Sitting here at the Mini dealer in Charleston, SC getting a JCW upgrade to my '07 Cooper S and looking at the new cars including the new JCW car. Much to my surprise checking out all the new ones, the hood scoop on all of them is FAKE! Now that's a dang shame. Sure I know it'll be fixed in the aftermarket but this is almost criminal, a break with the Mini faithful in my book.

At least the new R56 isn't a poseur!

 

The scoop on the R56 MCS is non-functional unless you have an aftermarket intake which utilizes it

 

The R56 scoop has holes in it that allow some air underwood along with copious amounts of dust, dirt and the poop. In Gen 1, the scoop was functional. The new Mini's scoop is purely decorative with no holes, nada! I just think it a shame for that to be the case. Just leave the scoop off, charge $500 less for the car and put a bigger red S in the grill. Just sayin'

 

The very early R56 scoops were completely blocked.

 

Mine is a sept. 07 build and it has holes. But, your point is taken. Still, it is totally ornamental and I personally feel that should not be the case.

 

Congrats on the upgrade, Tybee! I had my JCW kit done at Mini of Charleston too - kind of a meh service area compared to other dealerships I've been at (admittedly, being tucked in the back of the BMW complex doesn't help), but I always got great service there. Enjoy that new toy...

 

JCW Tuning kit , very nice. Love the sound.