Just wondering if it is worth the $2000 price of admission. What will it really give me in changes to the car.

 

Greetings! I have the Tuning Kit on my 2012 MCSa and I totally love it!
It gives a really noticeable "butt dyno" improvement, in fact it's what I think the "S" should be like from the factory.

A common opinion is that you can get better bang for the buck with aftermarket parts, which very well may be true. If you are mechanically enclined, that may be a good option for you.

For me, however, it was far more important to keep the factory warranty and go with the JCW parts that were designed specifically for the car. I see more cache in having all the JCW packages with badging than I do having aftermarket bolt-ons with white window stickers. IMO, of course...

Highly recommended from me, but I'm sure the usual suspects will be by here shortly to say otherwise!
Jon

 

Damn nice looking car...we may be twins

 

I'm continuing to ponder this as well.

I'll take delivery of my 2012 MCS in a few weeks. I'm fairly sure I'll get the MINI extended warranty to 100k miles, unfortunately about 3.5 years of driving at my usual consumption. So retaining coverage would also be key for me.

Financially: is it that far off from aftermarket? Looks like the kit is around $2800 installed; I've seen it priced without labor between $1900 - 2100 or so, but you'll need MINI assistance at some point (I believe?) since the kit includes new engine control mapping. I read that the kit includes an exhaust manifold nowadays, which is increasing the labor cost versus before.

The kit enhances: the exhaust, the intake, and engine mapping.

Doing enhancements aftermarket:

NM exhaust $1100 (DP back; that's what I'd buy; JCW kit is just the rear muffler, I know, and I could buy cat-back NM and save $300)

DoS Intake $400 (again, that's what I'd buy; I know others are [much] less)

Alta Accessport $900 (if only it were available...)

...and I'd do my own work, saving the $400 ($2800 less $2400 for the aftermarket stuff).

I wouldn't get the exhaust manifold change that way; it's valuable for something, I'd think, else MINI wouldn't include it? At the moment, there's no Accessport tune available; those applying the one available to an earlier R56 note it *does* boost performance above that model's JCW kit tune.

So if I waited a while...3 years isn't that long, maybe. OTOH maybe I'd enjoy some increased performance before 100,000 miles go by...or it might not be the best idea to start my build on 100,000-mile-old engine parts. And on the other-other hand, no one's said my MINI dealer will void my warranty for running a zoomy exhaust, or an intake.

Decisions, decisions. Heck, maybe the MCS will be entertaining enough as delivered to keep me entertained? My test drive(s) definitely was/were, and the only thing I'd criticize as-driven is the exhaust note (needs more...sporty).

FWIW, I did consider a factory JCW. While a big price boost over my optioned MCS, I could have seen trying to get it but for one thing: MINI won't sell an Ice Blue JCW (cue: raucous, perjorative comments about baby-blue hot-rods, etc.). I had a max-spend target in mind, so I woulda made some creature-comfort option deletions [probably] to get the JCW...if I coulda had Ice Blue.