Sharper steering (if you can believe that) and throttle is a bit more punchy.

 

You've got one big advantage over me... you at least got to drive one before the order. <envy> I bet JCW sales will def accelerate now that folks are going to get to testdrive! They're going to sell themselves, but only after everyone going through the same mental justification of "cost, be damned"!

 

i hate you guys. i still have a year before i can get one. sweet rides fellas.

 

tho, there are new threads starting...

 

Hey, I'll try is and see if the burbling becomes more prominent in sport mode.

I cant seem to find my Canon G3 (antique digicam, I know) software CD. I have tons of photos but If I don't find this stupid CD, I won't be able to get my photos off the stupid camera sheesh.

Here's some observations...

- I bought the red and the color is outstanding in the bright sunlight.
- I seem to catch people looking at the car. More women, then men. I'm ugly so I know its not me
- Very few people seem to know what car this is let alone its the faster production MINI ever built
- I'm a nervous wreck when I have to park it in public. Its been almost 9 years since I've had a new car and with my Jeep Wrangler, I didn't care where I parked it because it looked cooler banged up (not that it ever got ONE door ding)
- The wheels are really nice. They are one of the few factory wheels that I find attractive. But, at 22lbs (ive read somewhere), they are a bit on the heavy side.
- The exhaust note can be heard all the time, unless you bump it up one gear while at cruising speed.
- Buy some floor mats if your MINI doesn't come with them, I got gum on my carpets But, goo gone got it out.
- kids and booster/car seats in the back...they'll have their shoes on the back of your seat because there isn't much space back there. Once their legs grow in and they don't need a "seat" they and the seat backs will be fine because their feet won't hang off.
- the hood does get REALLY hot, near the intake. I do have some holes in the intake grille. I wonder how long vinyl stripes will last (I didn't order stripes with my car, but will be putting on some viper stripes once my aero kit is mounted)
- I don't care for the shift **** too much. Its not that comfortable, that ridge around the top annoys me. I wish it was smooth like a cue ball. As soon as funds are available, I'll switch it out to maybe the JCW version. That one looks more comfortable.
- When at the drive thru, I was bumping through the gears. The linkage seems very loud, as loud as the Jeep. I thought it would be more precise
- I dig the multi function steering wheel, adjusting the tunes and working the phone is a godsend.
- The steering wheel itself feels very nice in your hands. I had a leather wheel in the Jeep but this one blows it away, esp. with tactile feel.
- The cabin lighting is pretty cool.
- I can't see the top of my RPM gauge.
- The Xeons are okay (first time with these lights) I had upgraded my Jeep to E-Code lights H4... the real one where the light angles upward towards the right to illumiate road signs. I think those were just as good. These put out more white light though. These Xeons seem to light the road further up. I'm afraid sometimes I'll blind the other drivers or **** someone off...so far no one has flashed me. It was pretty cool seeing self leveling the first time.
- The convienience package is pretty nice. you don't have to take the key out of your pocket. Hold the small rubber button down, and it unlocks all the doors. Do the same for locking, if you hold the button down longer, it will roll up your windows too. it would be alot cooler if it automatically unlocked the doors for you once you're in range AND lock the doors once you're out of range.
- This thing pulls. It's not as breath taking as my Ducati when its opened up but, I do sit up and take notice.
- Hill assist is pretty nice, you can feel the brakes release when you gas it on a hill.
- It carves the turns and this is with stock suspension.
- You'll notice potholes with this thing. I can't imagine a more firm suspension for city driving, its the Jeep all over again... (I had 33" tires with 3.5 suspension lift and stock control arms. Now that was a jarring ride)
- I'm still having slight problems with the turn signals. The short 3 blinks I can work fine but sometimes when I have to make a turn, I find myself fumbling with the turn signals. I think for me, this is the only quirky design element of the whole car. Everything else I have mastered (except for one other thing) but for some reason, I'm battling gaining full control of the turn signals. This doesn't happen everytime but I do find myself making a mistake...maybe once in 20-30 turns.
- The other issue is first gear. I haven't stalled it but at times, it feels like I'm gonna stall it. Now I've driven a manual transmission ever since i first started to learn to drive. I can learn different cars and truck's transmissions pretty fast. But this is the other spot in the MINI where something seems a little off to me. It seems that I have to give it a lot of revs to get it going, like the throttle/fuel delivery map is very different then the other gears. In time I'm sure I'll get used to it but in 200 miles or so, I'm still learning to perfect this.
- There is NOTHING inside the cabin that says JCW or John or Cooper or Works. Just that little logo (if you can call it that) on the secret door. This is strange.

