I went to the MINI dealership in socal today....had so much fun. Talk about being a kid in a candy shoppe!

I'm torn between the styling of the Cooper -- i love the smile, but the power of the S. One gentlemen there said I can add an exhaust upgrade - through MINI for $1450 and it will add about 15-17 HP to make it 132HP. Installed by MINI

Anyone done this? I'd to get this done instead of purchasing the "S" because I am not fond of the hood air-intake vent -- it ruins the of the car. I am not to hip on the spoiler of the "S" either, but that can be removed since it doesn't really become functional until 90mph.

I have a jetta GLS now and want more than 115 HP -- the MINI is a bit slow on the pickup. Just a little 'oomph' and i'll be good to go.

thoughts?

From my experience of souping-up cars in the past.....Porsches, Mustangs, 240Zs, and so on..... I would be extremely surprised if the exhaust upgrade gave you 10 extra HP. I even doubt that the complete header system upgrade, without catalytic converter which is not street legal, would give you 18 extra horses. People have been greatly ovrestimating HP claims of such upgrades as exhaust, air filters, and computer chips for just about every make of car for some time now. Don't believe the hype. :wink:

$1450 exhaust upgrade....bend over....most shops will do it for $500 to $600. But at best increased hp will be 6 to 8hp if that.....ask the guy if you put it on a dyno and it isn't minimum +15 hp do you get your money back, laugh!

I haven't heard of an exhaust upgrade giving over 6 to 8 HP increase. I would question them some more and ask if they can back this up. I would also agree with the other replies here, that seems way overpriced to me what they are charging for that.

I had read, I can't remember where, that a European company did some basic intake/header/exhaust combo to a regular Cooper and gained an estimated 15hp at the flywheel. The stock Mini exhaust does look a bit wee :smile: )

NA 8-10 if you are lucky
Forced induction 15-25 easy

The other thing we should consider is that both of these engines could be very detuned.

BMW has historically tuned down NA and turbo cars to meet Government standards.
Look at the 2002 M3 340 HP 400+ with Chip and thats NA.

Sounds like allot but they detuned the engine so much to make it manageable.
bottom line is it might be true but the dyno doenst lie.
Also unless you are worried about the warranty stay away from dealer mods. They are expensive.

Unfortunately this is not a BMW engine and does not seem to be detuned. Several mod shops have said that they haven't seen a lot of easy HP to be gained. John Cooper Works, of the original Mini fame, does sell a conversion of the Cooper that gains 17 hp (to 132) but this includes a new cylinder head, intake and exhaust. Obviously, this is quite expensive, about $2800. plus tax and installation, and is only sold in the UK. On the plus side it does not affect your warranty and is approved by BMW. A little hard to rationalize though since you could purchase an S for less than the price of their conversion installed. JCW is working on a 200 hp S project, and Digi-Tec in Germany has a 210 hp. S package that is a chip and pulley mod. Back to the original question, I have seen at least four exhausts offered or planned, priced from $399-785, and I really don't know how to select since not enough technical info is offered. They are all stainless steel and look about the same.

>>NA 8-10 if you are lucky

>>
>>Sounds like allot but they detuned the engine so much to make it manageable.
>>bottom line is it might be true but the dyno doenst lie.
>

how right you are :grin:

>>NA 8-10 if you are lucky

>>
>>Sounds like allot but they detuned the engine so much to make it manageable.
>>bottom line is it might be true but the dyno doenst lie.

Save your money, it's hype from the the companies trying to get you to upgrade or ask them for a guarantee...the below quote is from a mini that had the upgrades....is 3 more hp worth $800........


nullThe new Mini Mania airbox. This plus the exhaust were worth 3 horsepower on a chassis dyno. The MINI is well-optimized out of the box.