Its been a while since I've posted here.. sold my Justa Cooper last year after being laid off. But now Im back in the game and I found a sweet deal on a MCS JCW, so it seems.

Seems a little too good to be true from a Nissan dealership. Its a black on black '04 MCS JCW, 58k miles, xenon, moonroof, cold weather package, (not sure about the rest of the packages (waiting to hear back from BMW with the VIN readout. Other options include fogs, DSC, steering wheel controls (cruise & stereo), butt warmers, etc.

The sticker price is $16.5k, and I talked them down to $12.5K since its been on their lot for 60 days and they want to get rid of it. Carfax is clean. Interior is really clean, though it does have fabric seats. Im having BMW look at it today for the problem areas (around the crank seal/gasket, coolant expansion tanks).

Whadya think? I have my pick of the litter for MCS around the same price, with leather seats.

 

Hmmm. Are leather seats that important to you? Is the JCW setup more important? How about owning a black car in Chicago and trying to keep it clean? All kinds of things to consider.

 

Seems like a very good price. If leather is that important, you could have an aftermarket leather put in for under a grand.

 

Leathers not so important I guess. There are several S's in the area for about the same price, so just wondering if JCWs are more problematic than an S. How much higher are the insurance costs?

 

if it comes out clean from the bmw inspection, i'd go for it! great price... just replace the seats with recaros later goodluck! welcome back to the mini family.

 

Sounds like a great deal. I sure would get a JCW without leather over a MCS with leather. I have not heard of any problems with the JCW specific parts. You might want to call your insurance agent to get the insurance price difference since there will probably be a difference but I suspect not much of a difference.
Since it is an 04 it will have the older 6-speed transmission before the gear ratio change in 05 (05 and on is better). It also probably does not have the limited slip differential.

 

They just dropped the price to $12.3. I'm currently having mini check it out, but so far so good, accept for the battery going out in the mini driveway... Aside from that it looks like the owner brought it in for every oil change, so tons of service records. We'll see, but hopefully I get the keys tonight!

 

Nice! Sounds like quite a deal. Let us know.

 

Is it just the JCW Motor or does it also have the other JCW hardware?

JCW Brakes, should be red calipers
JCW Suspension, should be red springs

 

I didn't check brakes and suspension but I did see exhaust and engine.

 

Looks like it's been in an accident. The carfax was clean but mini showed me where parts were clearly replaced, fixed, and tweeked. The engine is fine, and everything is structurally sound.

 

Yeah, that is why I think the whole Carfax thing is overrated. Not all shops report to them.

 

Sounds like you can get it for less now.

CarFax can't show what is not reported.

 

Im passing on the JCW. The rear hatch doesn't sit flush, and the dealership did a crappy job repainting the entire thing. Im guessing they knew about the damage and tried to hide it. Why else would it be so cheap?! The old adage is true: if its to good to be true, then it probably is...

The mechanic said that its mostly superficial damage, and the engine looks good. The airbags should fire, and its mostly a matter of bad bodywork. I couldn't tell by looking at it up close, but after he showed me, I could see it. The paint was unevenly applied, and a few panels were slightly rippled (upon very very close inspection).

Looks like an IB '04 MCS is my next stop. Im still contemplating the JCW on some level, but my smarter half says to keep looking. What do you think? Here's the link. It also comes with a set of trashed 17" S-lites. I gotta say, that thing was FAST! I redlined it a few times on the way back to the dealership after paying $160 to have mini look at it.

http://tinyurl.com/yh2lz3u

 

Sounds like you should pass on the wrecked JCW. It does not sound like the repair was done very well which means there could be all kinds of hidden damage such as bent floor pan. Even bad bodywork/paint is very expensive to correct and I know it would bother me and I would want it fixed.

 

To answer you're earlier questions, no, the JCW's have not been more problematic than the regular S. Also, the insurance will be the same, because any model prior to 07, the JCW was an option package, much like the Sport package, etc. The car is still a MCS.

 

I do not believe it is true about insurance being the same. When I purchased my 2006 MCS, my insurance company had different listings for MCS, JCW, and even GP.

 

Geico quoted me the same for a MCS and MCS JCW. Since JCW was dealer installed, its really just a MCS as far as the VIN can tell.