o Price of a base MINI Cooper S: $22,600 (USD)...

o Price of a base MINI Cooper JCW: $29,200 ...

o Mandating in that up-charge the buyer take options they may not have otherwise bought mind you...

o And NOT getting the JCW Stage 1 Intake in the Factory JCW car for the $6600 up-charge but rather just the base intake & filter...

...PRICELESS!

This is not the JCW Stage 1 Intake if I'm not mistaken.




(Those #'s are 170 08 22.15 ; they're actually more readable in the other blurrier pic I have)

So BMW/Mini is selling us the car w/a "Stage 2" level of tune w/o giving us the "Stage 1" intake!

....After my experience w/what optioning out the car does to $$$, now this, my hats off to BMW for proving to the world w/o a shadow of a doubt they can rip the customer off like no other!

I bought this car to get the most 'modz' I could from the factory, under a factory warranty.
<soap-box ON>
What, did they actually think I'd go out to my dealership & buy the Stage 1 intake after this to put on the "Stage 2" car? Not likely to buy another thing from them, is more like it! I have what I have and that's probably it with BMW. Yes, I can safely say I'm pretty much done w/BMW.

In my adult life since I've been buying new cars, I've been mostly a Mercedes owner before this. An AMG (that I still have), a Base convertible (that went back after lease), & Classic 20yr old ragtop (that I still have). The dealership experience & care has been unmatched! So much for my for foray into buying some other European manufacturer. A diesel Benz of some form will most likely be next (no time soon, granted); not likely to be a MINI variant BMW after this experience.

Heck, my wife wants me to bring it back. Between this and another debacle I had in ordering and paying for an option and not getting it, dealership refusal to retrofit it, still waiting for the check to get my money back from them, my wife is done and is ready to bring the car back & demand our money back!
<soap-box OFF>

I just realized there's no Poll option available to us! I was going to put-up a poll to ask if you are of like mind in the expectation of getting the Stage 1 Intake or not. So please post your thoughts in lieu of voting.

I think we need to make a lot of noise and get the intake we deserve!

 

I agree, previous JCW cars came with the JCW intake and this is only one of a few ways they try to seperate us from our cash.

 

Here is a tissue,
Hand it back if you want it is a nice to have item for sure but how have they misrepresented what the car came with? The HP is above what is listed by all dyno's I have seen so far. So how are you hard done by???

 

Maybe the car was built on a Monday.Q

 

I'd still like to know why we don't get an upgraded intake - if that truly is the case. Seems kind of cheap to shaft folks that are buying the most expensive MINIs ever built. This part probably costs MINI (err BMW) $15-$20 - so, why do something that will **** off a bunch of hardcore MINI fans. I just know that when I popped the hood, I thought it was strange that we didn't have a JCW emblem on the intake. Kind of like not having the engraving on the exhaust. Trivial BS, maybe - but, for an extra $50, MINI could have entirely avoided the whole issue. However, I'm still thrilled to death with the car, and won't be returning over this - just wondering what's going on in some of these MINI executives minds when it comes to these things. MINI owners are some of the most **** retentive folks out there (I know, I've got major OCD when it comes to parking my car), the execs know this, and yet they pull these stunts.

 

Before that one comment goes too far let me say, I'm not going to be trying to return the car... I said my wife had had enough and was wanting that... no, not going to happen. I am done w/giving BMW more money however and will certainly not be buying a Stage 1 Intake; my platform is it should be given to each & every one of us.

Ok, so we have a vote count of
o 2 for
o 1 against
o 1 vote for Ralph Nader.

Keep'm come'n.

 

I ordered my JCW based on an expected level of performance. As the Alta dyno proves, the JCWs (the first batch at least) are quite a bit underrated, and if that's with a similar intake to the S, I'm VERY stoked. It means I'm a) getting more than I paid for, and b) have even MORE room for gains.

Hardcore Mini enthusiasts should be pumped. Would you trade the extra 25HP for a $150 part, just to say you have the "stage 1 intake"? I wouldn't.

Anyway, the JCW intake is just as Mini said it would be, revised.

So stop bitching, you're probably hurting Lil'Buddy's feelings. That's one sweet DS FJCW, enjoy it!

