Hello! I bought my Chili Red JCW Clubbie last Saturday with 28k miles on it. Brought it home and took it to a mechanic whom I've known for years. He and his assistant, who is a former BMW mech, gave it a thorough going over and came up with a laundry list of issues with the car. Most of them were minor, but the big one was that the clutch was gone. Well that wiped the smile off my face pretty quickly. I called the local MINI dealer and they quoted $3k for the clutch and flywheel. At this point I'm really unhappy. It took me a while to find a JCW with the options and configuration I wanted, and now I have a car that may become a huge headache. Fortunately for me, the dealer where I bought the car has a 5 day no questions asked return policy. When I reminded the salesman of their policy he put me in contact with their service manager who promptly assured me that they would take care of any and all issues my mech had found. So I took my new toy in that night. It took 8 days, but I finally got my Mini back tonight. Its running great and I can't wait to log some miles in it. This is my second Mini - my first was an 03 silver Cooper S. My first impression is that the interior and controls, although roughly similar, are quite a bit different than what I was used to. The extra power in the JCW model over the S is pretty awesome. Well, I just thought I'd introduce myself. I've been reading through the forums while I was without my Mini and its been pretty entertaining.

 

Congrats, last week I got a 2009 JCW with 17,500 miles. My biggest worry was someone has worn the clutch and I will get the pleasure of paying for a new one.

 

And pictures would be great to see

 

Took this shot yesterday. I'll try to get some more this weekend.

 

Mind if we ask how much?

The clutch should have been covered under maintenance (if within the 36 months of service window).

 

I returned the Mini to the dealer (CarSense) where I bought it since they have a 5 day return policy. They took it to Otto's Mini who took care of a few other problems (water in 3rd brake light, recalled coolant pump, trim pieces, etc.) but they said the clutch was outside the maintenance period. So CarSense replaced the clutch and flywheel free of charge. Overall I'm pleased that all of these issues were corrected without charge or aggravation. It would have been nice if CarSense had looked into these issues before I bought the car, but I'm pleased that they took care of me.