Some things I'm doing very soon..
- belt line and headlight bezel blackout (as soon as the tape arrives)
- tint the windows
- Viper stripes just like the Challenge car but only in black once the aero kit is installed.
- Aero kit

Somethings later on...
- winter wheels and tires
- matte black rims and new non run flats
- suspension, springs or coil overs whatever I can afford at that time

I hope this helps you guys pass the time.

Let me know if you want me to take some phone/camera pics (1MB Pixel) but to me, that would be like showing a picture of a nekid hot girl and all the good parts are blurry

 

I still have my ancient G2 -- which I don't use now that I have a dSLR -- and have downloaded windows software for it from the Canon support website in the past. If you can connect it to a Mac via USB you might not need any extra software.

Alternatively, get a USB card reader. They aren't expensive.

 

So I've been playing around with Sport and DTC modes. Here's my observations:

Triple Condom Mode - No buttons pressed (i.e., startup the car and drive) Sport Mode off - drives sort of like my former 07 MINI Cooper S JCW with sport mode on with sloppier steering. Not much fun - good citizen mode.

Double Condom Mode - Sport mode pressed - a little more aggressive, turbo and steering more responsive - definitely more pop/fart/burble/crack exhaust - but electronic nannies kick in if you try and do any aggressive cornering. A bit more fun as you can hear the turbo, dirverter valve and intake do their jobs.

Single Condom Mode - Sport mode pressed, DTC pressed once - my normal mode of attacking fun roads - perfect combo of let's push the limits and have fun but I still want to have a modicum of safety just in case things get hairy or unexpected - probably the best balance of spirited driving and safety.

Bareback mode - Sport mode pressed, DTC pressed and held until the DTC warning sign comes up - all electronic nannies sent to the beach, scary as crap on an unfamiliar road or the Dragon but I'm assuming loads of fun on an autocross circuit.

This is my third R56, and the first one with DSC and now DTC. Previously my early build R56 and my week 32 build R56 both had ASC only. I do like the hill-holder functionality of the clutch with DSC - note it does not work if you are in neutral and clutch out.. car will coast backwards. Don't ask me how I found that out!

 

I agree Smoke the shift **** isn't comfortable. I have a JCW Lea/CF in the GP and one on my desk for the JCW. In production next week, can't wait. Cheers

 

Yeah, I tried on the Canon website, they only have updates for my camera and not the software itself. I will try the card reader...but I could have sworn that i did that long ago and the file were in proprietary format...now where did I put that card reader

 

The format of the files on the card is irrelevant as far as the reader itself is concerned. The reader does nothing but provide you a way to copy the files to your computer, once the computer recognizes the reader. The files will either be jpeg or Canon RAW. If the former, just about any software can decode them. If the latter, it shouldn't be hard to get free software to decode and convert to jpeg. If you're using a Mac it's all built in. If you have Windows, I think you'll need to get something for RAW files. I don't use WIndows anymore, but you might try Picassa.

 

Ok no offense but can you please swerve this back on-topic? A PM would probably suffice and let's not clutter up the forum with conversations about digital photography.

Thanks!!

