Hi all, new member here. The wife built a 2014 CMS last year & I loved driving it so much that I sought out a very slightly used 2013 JCW Paceman (1900 miles). Both are automatics due to the fact that we work equal distances from work & like to switch vehicles all the time.

Having driven my wife's over the last year, I figured the Paceman would give me at least the peppiness of the CMS (heavier due to All4 but slight bump in HP/Torque). From day one, this thing has just felt sluggish compared to the CMS. Mine has 19" with 40 series tires & hers has 18" with 45's, so the rolling diameter isn't drastic & both are automatics. Basically, mine in sport mode feels like hers normally & hers in sport mode just blows mine away.

I've only been in for 1 oil change & mentioned it only to be told that it still needs to be broken in. I'm now at 4800 miles to her 8000 & it still feels far underpowered compared to the CMS.

She's driven both & we also had a friend drive both to make sure it wasn't our "butt dyno's" out of whack & all agree that there's a noticeable difference.

Has anyone ever heard of the JCW being more sluggish than the S? On paper it just doesn't make sense. Hers is bone stock & I just have the AFE Pro Dry S (which didn't make any difference). I've googled my eyes out & can't find any reason why mine feels so much slower. I want to get the Sprint Booster & JB+ but don't want to add them until I know my baseline is correct. No codes being thrown so I'm at a loss.

 

I had the same feeling between my 09 Hardtop S and my 13 CM JCW. It has changed now, the JCW feels better. Put more miles on it, it will start to feel better. I want to say that I was closer to 10,000 miles before the car felt completely broken in. On the other hand my 09 Hardtop felt broken in around 5000 or 6000.

What kind of gas to you use? I've noticed performance and milage differences between Shell and Chevron in both of my Minis. They seem to perform better with Chevron gas in my area, I typically use Shell because it is more convenient. Also, always Premium gas.

My CM JCW did have some stuttering / performance issues right from the factory. I drove it for a while, thinking it was just the car. However, I spoke with my service advisor about it and they looked into it for me. Turned out that it came from the factory with faulty spark plugs. Replacing them made things better.

I'm not making assumptions about how you work with the service advisor, but I always seem to get better service when I don't try to diagnose the issues for them. Just tell them what I am feeling / noticing with the car without telling them what might be wrong.

 

I think you need to go back to service and escalate the issue. The break in answer is silly. I've often noted how some service advisors have little to no real automotive knowledge. Others are real car people and really help out.

 

The JCW Paceman should not be more sluggish. I would check and see it there was a CEL or if there was a flash update.

 

I appreciate everyone's input. I've been using 93(highest in Orlando) octane since I bought it. I'm hoping it's something as simple as a break-in issue but i doubt it.

The ECU flash idea is most likely the culprit as I'm not throwing any codes & nothing feels technically wrong with the car, except that it feels under-powered compared to my wife's S.

Within the next couple of weeks, I'm going to get it over to the dealer & see if they can drive it & check the latest ECU version to make sure I'm running current. I hope it's something as easy as that.

 

Update. Finally took it to Orlando Mini this morning. They kept it for about an hour, drove it, then hooked it up to check codes & ECU version. They state that everything is up to date & the difference I'm feeling is due to my 19" wheels & All4 drivetrain versus my wife's 18" wheels & front wheel drive.

The garage foreman took me along for a test drive & agreed that it was driving normally but was curious why there was no pop/burble in sport mode. I told him it's never done it & he was surprised. He checked TSB's when we got back to see if there was something relating to this issue but couldn't find anything. He did say that he was going to get "permission" to reflash my ECU (said they need permission from corporate to flash an ECU when nothing is wrong...what?) & hopefully this would tell the software to dump more fuel on deceleration in sport mode, causing the pop/burble.

If for some reason I hear back from them, I'll go ahead & let them do a reflash...couldn't hurt at this point. I guess next up is going to be a Sprint Booster/JB+ combo. About all I can do now. If that doesn't impress, I'm going to dump it for a 2016 Golf R & give up looks for power.

 

When i went from 15 to 18" on the r52 MCC , i could feel the difference in weight. Let us know about the flash.

 

Hey, just wanted to make sure that part #
ES#2843584 (torque arm insert) would fit my JCW. I assumed it would but wanted to make sure before I ordered it.

 

Yes, All4 & JCW

https://www.ecstuning.com/Search/SiteSearch/ES2843584/

Thanks

 

Update, had an appt at the dealer last Tuesday morning & was told it would be about a 3 hour job to update the ECU software. They gave me a '15 Hardtop base as a loaner & I went to work. Got a call in the afternoon that the "Champ Q" radio in my car failed during the reflash & they needed to order this part before they could finish, but it would be in before noon on Wednesday. Long story short, I finally got my car back on Friday afternoon & it feels no different, nor is there any "pop/burble" or any discerning difference in my exhaust note while in sport mode. It actually feels a little more sluggish right now probably due to ECU now relearning after the flash. The little 1.5L base model was zippy so it made mine feel even slower at first.

I guess I'm just going to have to settle on the fact that I got a milder iteration & get the JB+/Sprint Booster combo to keep my happy for now. I'll probably send my unit off to get custom flashed once it's out of warranty. It was worth giving up my car for 4 days to see if it would come back sounding or driving more aggressively.

Kudos to Van at Orlando Mini for at least trying with the reflash.

 

Might take a while to relearn the adaptions. Weird that its slower, did they read any stored faults ?

 

They didn't say anything or note it on the printout they gave me. Sounds like the only issue was the "Champ Q" (whatever that is) frying during the update, resulting in a couple extra days at the dealer.

 

Thats the radio / navigation drive unit ( head unit ).

 

There's also that chance that the previous owner wanted to replace the turbo and put in a regular S turbo instead. Did you check the turbo serial nos?

PS: I personally never go for a very low mile used car. There's really no reason to sell a car at 2-5K miles and get the depreciation hit esp if you bought it new.

 

Lots of reasons to sell a low mileage car, money, divorce, job change, move out of country, death and plain old I hate the car.

 

I finally realized that the sluggish ALL4 in first gear starts is due to an electronic clutch in the rear differential. Talking to the lead mini mechanic and track racer of minis, he said from take off the rear clutch is Engaged at 50% rear to 50% front start and it will try to switch to a greater reat allocation of it senses slipping, for example if I try to drive off spiritly. He said the rear clutch fully turns off at 80mph. So my hesitation from my spirited starts is the rear clutch engage more and not the front main clutch. To feel the difference turn off the traction control toggle switch and you will feel a HUGE difference in take off in first gear. So I guess it did not make sense to buy the jcw with the ALL4 with a manual.

Unlike a regular clutch which wears out, the rear electronic clutch either works or it does not work. So no maintenance on it is required.

Last. Mini is beginning replacing the N18 Peugeot engines and drivetrains and frames with the BMW engines to the X1 platform (frame a couple inches wider) The new clubman has the new BMW engine used now on the i8 model. I gave is a test drive and much better. The countryman switches over for the 2017 model years. I cannot wait to trade up.