Buying a new MINI - Cooper S or JCW?

[Nemophilist]

It’s been a while since I’ve owned a mini and haven’t been able to test drive any of the latest shape yet but will be purchasing a new model in the next few weeks

The performance of the jcw doesn’t look much greater than the Cooper s.

Is it worth spending the extra to go JCW or just put the money into a high spec Cooper s?

[Nemophilist]

Also - what are must have options that I should tick on the order form?

It seems the options are endless compared with the r53’s and r56’s I’ve been used to.

I know I want navigation and sunroof - anything else?

[cerb4.5lee]

Nemophilist said:

I know I want navigation and sunroof - anything else?

I really liked the heated front screen/heated seats and the Harmon Kardon stereo in my F56 Cooper S.

It is easy to get carried away with the options though on a Mini.

[Nemophilist]

It looks like once I’ve put the niceties on it’s about £4K of extras I’m looking at

[un1eash]

Do you qualify for the BMW UK Forces scheme? They had the best discounts available and a Clubman JCW worked out cheaper then a Cooper S once options were added to make it inline with the JCW.

[twokcc]

Nemophilist said:

It’s been a while since I’ve owned a mini and haven’t been able to test drive any of the latest shape yet but will be purchasing a new model in the next few weeks

The performance of the jcw doesn’t look much greater than the Cooper s.

Is it worth spending the extra to go JCW or just put the money into a high spec Cooper s?

s

I wanted an S as ride of JCW to hard for me. Have you though of buying a year old one. My Cooper S was Listers ex demo year old -high spec 7spd dsg box, lapis blue, cream/grey leather, prof nav,reverse camera, HUD, ,heated screen and seat, HK sound propeller wheels list price £30k plus at 13 months old was 40% cheaper.

Edited by twokcc on Thursday 8th April 05:20

[PT1984]

I believe you can get the JCW and tick a box for sport suspension delete which is the Cooper S setup? But I think your probably best going with adaptive.

I assume you’ll be having the latest LCI 2? If so the Cooper S has a good chunk less power with the new filter in the exhaust. Our F56 MCS is fun to drive, but isn’t exactly quick. They need a bit more power really. If you have you choice, I would go JCW.

This thread for spec discussion.

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

[esuuv]

I used to have an F56 Mini JCW and we have an F57 Cooper S convertible - we had both for 18 months or so.

The JCW is noticeably more powerful, the S is just a little softer all round - both cars were on runflats and 17's

[blue al]

I have a F56 SD, I would say stereo is as good as hk on the r56
Sunroof and adaptive suspension (ticked)

I’m not sure what box you need to tick, but I also have heated seats and full size navigation screen, full gravity leather in light grey, still looks good now

Was 27.5k in 2014,

[Malo]

We brought a JCW after trying the cooper S. The S was to ponderous in corners and we actually felt the engine was to powerful for the engine performance. No such worries with the JCW that has a completely different suspension set up. It's a brilliant little runaround.

[Sim75]

I had the same dilemna for months and ended up going for a JCW.
Difference in monthly payments were minimal in the grand scheme of things, and the JCW will be worth way more come resale anyway.
That said, this one will be a keeper and i know if had had bought an S i would have only lusted after the JCW in time.

Adaptive suspension is a no cost option, but has to be specced.
Nav and comfort both essential IMO, (plus+) not so much.

I also chucked the large alloys on. I know consesus is they make the ride horrific but i just love the look of them.
And I added bonnet stripes for my inner child.

White silver with a black roof.

fyi - managed a £4k+ discount through an old forum contact on babybmw. Can happily pass on details.

[alltalk]

Did the same with Countryman - in the end went JCW as 3 year difference when taking resale into account pretty minor - have pretty much ticked every option box !!!! no will power.

[Sim75]

alltalk said:

Did the same with Countryman - in the end went JCW as 3 year difference when taking resale into account pretty minor - have pretty much ticked every option box !!!! no will power.

I had one in 2017. Cracking car - loved it.
Ended up swapping for an X3 M40, which has a savage turn of speed but half the fun. Hence why i've ordered another JCW. Albeit the hatch this time.

They are a bloody tardis too, it would swallow 2 big kids and a boot of luggage for a week in cornwall no problem.
The only thing that frustrated me was the MPG, it was horrendous. 19MPG whilst running in, ended up around 27-28mpg.
And trust me, it wasn't getting hammered.

That said, i wonder whether it switched to 2WD on the motorway as it would often jump to 38+ when cruising.

My X3 is a lot more effiecient, despite being leagues ahead in terms of performance.