 

I see your point and think that BMW/Mini certainly could have done better in making this car special in subtle ways such as some under-hood and interior eye candy, but I for one don't have a problem with the intake - they supposedly made other changes such as a larger air mass sensor and charge air line... but who knows. It all works well in my opinion and I love the car. I'm not sure how you could put much more power down anyway without making significant chassis modifications. I have no experience with cold air intakes on Minis, but I put one on my S4 and ended up taking it off despite the noticeable power increase. A side effect under full throttle was the valve train noise coming through and I preferred the muffled V8 growl.

Yesterday was a perfect blue-sky summer day in New England and my wife and I spent 8 hours in the car driving up the Maine coastline with our friends in their Z3. Windows open, sunroof open and sport on - intoxicating exhaust sounds, great handling and fun in spades. You can drive yourself crazy with this stuff, but you have to admit that this is one really fun car.

 

+1. While it'd be nice to have something a little different than the MCS, I also know that my JCW will be able to smoke a MCS, hence the whole reason I bought it.

Sounds fun! Up 95 or back roads?

 

We went out to Nubble light in York, then Shore Road (great drive!) up through Cape Neddick, Ogunquet, Kennebunkport and Biddeford Pool; then Route 9 north and out to the coast again to visit Portland Head Light and Cape Elizabeth; then back on 95. Such a beautiful section of coast line... We traded off cars for a while too - it was really cool to watch and listen to the JCW from the Z3 with the top down!

 

Awesome! I've got a friend up in Kennebunkport whom I think we're visiting in a few weeks. Should be a fun drive.

 

The JCW intake would have been nice to have. So I could sell it on ebay when I replaced it! Oh well. The only good thing about it is more tuneability. If that's even a word, but you know what I mean.

 

So is there a way to buy the stage one intake with out getting the entire Kit? Or is Alta going to come out with some kind of after market....Has anyone Modded there car yet? BTW not returning the car but an more dissapointed but excited about a mod....MORE POWER

 

Ok, it's been a while... Let me revisit. Only about 3.33% of readers have left a message by this time. In retrospect I'm really sorry I left a 'rant' distracting from the real matter I was trying to convey. Wouldn't be surprised if it turned folks off and something they didn't want to contribute to. Either that, or folks agreed with what's been said on either side and felt that was adequate. ...Definitely would have figured there would be more 'enthusiasm' for the matter, in either direction.

Where "voting" stands of the few that contributed is certainly a surprise to me too, and far from the 99/100 owners I thought would jump on-board to get us/themselves the intakes I feel we deserve (posted in the other Alta thread). If I were to count Jeff's (and I'll assume Adam's ? ) feelings recently conveyed in their original Alta JCW Exposed thread that served as the impetus to this, feelings are still pretty close to 50/50.

While I'll have to respect feelings of some along the line of "I'm content; I got enough" ...well... lol, I'm a "never enough" kinda guy when it comes to thrust! Coming from a car with about 10lbs/1hp and close to 9lbs/1ft-lb [@ the crank values] , that kind of thrust is just something that can't be beat if you've ever experienced it and is very addicting... If I can get another 5% torque for free from my manufacturer by giving me something that a good many thought was "a given", well, I'd only be repeating myself. I do understand the point made about what the chassis can handle, but I'm sure some +5% (if that) won't be analogous to a straw that broke the camel's back; general consensus is lowering helps that a good deal anyway.

If I were a bet'n man, I'd bet over years as manufacturers are expected to make incremental power increases, we'll see the intake being delivered as part of the package. With that and a few flicks of the ECU tune, they'll get those incremental gains with basically 0 DM of cost. I can hear Dieter's boss telling him how he deserves his bonus for thinking of that.... "Sehr guter Dieter… Sie verdienen Ihre Prämie 200.000DM!!" (please forgive the Alta Vista translation for effect... )

jcwminimiami, have you checked out the M7 intake options? AGS-R & Vortex scoop are Very drool worth... My only concern is whether the scoop location is as high a pressure zone as where our intake location is now, which is a very high pressure zone.

 

No I have not looked into it but I will ASAP....my only concern is that I will not be able to put the car on a dyno so I wont see the how much HP was gained....I may just wait for ALTA or someone to slap one on and do all the testing....

