There seem to be a few R56 JCW owners there..

What are your thoughts on the car? Ive read aplenty reviews online which are more or less mirror images of one another and consequentially getting a bit mundane

Post your mini reviews here and your thoughts on comparing it with other cars!

 

It is a expensive Hot Hatch that has ok build quality and very basic standard equipment that when you option it out it becomes a very expensive car that can not compete with same priced cars.

I love mine and if I was to do it again the only option would be the arm rest.add anything else option wise and you get very close to 135 money.

 

I agree with Stig One's very accurate assessment. Its very expensive for what it is. However, the build quality on my JCW has been excellent so far. I will have my car for 1 year on Saturday November 29th. I have 10,000 miles on it so far. So not too many miles in 1 year.

Even though I purchased it in November of 09, it was one of the first JCWs to hit the US. The story goes that the guy that ordered it was not able to finance it and the car sat around at the dealer for almost 4 months until I came along. My car is also very heavily optioned with everything except Nav, PDC and HD radio.

I added the JCW suspension and all the other JCW parts after I picked up the car. Its a real shame that the car does not come standard with the JCW Aero kit, suspension and JCW steering wheel.

I love the car. I am very glad I went with the JCW. Had I gotten an S I would have been disappointed.

One other thing to note is that the JCW is already heavily modded from the factory so its really not that necessary to do anything to the car other than add the JCW suspension or an aftermarket suspension setup.

 

Overall, it's the most involving car I've ever been in - there's very little separation b/w you and the road. After driving a JCW, every other car seems just a little fake, or poofy, or something. It's hard to put your finger on it, but the torque, light weight, fantastic gearbox, and stellar handling (even w/o suspension upgrades) combine to make the most fun driving experience on the planet - whether you're commuting in traffic to work or tearing up back roads. It's also a sleeper of sorts (when in subdued colors), if that's your cup of tea.

However, I have come across some livability issues. I've listed them below.


The interior is gimmicky. I really dislike the interior layout of the MINI. Focuses too much on form and all but ignores function. Why the f*** does my speedo need to be in the middle of my dash and the size of Jupiter?

Build quality is just OK. Some materials are cheap-feeling and phantom rattles seem to come and go

The stereo is underpowered. For a car this expensive you really deserve a better stereo than the tinny piece of sh"t that's in it as stock.

If you're plugging in an iPod and you have even a moderate amount of music, it's going to take you 60+ seconds to scroll through the artists. So if you absolutely have to hear some ZZ Top while you're driving, be prepared to spend a lot of time twisting a tiny little **** to get to it.

If you don't get rain sensing wipers there's only one intermittent option. So you'll spend a lot of time with your wipers fully on when they really don't have to be

The sunroof shade doesn't really do anything, so the car heats up quickly.

Torque steer is outrageous. Fun, but you will be wrestling with the steering wheel all day if you like to take off quickly from stops (dunno how much this changes w/ suspension mods or different tires)

It gets dirty quickly, and you will love the car so much that this pisses you off. Especially the wheels. There's so much goddamn brake dust everywhere, and it takes ages to clean every crevasse of the 16-spoke wheels (this can be solved by getting black wheels, of course).


Anyways, there's my long-winded take on things. Don't think you won't love the car though. It will consume your every free moment. When you're not driving it you will be wondering why that is so. You will dream about 40mph, 2nd gear tight corners. When you're all grumpy in the morning and you walk outside to drive to work (if that is what you do), your day will become just a bit brighter. And because no car is perfect, you will obsess about the little things (see above).

Hope this helps.

 

I agree with all of the above. For the wheels, do yourself a favour and buy a wheel brush. Makes life much easier, and enables you to clean deeper into the wheel.

In terms of the torque steer (it's actually not really torque steer so much as bump steer exacerbated by torque) lowering apparently helps a hell of a lot, so I'd recommend NM or TSW springs, or if you want better handling, go for some Euro coilovers and camber plates

 

I have a wheel brush, as well as a pressure washer and some good brake dust cleaner. Still takes a good 20 min. to do the wheels, which is about as long as the rest of my weekly wash/vac/windows takes.

