Discussion
I picked this December 2017 Mini JCW up middle of September 2023, and thought it would be putting a thread up that will act as a photo diary of the various locations I take the car. I'm fortunate enough to live in Scotland, and lucky again that both my hobbies (running & cycling) and work take me to very scenic places around the country, and hopefully the photos will be worth sharing.
A short background, I'd been looking for a Cooper S or JCW for a while, and eventually settled on a JCW given the modest price difference between that and a S. Looked at a few, most of which were beyond budget, not the right spec etc... when this popped up at local independent dealer. Test drive sealed the deal and two weeks later I picked it up one wet Friday afternoon.
The next morning it was up to Glenshee to go running, and of course, to have a play on some fun roads:
Initial impressions, well, Sport mode is a huge amount of fun, great throttle response and the pops and bangs are really very addictive, childish and silly, but it's hard not to leave it in sport mode. It's fast, very fast, pulls from low revs and handles well. The ride is certainly stiff, and run flat tyres (P-zero) certainly don't help (i'll replace these when they wear out) However, stick it back into normal mode and it's a really great motorway/A road cruiser. That was a great initial 200 miles.
Then it was time to head South, and the Peak District to see family & friends. Motorway all the way down & back, but I did get to have some fun on a South to North drive across the Peaks.
On the 250 mile drive home I was very impressed by the mpg!
It was pretty filthy after all those miles in bad weather, so spent sunday afternoon cleaning both cars:
So 1,650 miles in the first month, I don't expect to continue at this level, but it's hard to not want to drive this all the time, it's such good fun!
A short background, I'd been looking for a Cooper S or JCW for a while, and eventually settled on a JCW given the modest price difference between that and a S. Looked at a few, most of which were beyond budget, not the right spec etc... when this popped up at local independent dealer. Test drive sealed the deal and two weeks later I picked it up one wet Friday afternoon.
The next morning it was up to Glenshee to go running, and of course, to have a play on some fun roads:
Initial impressions, well, Sport mode is a huge amount of fun, great throttle response and the pops and bangs are really very addictive, childish and silly, but it's hard not to leave it in sport mode. It's fast, very fast, pulls from low revs and handles well. The ride is certainly stiff, and run flat tyres (P-zero) certainly don't help (i'll replace these when they wear out) However, stick it back into normal mode and it's a really great motorway/A road cruiser. That was a great initial 200 miles.
Then it was time to head South, and the Peak District to see family & friends. Motorway all the way down & back, but I did get to have some fun on a South to North drive across the Peaks.
On the 250 mile drive home I was very impressed by the mpg!
It was pretty filthy after all those miles in bad weather, so spent sunday afternoon cleaning both cars:
So 1,650 miles in the first month, I don't expect to continue at this level, but it's hard to not want to drive this all the time, it's such good fun!
Nelka said:
Nice one!
Great road up to Glenshee once past the Spittal.
Have you tried getting a bike in it yet?
Thanks, it really is a good road. Great road up to Glenshee once past the Spittal.
Have you tried getting a bike in it yet?
Had a medium road bike in with both wheels off, not tried a mountain bike yet, but I suspect with the passenger seat forward and seatpost dropped it should fit.
Just under 5 months of ownership now and just over 5,500 miles. Car has been superb at everything from 250 mile motorway drives to spirited B road blasts, continues to put a smile on my face and has been 100% reliable. The only thing it's not been very good at is dealing with snow, but given it's on summer tyres that wasn't a surprise.
So tyres. This seems to be a big thing among Mini, and in particular JCW circles. A lot of owners complain about the runflat tyres, poor ride and general bone shaking qualities, couple that with a rare size (205/40/18) meaning that replacements are limited and expensive. I never thought that the ride was that bad really, especially for a sporty hot hatch, but knew a set of tyres would be needed in the not too distant future. After reading lots of information online it seems many owners have removed the runflats and also gone up a width, to 215/40/18. I also wanted All Season tyres, so when Halfords were running a 10% off promotion I picked up a set of Goodyear Vector 4 Season for about £460 fitted. The difference is huge, so much more comfortable, looks better and offer a little more protection to the rim. I'll get a picture up.
Next up was a full set of discs & pads, again I knew this would be needed as was an advisory on last MOT, and I also knew this would be expensive given the 330mm discs. Mini main dealer wanted £950, so I went with a well regarded Mini specialist who did the lot for £650, which is certainly not cheap, but a damn sight better than a main dealer. Brakes are much improved now, as you'd expect.
I do find the rear gets especially dirty!
Much better:
It's into a body shop in a few weeks to get a dent in the rear bumper sorted and painted after somebody reversed into it, pretty annoying!
Out for a drive yesterday with my mate who just picked up his new Carrera S:
So tyres. This seems to be a big thing among Mini, and in particular JCW circles. A lot of owners complain about the runflat tyres, poor ride and general bone shaking qualities, couple that with a rare size (205/40/18) meaning that replacements are limited and expensive. I never thought that the ride was that bad really, especially for a sporty hot hatch, but knew a set of tyres would be needed in the not too distant future. After reading lots of information online it seems many owners have removed the runflats and also gone up a width, to 215/40/18. I also wanted All Season tyres, so when Halfords were running a 10% off promotion I picked up a set of Goodyear Vector 4 Season for about £460 fitted. The difference is huge, so much more comfortable, looks better and offer a little more protection to the rim. I'll get a picture up.
Next up was a full set of discs & pads, again I knew this would be needed as was an advisory on last MOT, and I also knew this would be expensive given the 330mm discs. Mini main dealer wanted £950, so I went with a well regarded Mini specialist who did the lot for £650, which is certainly not cheap, but a damn sight better than a main dealer. Brakes are much improved now, as you'd expect.
I do find the rear gets especially dirty!
Much better:
It's into a body shop in a few weeks to get a dent in the rear bumper sorted and painted after somebody reversed into it, pretty annoying!
Out for a drive yesterday with my mate who just picked up his new Carrera S:
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