A bunch of JCW ?'s
 

Last owned a Cooper S conv. It was mostly my wife's car and has been gone a while. I really wanted the JCW but in 11 or 12 when we bought hers they were only manual. I am thinking of getting back in after I visited the LA Auto Show and seeing that you can now get auto. I have a bunch of questions.

The car will be mine and will be a DD. I will also be getting into auto cross and taking the car out once a month. That is a whole different story. It will need to be auto, I know racers will think that is sacrilege but has to be.

• is the hp difference and suspension far worth it or would I be better getting the S and upgrading?
• can I still order one if I can't find one I like at a local dealer? And what is the time from order to delivery?
• are these all going for MSRP or want and where are the best places to buy
• i have to have all the tech stuff, seems like a lot of choices when building on the sight so what are the boxes to check to get the most of the tech

Anything else I am missing and thanks for all the help. I also assume this is the most active forum still or should I check out others?

Yes, the extra HP (which is 39 over the base S and about 18 over if you install the JCW kit on the S) is worth along with the suspension. If you plan to auto cross you might want to consider the JCW Pro Coil Overs

Find one in stock will be difficult due to dealer allocations. Most want to order for a customer, not for stock. Ordering (whether it is an S or JCW) is the way to go. The car would be "yours".

MSRP is what you'll pay. You might get some stuff thrown in, but the JCW is desirable and rare enough that most dealers feel they are in control.

As for tech stuff - there are numerous threads here about peoples builds, Check them out and mix and match what you want.

Hope this help.

Great this does help. What is roughly the time of order to the time of receiving? Any watch out dealers in Socal to stay away from?

I just took delivery of mine a week ago, took about 10 weeks from the time I ordered it to get it since my dealer had an allocation open.

I'm really happy with mine, did a auto and got all the tech goodies.

I know there are ones on dealer lots they can have delivered to your local dealership but I'm really happy I ordered mine and got everything I wanted.

Another quick question on the coil overs.

Are they comfortable enough for DD use or are they really a rough ride? I had KW's on an STi a long while back and the ride was brutal for DDing.

I picked up my new F56 JCW the last day of October and I ordered it the 1st week of July. The car is amazing and I ordered it with the 18" wheels, really necessary for tracking if you are going to do that. Chrono pack, nice to have and looks cool. Dynamic ride control, really helps in cornering and ride comfort and for the first time automatic. I took 2 performance driving courses in minis at the Indianapolis Speedway with professional Indy car drivers for instructors in the F56S and it had these options, but not the JCW package. That is what convinced me to go with the automatic and other performance options. The paddle shifting system is impressive and the best that I have ever used. I have it on one of my other sports cars and it is not nearly as good as the mini (BMW) one.

The ride will be... "firm". I had something similar on my Coupe and it was my DD. Then again, I am used to stiffer suspension so it didn't really bother me. It certainly won't loosen your fillings, but you could find it tough going on a longer journey.

Seems like the right choice would be to start with the damper upgrade option first when I order one and see if that gets the job done at AX.

The ride is much better than in my R56 JCW with the 17" wheels.

Just in case you haven't seen it here it a link to the Edmund's test of the F56 JCW.
http://www.edmunds.com/mini/cooper/2015/road-test-2/

Don't agree with the Edmunds article and some critics of the JCW stock sport suspension being too harsh. My JCW doesn't have the optional damper control and I think it's perfectly fine. :thumbsup:

John

I have not driven the F56 without the damping so I can't speak to that. However, the ride is significantly better than the ride in my R56 JCW that did not have it. The differences between the R and F series are significant, both are great fun cars.

So that brings up another few questions (albeit dumb).

1. Difference between F and R? I assume years but don't want to assume.
2. What was the first year you could get auto in a JCW model?

R ended with the 2014 R series. F began with the 2015 base and S models. The F56 JCW premiered as the 2016. I don't remember when the JCW was first offered with an automatic and it may different in the US than with the European editions. I always was a manual sort of guy until I drove the F56S during performance training programs . It is faster than the manual and the paddle shifters are state of the art. I have not had extensive experience with them, but have had them on a series of cars and really was not very impressed until I drove the F56 minis. I was originally going with the standard and held off ordering a new JCW until it was available. However, after talking it over with my mentors and driving the F series with automatics it became clear to me that it was a better mouse trap!

