OK R56 Owners, I need your helpful opinion:

I want something a little more than the bone stock MCS. Which have you gone with JCW or Alta? For the R53 JCW was the end all be all. Unfortunately, MINI showed its hand too early and now the aftermarket can surpas the JCW goodness.

One bonus for JCW is that it can be financed with the car. Alta can't be. And to my knowlege, Dinan hasn't done a R56. But then again, I would have to find a Dinan Dealer.

 

Other major good thing about JCW is it maintains your factory warranty.

That said, I went the ALTA route. More gains for about the same money. Also it allows you to upgrade a greater number of parts. JCW stage 1 is just a catback exhaust, intake and ECU upgrade. ALTA has those three items plus various others. I think the JCW vs ALTA question will become harder once the factory JCW kit is introduced.

Best of luck!

 

Which is why I went that way. I don't track the car, so the minor differences people measure in torque and hp aren't an issue. I'm happy with the exhaust note and the performance gain.

 

Holy redundant thread, Batman! :p

 

I also couldn't be happier with the JCW,I have also added some alta goodies as well..The car runs like a scared rabbit and has been absolutely perfect since day one.I do not think you can say that with the aftermarket chips so far,I am sure they will work on their quirks and Alta will get it figured out..But for me I will take the BMW/JCW engineering expertise,if all this mapping was so easy,everybody would be doing it.I am sure Mini would have the new kits out for sale right now if all these gains were so easy to acheive and they meet the EPA requirements.I can only recommend from my personal experience for the last couple of months.The car has gotten a little faster as it broke in and also as the ECU learned to adapt to the Alta Tubes and such which let it breath better.The Exhaust has been fine and that too has actually gottin a little throatier with some use.The best part is the growl from the tubes...You wont go wrong with the JCW and my guys at the dealer believe we are going to be able to upgrade wtih the new additions later on...But my car is plenty fast right now and I really do not care...Enjoy the car what ever you do...but I do not think you are seeing anyone complaining about their JCW's or any real problems with them...Bottom line ..take care

 

No diggity, no doubt.

 

Makes sense, although I certainly would not call the gains "minor".

LMAO, +1.

To the OP, run a search. You'll find lots of valuable information. This topic has been beaten to death, to only come back and haunt us all again at least 5839202843923 times.

 

Alta Intake and Alta Turbo Back Exhaust makes for an awesome starting combo for much added power and an AWESOME sounding car!! All for basically the same price as the JCW kit, but you'll get more power from Alta and much better sound!!

 

On the same note one can't deny that 9ff, techart, Ruf, Gembella, Saleen, Harmaan et al make some seriously cool sh*&t Agreed that Alta are probably not on the same playing field.

Personally I went for JCW for factory warranty, factoryish fitted and legality and am most pleased with the results. Now i just want the JCW suspension to boot.

 

The car is fast enough already, ready.