Hello friends,

Having been the proud owner of a 2008 R56 JCW, I went in yesterday and laid down the $$$$ for a new 2016 F56 JCW. I'll include here some banter about my option choices in case anyone is interested.

COLOR: Volcanic Orange. It'll be memorable to say the least (see below).
TRIM: Black roof and mirrors. Great contrast with the orange.
PACKAGES: Cold Weather & Media
LIGHTS: LED with Cornering Lights. If these do what they say they do it'll be really, really cool.
WHEELS: 18" Cup Spokes. Better handling, look awesome.

INTERIOR: Sport Seats in Leatherette. I think the JCW seat fabric choices are crap (no offense to those who love them). I don't like the standard JCW cloth seats... I find the fabric ugly and the cloth scratchy. I also don't like how there are basically no pictures of these *anywhere*... thanks MINI :/ And to pay $2,000 more for Dinamica with that lame red bolster accent, no thanks. MINI really pushes the red, which is great for people who want red, but not so great for those who don't. Why doesn't MINI offer a *full leather JCW seat*?!? So anyway, I went with the Sport Seats, which made me a bit sad to leave the integrated headrest behind (looks SO cool), and Leatherette. Very odd for me to choose Leatherette on such a premium car, but it was comfortable and durable so I'll learn to live with the, ahem, schweddy *****.

PERFORMANCE: 6-Speed Manual (duh)
HANDLING: Sport Suspension (all track, all the time)

AUDIO: Harman/Kardon & Sirius. You have to get H/K for the stereo to sound OK, and for the first time I will not be putting an after market audio system into this car (too much hassle, $$$, space lost to amps, and endless trips back to the audio installer). I will be working the H/K for all it's worth.


TECH: Rearview Cam+PDC, Comfort Access
ACCESSORIES: Carbon Fiber Scoop & JCW Side Stripes (cuz they gangsta)

THINGS I DIDN'T GET:
Sunroof. Didn't want to run the risk of endless rattles. Service bulletin.
Navigation. HATE the interface and love my stand alone Tomtom.
HID. Sorta pointless without Nav and the speedo numbers are too small.

THINGS I'LL PROBABLY ADD:
Some sort of strut brace to stiffen'r up a bit.
Some chrome or blackout for that lame red cross piece in the grill.
Maybe some suspension upgrades and lower her just a hair...?
Some kind of cool iPhone mount for my 6S Plus

Now I've just got to sit back and find something else to distract me for the next 8-12 weeks while I wait for my build to come in.

 

Congrats on the order!

I know Volcanic Orange is a love-it-or-hate-it color, but I think it's a fantastic color in person. I do agree that eliminating the red accents will help it with the Orange.


Sorry to hear you don't like the JCW cloth. I just did the Miles Ahead driving school, and all the cars had the JCW cloth seats and they were fantastic; exceptionally supportive on-track, benign on temperature, grippy, and scratchy didn't even come to mind. I understand not everyone wants cloth though, just wanted to weigh in my 1st hand, er butt, experience.

Good luck for a quick wait time!

 

Finally someone orders a VO fJCW. Before the JCW Coupe won me over I actually tried to put down a deposit on a VO MCS last year in Tempe. Didn't work out though and I changed my mind. I wonder why MINI quit offering the Recaro seats altogether ($2700 heated), maybe due to low volume? They don't have the red accents, basic black. But your car sounds like it will be great. I'd actually like to try driving a JCW with a MT. I miss it sometimes.

 

I wish MINI still offered the Recaros, I would have laid $2,700 down. They'd look amazing in this car.

I probably misspoke when I said the JCW cloth seats were scratchy. They just didn't have a pleasing feel to me. I get a little squeamish with certain synthetic fabrics and that one sort of made my skin crawl. I'd like the temperature better, I'm sure, but the leatherette seems pretty bulletproof as far as cleaning goes.

 

Some R56 owners have added them aftermarket. I've seen some pix.

 

Just have the R56 Euro Recaro for now , which I don't know any one who has added then to an F56 , don't know the measure of the F56 rails compared to the R56.

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...-recaro-s.html





If someone test them we will let you know in this post.

On certain seat components of the factory JCW F56 Recaro are available , not the whole seat one part.

 

Congrats on the order. I'm awaiting a Volcanic Orange as well, although not JCW. I'm with you on MINI pushing the red. Probably my least favorite color, I have spent a lot of time and money on my last 2 MINIs elimination all traces of red. I wish there were better options for the interior to say the least. Hate to be this way, but it's time to kick whoever is in charge of color/design options out of their seat :D. Oh, and don't get me started on the silver/grey/blue ridiculousness!

Can't wait to see your pics when it comes in.

Annette