JCW In Sunday Times

[lotuscar26]

Anyone read the report? two stars, says the standard Cooper S is a better car. Must admit I have an R56 works, the 190bhp one and that can be very lively so was wondering how another 20BHP would go down. Seems it doesn't......well according to them, would still\like to try it:-)

George

[okgo]

I dont know how it can be worse than a cooper s?

Its a very similar car with more power.. Too much power for the wet though, it just spins if you put your foot down..

[AntonyMark]

Yes saw the article and seems to be quite critical when most of the other press have given the car a great write up.

I agree on the point that it is expensive but his other comments seem to be
out of synch.

I have the R53 S Works and much of what is written about the new car can be applied to that.

STill brings a smile to my face though which is hard to put a cash value on

Antony

[Adam T]

AntonyMark said:

Yes saw the article and seems to be quite critical when most of the other press have given the car a great write up.

I agree on the point that it is expensive but his other comments seem to be
out of synch.

I have the R53 S Works and much of what is written about the new car can be applied to that.

STill brings a smile to my face though which is hard to put a cash value on

Antony

I think most of the reviews (Autocar, Evo, Auto express) dont give the car a particular sparkling review. Seems the car can be skittish, especially in the wet, and the c.211bhp being laid down in a skittish manner.

Granted it looks a fabulous car, and you do get stuff on the car you dont on a standard cooper s (look on the config) - even though they say you would spend lots on options - I almost managed just two... Multi Func Steering Wheel, and auto lights wipers. Finally settled on:-
Pepper White
Mirrors and roof in black
Chilli Pack
Multi Func Wheel (Much needed cruise) - comes as standard
Rain Sensor & Auto Lights (for all those continental Tunnels)

The car comes standard with some nice touches such as the anthracite roof lining, basic bluetooth.

I note though that Evo's test car was in the light blue - which is not available on the configurator... ?

[briSk]

they do all seem a bit disappointed.

my view is that if the std r56 is actually putting out 200horses, the works kit well over 200... then what's this model doing? 225/230bhp..???

the mps can get that power down (well more (250)) but is dull dull dullety dull. it sounds as though only the rs megane 230 r26 can really get the power down. maybe the focus rs with its fancy suspension will be able to... but overall i suspect it's too much power is the car in questions problem.

____

even on my r53 i think i'd be inclined to go to 200ish but after that (or even before) i think i'd fit better brakes - the cars only real failing.

...indeed the r56 wroks jcw thingy seems to be getting praise for its brembos..

[okgo]

In the dry it gets it down, and in my mind is a very quick little car, however I took another out the other day when it was raining, and it was all over the shop when it hit 4k..

So much so that, you may aswell have a cooper in the wet as it cannot get it down at all.

[Jason_W]

okgo said:

In the dry it gets it down, and in my mind is a very quick little car, however I took another out the other day when it was raining, and it was all over the shop when it hit 4k..

So much so that, you may aswell have a cooper in the wet as it cannot get it down at all.

That's down to using an appropriate amount of power depending on the conditions. Personally, I don't understand the amount of criticism that's been levelled at the car as the times I've driven one it has suffered from torque steer to some extend but the usual bump steer is more prevalent and I believe some of these journos are confusing the two.

I'm replacing our MCS with the new JCW and I'm convinced that running with the electric diff setting on, Sport button depressed and decent non-RFT tyres will sort the problems out, if indeed, they actually exist.

You also have to remember that the journo in The Times article is a bit of an old woman when it comes to driving so each to their own.

[lotuscar26]

We (my son and I...well he was driving, far quicker than I am) tried running with the TC on and sport button on on a track day and it killed it stone dead, not an option for fast driving. With the TC off he could sppin the front wheels quite eassily in 3rd gear coming out of clearways and mine is only the 190 works WITH a LSD. Non RFT tyres may make a difference agreed.

When I used to trackday the Lotus regularly the biggest gains came from suspension and tyre upgrades not power upgrades. Can't help thinking the mini may be the same. Back to my original comment that withot other mods I'm not sure the car was ready for another 20BHP. for the record mine has sport suspension and LSD and I think it's a great car, never get tired of driving it and I'd sill like to try the new JCW:-)

[Jason_W]

The nannytronics on the factory JCW are a bit more complicated than yours in that if you depress the TC for three seconds it completely deactivates the TC deviating to the new electric 'slippy' diff. That coupled with the 'sport' button to firm up the throttle/steering map helps enormously, although you can simply run with either of the other two stages of interference from the nannytronics.

[esuuv]

I've driven 2 JCW's and used to own a normal R53 cooper and apart from the power they do drive very similarly - its big wheels, a short wheelbase and rock hard runflats that cause the "issues" - personally I thought it was absolutely brilliant, getting the power down from stationary is an issue but as a previous poster said you just need to drive with this in mind - mines coming in the middle of september!!

[JCW]

Are you sticking with the original 17s or possibly the R113s?

[fergy]

Jason_W said:

The nannytronics on the factory JCW are a bit more complicated than yours in that if you depress the TC for three seconds it completely deactivates the TC deviating to the new electric 'slippy' diff. That coupled with the 'sport' button to firm up the throttle/steering map helps enormously, although you can simply run with either of the other two stages of interference from the nannytronics.

nannytronics I like...as long as they have an off switch. On standard roads when you never know what is round next corner etc much safer to have them on. On a track, then more fun switching them off.

I also read in one review that they thought the new electronic LSD thing was less effectiove than the mechancal LSD that you can get on MCS's...

Edited by fergy on Thursday 14th August 10:44

[Twit]

I suspect the main problem is the wheels! I had an R56 S with 17's and run flats... It was rubbish, the ride was far to harsh and the torque steer was a pain. I put it back onto 16's with non run flat tyres and the transformation was amazing. It steered properly, rode well and torque steer disappeared. On top of that the car just looks so much cooler with smaller wheels!! Having sorted the car I then sold it, as I had all the structural integrity of car made of paper but those wheels certainly transformed the driving experience!!

[esuuv]

JCW said:

Are you sticking with the original 17s or possibly the R113s?

I'm keeping the wheels it came with, although I think a track day or two will be in order to "use up" the runflats so I can put some proper tyres on it - that was always the intenetion with my R53 but I only ever did a rather gentle 11k in it and it seemed a waste to throw away what were at the time very expensive tyres.........

Structural rigidity of a car made of cardboard - are you sure you were in the right car? always thought they were pretty solid - I mean not quite proper BMW / Audi build but not all that far off and way way ahead of the corsa / clio type supermini.

[JCW]

esuuv said:

JCW said:

Are you sticking with the original 17s or possibly the R113s?

I'm keeping the wheels it came with, although I think a track day or two will be in order to "use up" the runflats so I can put some proper tyres on it - that was always the intenetion with my R53 but I only ever did a rather gentle 11k in it and it seemed a waste to throw away what were at the time very expensive tyres.........

Structural rigidity of a car made of cardboard - are you sure you were in the right car? always thought they were pretty solid - I mean not quite proper BMW / Audi build but not all that far off and way way ahead of the corsa / clio type supermini.

Structural rigidity? Didn't mention it chap.

[esuuv]

no you didnt - I was replying to what twit said.

[lotuscar26]

So what tyres do you guys recomend?

[JCW]

lotuscar26 said:

So what tyres do you guys recomend?

Hard to say as its fairly subjective in that different tyres suit different cars/driving styles. I still rate GSD-3s which were by far the best on my old Scoob, although the PS-2s I have on my Beemer also work well but I'm unsure as to availability for the JCW on 18s. However, the unsprung weight is going to be dramatically reduced by switching away from RFTs which can only be a good thing.