Mini JCW - give me your ideal spec

[Patrick1964]

I’m looking to buy a F56 JCW in May or June. There’s a huge spec variation is spec, so I’m wondering what current or previous owners would regard as “must have”, or “don’t bother” items.

[Bungleaio]

I recently went through this when I ordered my car. Some feedback on options:

Auto/manual - Personal preference, I went for auto as it's my daily. The 8 speed box works well though. They haven't always been 8 speed and I'm not sure when the cross-over is. The manual box has rev-matching for downshifts which is nice.

Panoramic roof - I don't like how dark it is with a black headliner and the pan roof helps make it a lot lighter, nice to open the roof too.

Matrix lights - being able to drive behind people at night on full beam is great, it's not an essential option but really nice to have.

Heated windscreen - brilliant in the winter and if you don't option this you have a blank button which annoys me

Heated steering wheel - only recently been available but I love it, especially on a daily

Navigation plus - includes concierge services, weather and various other connected apps. Having played with it now I don't think it's really worth having.

Comfort plus - Rear camera and heads-up display. various other odds and ends. Nice to have.

Driving assistance - Electric handbrake, collision avoidance, speed limit display and radar cruise. Only available on auto gearbox but I like it

Harmon Kardon Speakers - The standard speakers are rubbish this improves on them nicely. I couldn't have this when I ordered but I've retrofitted a full Audison system which is incredible

Lead times are massive on new orders and used values are sky-high. I was luckily as I managed to get my car brand new for less than a 1 year old car but I did order last May.

Edited by Bungleaio on Wednesday 16th March 21:14

[12TS]

Heated seats, heated steering wheel, HUD for me. It’s all so personal though

[esuuv]

A new one or a used one?

they have been building them since 2015 and we're on the second facelift so options have changed a fair bit over that time - especially with regards to tech.

As above - it's mostly down to preference - I don't think there are too many wrong answers.

[Patrick1964]

Sorry - it'd be a used one.

[Notsofastfrank]

As others have said, it’s very personal.
I particularly wanted electric seats as my partner is a lot shorter than me and when she leaves the seat in her position, I can’t get in the car to adjust a manual seat. Electric seats is a very rare option and I ended up paying more than I wanted for a JCW Clubman with just about every option.
What would I miss:
Panoramic roof - not sure, it does let more light in, but is too noisy to have open much above 40mph.
Head up display - excellent wouldn’t have another one without
Harman Kardon - big improvement over the standard system if you like your music.
Matrix headlights - quite clever, .although I wouldn’t pass over a car that didn’t have them.
Lounge leather - looks better and easier to clean, the alcantara is grippier and more comfortable I think, so leather not a must have for me.
Active cruise - makes motorway journeys much more relaxing, nice to have
Concierge services - never used
Apple CarPlay - very good if you have an iPhone
Wireless charging - useful, but check your phone will fit, anything larger than a standard iPhone 13 is too big.
Heated front screen - never used as car is garaged.

Hope that helps

Edited by Notsofastfrank on Thursday 17th March 19:35

[cerb4.5lee]

I liked the heated front screen/heated seats and the HK stereo in my Cooper S. I really like the HUD in the M4, so if I went for another Mini I'd definitely look for one with it.

[un1eash]

Although the HUD is nice to have in the Mini and we have it, the BMW HUD is way better. The Mini screen HUD for me sits too low.
The only options we added to our Clubman JCW were HUD, Sun protection glass and Pan roof, everything else we wanted was standard.

[twokcc]

Avoided buying a jcw as my understanding is that the suspension is even harder that the sports suspension on the Cooper S unless you can find one with adaptive suspension.
Test drove a dealer demo S which had standard sports suspension with pirelli runflats and thought that ride was acceptable and better than my R56 cooper s on non runflats.
It was a 3 door but my understanding that both the 5 door and clubman/countryman are built on the (old) 2 series chassis and have more compliant suspension so would suggest you test drive model before committing to purchase. Bought the ex demo car listed at above £30k 13 months old with 7k miles on it with 40% discount from list.
Its a 7spee dsg which is superb - auto box may be different on JCW as think they have change a few times since old 6 speed auto was replaced.
Car lapis blue with grey lounge leather,HUD, heated seats and screen and HK. prof. nav
Didn't have any specific requirements apart from 7 speed dsg heated lounge leather and prof nav but its a nice place to sit in and drive reminds me of a Merc c series couoe i used to have but can be either a leisurely cruiser(40mph/1000 revs in 7th) -not a go-kart but more like a lively spaniel if you want to press on a bit.