 

http://www.altaminiperformance.com/p...-Intake-System

Will this intake fit on the JCW mini?

This maybe a good question for Adam...LOL

 

Honestly, I'd rather it gets ~202whp or whatever Alta dyno'd their JCW at with the crappy intake. Just leaves more room for improvement if I decide to mod. Like others have said, I bought the car based on performance (and availability and price), not based on the intake.

That said, I'm not a huge gearhead (yet) and I'm not a modder either. So what do I know/care?

 

This one at MITM3 was getting fitted with a DOS CAI (Defenders of Speed).

Nice unit, I saw two installed over the weekend, one in a friends 07 MCS and this one in the 09 JCW. His JCW Hardtop only had a little over 200 miles on the OD at the time.



Clint Cope did the design of the CAI and was doing the installs at MITM3.

Another option, if you want to look for an upgrade to your JCW. Not sure what my friend is going to do with his 09 when it gets delivered.

The fact you have a basic MCS intake on the 09 JCW explains to me why we saw no badges in the engine, plain is plain.

 

Hi all. The website is up if anyone is interested www.defendersofspeed.com

Here is a direct link to the part:

http://defendersofspeed.com/store/pr...p?id_product=6

DoS will be an official NAM vendor on this upcoming Monday 8/25.

Thanks to all the folks who stopped by the booth at MITM3 and the great organization of that event by MINI 5280.

-Clint

 

I still don't understand this intake. Is it a tiny cone filter? Is there also a [large] hole drilled in the firewall to also pull air from the fresh air vents by the wind-shield?

 

The car came with more power than advertised. They left room to make some power easy. You can't see the filter unless you remove the top anyway.

What's there to complain about?

 

lol, based on your sig I'm assuming you're a "never enough" kind of guy too tho, no?

I'll state more level headed-ly this time... Yes, car certainly is an 'on paper' sleeper. It all comes down to $... I didn't expect to nor want to or have to spend more $ on an intake to have the car breath better @ the highest rpms. I really expected this JCW variant of the R56 to peak power closer to redline.

This little 1.6L turbo engine's graph is very reminiscent of the Mercedes Benz NA AMG V8s, which we affectionately describe as "blowing their loads early". That has all to do with airflow at the highest RPMs. Also as I own an AMG, it has an AMG airbox and AMG badging. Certainly what I'd expect for the not too insignificant $$$ premium. As came on the previous gen's JCWs.

 

Dont' get me wrong - I understand why you'd like to have it. However, the car is putting out substantially more power than you thought you'd get and you now have a path to get a little more power.

Changing the intake isn't going to help a lot up top. The limiting factor is the turbo itself running out of headroom. A larger turbo will give you the peak power up top at the cost of lower end power.


fwiw I plan on getting a JCW next march and doing the same mods I currently have to it. I expect some really high torque numbers then - not so much higher on the hp.

offtopic - I posted a fresh 2009 JCW dyno in another thread. 197hp/210 torque at the wheels.

 

I know... I replied already earlier, twice, & thanked you. you've made it possible for me to have the most accurate CarTest2000 simulation based on real WHP figures, which I was really lusting for.

Further off-topic. Advertised 0-60 & 1/4 mile figures are also blown outta the water by those values, if I do "clutch-dump" starts on the simulation. If I run the simulations with a "clutch-slip" start of a 1 second slip, those advertised performance stats are pretty spot on; big thumbs up for CarTest2000 and its math to get it right. I wonder if I'll make it to a 1/4 mile track to test out that theory (clutch-dump vs clutch-slip starts).

I hear you & all on "what we got"... it's the $$$ most, after all those expensive options I needed to pay for and premium that gets me. (impetus for my rant I'm sorry I shared)

I'm looking forward to test what the input airflow will do for us, w/o TBE. I had thought this turbo inlet had been worked already, so was 'flowing better'. I do know I'm out of my element with a FI engine, knowing NA much better and where it is you want some restriction and where you don't.

 

oops ya fixed it =)

p.s. you have a pretty nice TBE with the JCW. It's not the same as a regular S even at the turbo.