 

Actually, this might sound ridiculous to a lot of you. But when we read the gas numbers, it became a done deal for us! Call me weird but we do care about these issues. I have been scaling down my options slowly but surely in order to contribute with my carbon footprint and also (on a diff topic) how we are perceived out there.
My first option was an M3 for obvious reasons, after some thought scaled down to 135, more thought and found the right car. JCW09
reason: Not a gas guzzler, plenty of fun and love the fact that we don't stand out with this car. I have become very conscious about been too flashy out there. Although we can totally afford very expensive rides, we opt out and are happy with this decision.
*We actually had signed in for a Tesla (my wife did), but here in NYC the waiting period is so long that we might as well wait for a 2020 Porsche 911 O2 powered monster!! (plus at that point, Ill be close to 50 and mid life crisis will definitely kick in )

So: The JCW09 seems like the perfect combo. Nice ride, low on gas but plenty of power, fun and relatively inexpensive when compared to other european rides out there).

 

No, it makes perfect sense. I'm getting a JCW instead of keeping my M3. I lower cost of ownership, become a bit greener, and can still have fun and be a practicing car enthusiast.

 

Stop grabbing your "****" so hard! Then it will be more comfortable!

 

So I am down to about 20 days until I can hopefully drive my JCW. And thinking about first mods it seems to be the consensus that power is pretty good for starters so I am leaning more toward suspension upgrade as my first mod, other than the black gill surround . And from what I can find it sounds like people are pretty happy with a h&r springs as a cheaper first step.

Anyone planning on dropping some springs in anytime soon? I did go with the sport suspension, but from what I am reading it sounds like it was probably not a great way to spend $500. Oh well live and learn right.

Is anyone still planning CAI upgrade? Or does it seems to be pretty good with the JCW airbox?

 

Adam I guess my right hand isn't as calused as yours, just kidding.

 

DANYES, I believe the sport suspension has the same front and rear bars as the JCW suspension and shocks are valved the same as well. So just add the JCW springs at 109.00 ea. and you just saved a ton of cash.

 

Is this true for sure? If so, I may want to add the sport suspension back into my order, but my window of opportunity to do this is short; i.e., I would have to do it tomorrow.

Can anyone confirm this? Sources?

 

SmokeM and Krut - Thanks for the updates! That should hold me for a little while longer. We pick up our DS/DS JCW on Tuesday morning and then it's directly to the body shop for the rest of the week for viper stripes and Invisashield. I did get a peek at it yesterday in the service bay getting it's body kit and Eibach springs installed. Gettin' close...

 

I'm 100% right there w/ya on the reasons why.

BTW, I live in LI most of the time, my wife in NYC 1/2 the time [less in the summer as she has SUNY employee vacation days to burn] so as not to commute 4 hours a day .... but I'm in NYC more now that my new group @ work is mainly out of the NJ office, so I have to go there a few times a month. I love being in NYC in the summer w/so many less people. As NYC empties out in the summer, you should bring your JCW down one Saturday night to alongside Rolfs @ about 1am - 3am for a photo op, as this was just shot 2 weekends ago.
http://public.fotki.com/m8o/kar_kraz...mgp0669-2.html
(I don't like to include non-MINI pics in-line in responses on a MINI forum)
It is "luck" for 3 or 4 spots to be open @ a time, but it does happen fairly often in the summer.

 

Looks sweeeeeeeet!! Should have my AB/AB next week. I look forward to seeing more pics.

 

Wow! This looks great! Not too sure how I would feel if a photo shoot like this is taking place in front of my place at 3am!!
No but seriously, great job! Looking forward to some pics of a JCW with this setting.

 

whatever dude

 

Krut whats that thing under your scuttle?

 

It's what the launch Canadian Edition of the 2009 MINI JCW should've looked like. Did you all see they're getting the fugly factory aerokit?

Flag - French Canadian - really need the Acadian Flag with is Red/White/Blue (like France) with tiny yellow star in the blue area.