Not really. You could get some of the JCW-branded trim pieces on a non-S, such as the carbon fiber dash, but the heart of what makes a MINI a "JCW" is the upgraded engine kit that had a different supercharger pulley (and on the earliest MINIs, a different coating on the supercharger lobes as well.) There was nothing equivalent on the non-S.

You might have been able to order the JCW suspension on a non-S but I'm not sure. And I'm fairly certain you couldn't order the JCW brakes on a non-S.

 

Thats what I was thinking myself.

 

Pretty sure I saw an old JCW brochure and it said you can get a JCW non S. It came with the badging, slightly better exhaust, probably better suspension and an upgraded air intake. It was a JCW package.

 

I stand corrected - there was a JCW tuning kit for the Cooper. Here are the installation instructions from MINI:

http://motoringfile.com/howto/JCW_Cooper_kit.pdf

It looks like it included a different cylinder head, intake and exhaust (plus badging), and bumped the power up from 115 bhp to 126 bhp.

Evidently, it was only available as an option in the US for two months in 2004, so it's pretty much rarer than hen's teeth.

Regardless, you are correct.

 

Aren't the US 500's made/going to be made in Mexico? I'll not be buying any Mexican-made garbage... Be it Fiat, VW or other.

 

yes...it could be the "trifecta of terror"....fiat/chrysler/made in mexico...but the 500 is a good looking machine...as an urban runabout it would be fine provided the engineering is practical...but come on...it can't be as fun to drive as the MINI...

 

I like the 500 and since I'm a Chrysler/Dodge fan, I want it to be a success. My concern is that it doesn't have the history in North America that the Mini has. Almost everyone at least had an image in their head of the old Mini's, but ask them what a Fiat 500 is and they'll draw a blank. Fiat and Chrysler are taking the same sales approach that BMW did with the Mini,(seperate showrooms, similiar option packages, etc) but I think that's a mistake. They first need to bring North Americans up to speed on the history of the 500 in Europe and so far they haven't done that. I still prefer the Mini, but I hope the 500 does well.

 

My MINI is a MINI Cooper with a JCW Tuning Kit. As above, they were sold in the US for just a few months and are very rare (less than 30 in the US).

The current FIAT 500 Sport isn't close in performance to the MINI Cooper S, but it's a quick car in sport mode, being a few hundred pounds lighter. It's nearly as fun as my MINI. I suspect the ABARTH 500 will rival the MINI in fun.

 

[Double post]