my Cupra, so that got ruled out. Which meant it was going to be a late Gen 2, with the latest engine and updates for the 1.6 turbo to avoid future issues. After trawling the classifieds, we came across an ideal car, ironically in Newcastle, where I went to get my Seat and a return train ticket was bought and off I went. It was pretty special in the flesh, complete with funky interior and controls, low mileage and probably one of the very last 1.6 turbos they made, in fact, the software / engine maps on it were nearly identical to the Mini GP. There were a few issues (rattles as standard
) and the handling, as I discovered on the way home was shocking, although two run flats and two normal tyres didn’t help that. The engine felt very quick for “only” 211 bhp, although it turned out to be a bit more than that. As soon as it got back, I checked everything over, changed the tyres for four pilot super sports, swapped the front wishbone bushes for power flex items and found the perfect tyre pressures (33 psi all round). This completely transformed the car, it was like a different vehicle. Gone was the unstable rear, awful tram lining and lack of confidence over bumpy roads; instead we now have a tight, agile car that turns in well, has loads of front end grip, a mobile rear when you want and is just brilliant, engaging fun.
Next up, I took it to see Will at Performance Torque who does all my mapping. As usual he didn’t disappoint, a lovely smooth map, bags of torque abs and headline of 255 which matches the cars grip a lot better. It is a lovely linear map and pulls ever more strongly to the red line, so traction hasn’t been harmed.
The end result? We are absolutely loving this little car. Lots of family trips, roof down, music on, the exhaust sounds lovely and it’s great to drive. On a personal note, I’m really impressed, it’s just fun, and although it’s obviously not as quick as my car, you can have so much fun at much more sensible speeds. For something that has had its roof cut off, the handling is brilliant, although I may add a thicker rear ARB at some point and if it was going on track it might get a Quaife too, but certainly not essential for our needs. I think you can say we are definitely Mini converts now and love the JCW additions
driving across the Shropshire countryside after a long train commute, roof down, moon out and the smell of woodsmoke in the air, really is a nice way to end a long work day! 
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