Edited by Sim75 on Thursday 15th April 17:55

Edited by Sim75 on Thursday 15th April 18:00

[Cw4578]

We had a jcw for a year with the pro exhaust and while it was good fun, the suspension was very hard even with adaptive in comfort mode. Very crashy in comparison to my cayman which is firm but more compliant over bumps.

We wanted one as a bucket list car but in hind sight the s would have probably lasted longer in our ownership for being a bit softer.

[cerb4.5lee]

Cw4578 said:

We had a jcw for a year with the pro exhaust and while it was good fun, the suspension was very hard even with adaptive in comfort mode. Very crashy in comparison to my cayman which is firm but more compliant over bumps.

We wanted one as a bucket list car but in hind sight the s would have probably lasted longer in our ownership for being a bit softer.

The ride and the compliancy of the Cooper S I had was one of my favourite things about it(it was on 17" wheels/none runflats). It was a bit jiggly around town, but I had loads of confidence in it on a nice back road and it just soaked everything up so well. You could drive it so quickly without fear of it wanting to throw you off the road.

[PT1984]

cerb4.5lee said:

Cw4578 said:

We had a jcw for a year with the pro exhaust and while it was good fun, the suspension was very hard even with adaptive in comfort mode. Very crashy in comparison to my cayman which is firm but more compliant over bumps.

We wanted one as a bucket list car but in hind sight the s would have probably lasted longer in our ownership for being a bit softer.

The ride and the compliancy of the Cooper S I had was one of my favourite things about it(it was on 17" wheels/none runflats). It was a bit jiggly around town, but I had loads of confidence in it on a nice back road and it just soaked everything up so well. You could drive it so quickly without fear of it wanting to throw you off the road.

You used to be able to untuck the JCW suspension on the , erm, JCW. Assume it puts it back to Cooper S spec.

Just took out F55 MCS for a spin. It has the JCW styling kit which includes the 18” wheels. Not my preference but it’s the wife’s car. It’s still compliant any not at all crashy. It would be excellent with the 17” JCW wheel and PS4’s.

[Ian.Campbell]

Nemophilist said:

Also - what are must have options that I should tick on the order form?

It seems the options are endless compared with the r53’s and r56’s I’ve been used to.

I know I want navigation and sunroof - anything else?

Options, well your spoilt for choice, yes Nav and Pan roof, Heated windscreen no more scraping in the winter, how about Heated Seats the leather can be chilly without it in the winter.

As for Cooper S or JCW you pay a little more for a JCW and hopefully the residual value when you come to sell will be worth a little more than the Cooper S.

Here’s my daily drive a JCW pro in Rebel Green and Black top. This car new was £39995, As it’s fully speck’d plus the additional Pro add ons. I bought it one year old with 7k miles and paid £21k from BMW dealership.

[Skyedriver]

Ian.Campbell said:

Options, well your spoilt for choice, yes Nav and Pan roof, Heated windscreen no more scraping in the winter, how about Heated Seats the leather can be chilly without it in the winter.

As for Cooper S or JCW you pay a little more for a JCW and hopefully the residual value when you come to sell will be worth a little more than the Cooper S.

Here’s my daily drive a JCW pro in Rebel Green and Black top. This car new was £39995, As it’s fully speck’d plus the additional Pro add ons. I bought it one year old with 7k miles and paid £21k from BMW dealership.

That's some depreciation there!
Did I read somewhere the new JCW is over 300bhp? Can it put all that down without torque steer ?

[cerb4.5lee]

Skyedriver said:

Ian.Campbell said:

Options, well your spoilt for choice, yes Nav and Pan roof, Heated windscreen no more scraping in the winter, how about Heated Seats the leather can be chilly without it in the winter.

As for Cooper S or JCW you pay a little more for a JCW and hopefully the residual value when you come to sell will be worth a little more than the Cooper S.

Here’s my daily drive a JCW pro in Rebel Green and Black top. This car new was £39995, As it’s fully speck’d plus the additional Pro add ons. I bought it one year old with 7k miles and paid £21k from BMW dealership.

That's some depreciation there!

From my experience never ever buy these new. They make a lovely secondhand buy though for sure. I lost a fortune on my Cooper S, I paid £25k for mine with £5k worth of options new, and 3.5 years later it was worth about 10 pence sadly. A great secondhand buy though for certain.

[ocrx8]

HK audio in my F56 is HK in brand name only, I don’t rate the sound quality very highly at all.

Pro Nav and LED lights are excellent and well worth the cash. Mine doesn’t have the sunroof but I wish it did.