Anyways, what gets me upset is more the fact that the wheels are dirty three days after I clean them than how hard they are to clean. If I go 10 days without washing my car my wheels look like they're gunmetal from afar.

 

Hehe yeh i know, same here, the BMW brake dust is the worst. I spend at least 30 mins on my wheels. I have no choice....

 

how is this car compared to the GTI / MPS / 135i / 350Z / 987S or others?

 

Brilliant review. Cheers!

 

MPS - I assume you mean the Mazda3 MPS, or the Mazdaspeed3 as its known here in the States?

During test drives I mainly cross-shopped with the 'Speed3 and the GTI. As I said in my review above the differentiator was driver involvement.

Going strictly by numbers, the GTI and Speed3 are better across almost all fields except fuel economy. But I found the GTI to be too reserved and the Speed3 to be too brutish (it's almost like a muscle car wrapped in a Japanese hatchback body), and, like I said, both seemed so 'fake' compared to the JCW. Plus, just listen to the JCW's exhaust note. Can't beat it .

Ultimately the true indicator of a car's value is how it makes you feel - not about what its numbers are. Obviously this is a subjective criterion, so test drive them all and see what you think! Although I'm willing to bet that if you have half a soul and 1/4 of a heart, you'll end up going with the JCW despite all its compromises.

Can't say anything about a 135i / 350Z / 987S because I haven't driven any of them.

 

Guys with brake dust issues try this:

Get a small car duster and only use it on your wheels. It takes about 2-3 minutes per wheel tops and they look like you washed them. It works with light dust or if you let it go for a week it takes the same amount of work for heavy dust. The small duster fits in all the contours and crevices easily. You can do it when wheels are hot. Wash them maybe once a month or so. Problem solved!

I like my 09 JCW but I agree with the above posts. It is expensive with just a few options. In a straight line it has many lower priced competitors that on paper can clean your clock. But the good news is the power is under rated on this car (keeps insurance in check). The numbers are wheel HP so when you compare to others like GTI etc add 15% to the JCW for apples to apples also factor in the weight. Also the Brembo brake are totally awesome to the point it is hard to back and forth to other cars and feel safe driving them. It is pretty tough to launch (which is why it only has a 6.2 0-60) but once it is moving you can accelerate with cars with under 5 second 0-60 times. Roll on power is very strong due to the light weight. Gear box has been massaged and is noticably better than an MCS. Handling is great in all mini's but this runs circles around my wifes 05 MCS and both have sport suspension. And it gets about 3-5mpg better than the 05 MCS with the same driving habits. The guy with massive torque steer, sounds like something is a miss or your roads are really uneven. I only get torque steer in those situations, if it is smooth and flat I can let go of the wheel no problem under hard acceleration. The gripes I have mirror above but I can't believe no one else is not bothered by this. Where the heck is the water temp gage? Not only that, if it does run hot what light should I be watching for? I read the manual twice and can't find a thing on this subject! Since my last 2 BMWs ended their lives due to cooling system failures I wonder how many engines is mini going to replace before they add a temp gage?

Smoke 05S
09 JCW
05 MCS

 

Thanks for the duster tip - I can see that working for light brake dust but I'm skeptical about it working if you let the dust go for a week - the second the wheels get wet the dust seems to stick on there pretty good. Regardless, I'm looking forward to trying this out.

A warning light will come on if the coolant temp. goes past a certain point, but unfortunately you'll need either the OEM mini coolant temp gauge (~$90, plus ~$300 for the installation kit and god knows how much for labor if you don't want to install it yourself) or a 3rd party one if you want to be monitoring it constantly.

 

Thanks for the coolant temp tip. I think I am going to look into adding that gage.

You are right about if the dust gets wet, but regardless it works surprisingly well even if you let it go for a week. I timed myself last night. ON the JCW I had let it go about 3 days, it took 13 seconds per wheel for the rears and 30 for the fronts. My wifes 05 MCS it had been about a week and a half and they did get a little wet. It was 30 seconds for the fronts and about 10 for the rears. one pass does it, there is no scrubbing, no scratching. If you wax the wheels it makes it even easier. The down side is you can't get the calipers very easily so it wont completely replace washing. But since it takes less time you tend to do it more often. Try it.