Thanks for that. So the first F56 JCW would be a 16 so I definately will need to either buy new or try to find a used (unlikely) 16.

One AX and I am hooked I really want a Mini that will be a DD with all the amenities for the driving I do all week for work but then can be a serious car at the AX events, dual purpose. I want as good of handling and performance I can get while still making it a perfeclty comfortable driver during the week.

This is the one I have build online so far
Attachment 118421

It looks good and is pretty close to what I ordered. I did go with Rebel green as it is the JCW exclusive color and the checkerboard roof, and matching mirrors. BTW, the rebel green looks black except in bright light. The dynamic suspension was a must have as well as the chrono pack. The chrono pack is useful, but I really have not used it yet, but it does really look cool! I was originally going to keep my R56 JCW as I really loved the car, but I wound up trading it in and I don't regret it now, but it was a tough decision. I have more vehicles than I can drive now. Basically, I drive the mini and my faithful old truck most of the time. Those would be the 2 vehicles that I would keep if I had to give up any of the toys.

Well here is the weekend car. Our local club does AX once a month and runs a little series. One time out with this and hooked. Problem is I do not want to flog this around on the track. This is my coffin that I will be buried in and I plan on living a long time so it needs to stay nice.
Attachment 118422

That is why I would like this to be my DD but then when asked to perform it needs to be ready to go. I never tracked our last Mini and it was a 12 S cab so I know it was a capable car though.

I have a 2015 F56 JCW.

Could you have got your 15 in auto?

Yes. They released the auto before the manual. That's why all the early reviews written were exclusively about the auto. I waited until the manual was available and have one of the very few 2015 JCW manuals in existence.

I drive the cratered roads in Michigan and the sport suspension with 17" wheels is quite acceptable for daily driving. This car is much less harsh than my 2004 R53.

There were only about 37 Manual Trans JCW's imported as 2015's...mine was one of them also (6-4-15 build date). There were 360 Automatic 2015 JCW's imported. I was very upset at the delay, but in the end it was definitely worth it!...and it's rare! :)

John

I was not aware that you could order and receive a 15, I was advised by the dealer it would be a 16, which was fine. I waited until I was sure that I wanted an automatic to order it. That was the first of July and it arrived the end of November. The F56 S's that we drove on the Indy Speedway had the heads up speed, but it looked really chintzy, a piece of plastic popped up through a slot in the dash. If it had been a projected display with more useful information that was projected onto the windshield I would have ordered. However, I think the chrono pack is pretty cool looking and functional.

Yeah, no dealers had a manual JCW back in the early Spring of 2015, and "very few" even had the automatic JCW's! So, if a guy wanted a manual JCW he just placed the order and waited (like me)! My dealer allowed me to place my order in April (some dealers just didn't want to bother I suppose), even though MINI didn't issue a production number until a couple of months later. In the meantime, I changed my build on a few items (to the good). I ordered my JCW before my dealer even had a JCW for test driving (an auto). Once they had one in stock, I went down and drove it immediately....the auto was awesome, but because I'm old school (and I had already ordered a manual) I didn't fall in love with the auto (and that's just because I prefer having a clutch...not a dig on the auto).

Anyway, it's usually all about timing, so anyone who has a 2015 JCW MT has a fairly rare car. Plus, the 2015 has a few of the items that MINI deleted on the 2016's!

Enjoy,

John

Oh well, I guess I will just have to drive it more to make up for lost time behind the wheel of this little rocket ship! Thanks for the information. Crappy weather here now and she is in the garage impatiently waiting for me to put more time and miles on her and smiles on me so I can wring her out. I am still old school on a lot of things and at 2,000 I am doing and oil and filter change and then having it analyzed. I don't think it is really necessary as the build process and modern technology have greatly improved the build process, but old habits die hard!

From what I've read about the F56 suspension suggests an excellent option is ordering the adjustable dampers, and then add a thicker rear antisway bar. That way you can adjust softer for DD, and firm for autocross, without the understeer of the stock suspension (which is what the factor Sport suspension is basically, thicker sway bars).