Edited by twokcc on Saturday 19th March 10:23

[wong]

Recent Cooper S buying guide:-

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

If buying used, cars with £7K of options are not much more than those with £2K.

[fatboy b]

Notsofastfrank said:

As others have said, it’s very personal.
I particularly wanted electric seats as my partner is a lot shorter than me and when she leaves the seat in her position, I can’t get in the car to adjust a manual seat. Electric seats is a very rare option and I ended up paying more than I wanted for a JCW Clubman with just about every option.
What would I miss:
Panoramic roof - not sure, it does let more light in, but is too noisy to have open much above 40mph.
Head up display - excellent wouldn’t have another one without
Harman Kardon - big improvement over the standard system if you like your music.
Matrix headlights - quite clever, .although I wouldn’t pass over a car that didn’t have them.
Lounge leather - looks better and easier to clean, the alcantara is grippier and more comfortable I think, so leather not a must have for me.
Active cruise - makes motorway journeys much more relaxing, nice to have
Concierge services - never used
Apple CarPlay - very good if you have an iPhone
Wireless charging - useful, but check your phone will fit, anything larger than a standard iPhone 13 is too big.
Heated front screen - never used as car is garaged.

Hope that helps

Edited by Notsofastfrank on Thursday 17th March 19:35

Same spec as mine pretty much, though the matrix lights are an answer to a problem that doesn’t exist.

[fatboy b]

twokcc said:

Avoided buying a jcw as my understanding is that the suspension is even harder that the sports suspension on the Cooper S unless you can find one with adaptive suspension.
Test drove a dealer demo S which had standard sports suspension with pirelli runflats and thought that ride was acceptable and better than my R56 cooper s on non runflats.
It was a 3 door but my understanding that both the 5 door and clubman/countryman are built on the (old) 2 series chassis and have more compliant suspension so would suggest you test drive model before committing to purchase. Bought the ex demo car listed at above £30k 13 months old with 7k miles on it with 40% discount from list.
Its a 7spee dsg which is superb - auto box may be different on JCW as think they have change a few times since old 6 speed auto was replaced.
Car lapis blue with grey lounge leather,HUD, heated seats and screen and HK. prof. nav
Didn't have any specific requirements apart from 7 speed dsg heated lounge leather and prof nav but its a nice place to sit in and drive reminds me of a Merc c series couoe i used to have but can be either a leisurely cruiser(40mph/1000 revs in 7th) -not a go-kart but more like a lively spaniel if you want to press on a bit.

Edited by twokcc on Saturday 19th March 10:23

Having had a Cooper S and bought a JCW, the suspension of the JCW is way better than the Cooper S, as are the brakes. The Cooper S lifts a wheel in corners which screws up the braking. The JCW doesn’t. Fantastic car.

[Zetec-S]

fatboy b said:

Having had a Cooper S and bought a JCW, the suspension of the JCW is way better than the Cooper S, as are the brakes. The Cooper S lifts a wheel in corners which screws up the braking. The JCW doesn’t. Fantastic car.

We've had a 2017 Cooper SD Hatch, 2019 Clubman Cooper S, and now a 2021 JCW Hatch.

All 3 are great cars, but the brakes were a little lacking in the SD and S. No complaints about those in the JCW. It's on 17" non-runflats and ride wise is pretty good.

Ours doesn't have the HK stereo, but while the standard system is nothing special it is acceptable. Pano roof is quite nice and lets a lot of light in. Heated seats are very comfortable and far more effective at warming all the way up my back compared to those in my Focus ST. Apple CarPlay is good.

Not got the HUD, heated steering wheel, parking camera's (come on, it's a Mini ) and don't feel like we really need them. No heated windscreen but the steep angle means the blowers are pretty quick to clear light frost.

We've got the 8 speed auto as it's my wife's car and she's now a convert. Outside of Sport mode I find it too quick to shift up and too slow to change down, meaning it can take a fraction too long for my liking sometimes to accelerate, but I think partly that might be down to my driving style as I don't regularly drive it (or any other auto). In Sport mode it's good fun and works quite well.

[12TS]

Zetec-S said:

We've got the 8 speed auto as it's my wife's car and she's now a convert. Outside of Sport mode I find it too quick to shift up and too slow to change down, meaning it can take a fraction too long for my liking sometimes to accelerate, but I think partly that might be down to my driving style as I don't regularly drive it (or any other auto). In Sport mode it's good fun and works quite well.

I guess they do this for fuel economy. The standard set up will be what gets measured for homologation; my 3 series was similar. I got used to switching modes depending on where I was