Excerpt from MINI Press Release:

 

please keep in mind that these people suggest the retail price af a mini cooper s be set at around $25000. fully loaded, do you see many dealers following thier suggestion? They got us by the b...

 

I'm scheduled for the retrofit next Thursday morning.

 

What's new price for the 05 JCW complete kit?

 

$4,650 plus installation.

 

Maby they are going to actually do some head work this time around ? The current ones look like they take about 15 min to do

Randy

 

There is also a vacuum hose hook up so they had to remove the intercooler.

And they did code my rear fogs for no charge.

Dave

 

that's great news man! but how does it drive?

 

The sad part is I haven’t even driven it yet. I have been at work all day. My wife brought it in to the dealer this morning and waited until it was done. She didn’t bring it back to me until after my lunch, so I have just been able to look at it for the rest of the day. I get off work in another hour and if the rain doesn’t start up again I will go out and test it. However at that time it will be rush hour, so I don’t think I will get much testing done.


Dave

 

How much did they finally charge you for installation?

 

The total labor came to $382.66

Dave

 

merci becoup

 

Don't get me wrong, I love my MCS, but if I had been faced with paying over MSRP for it, I would have bought something else. I paid MSRP plus tax.

It would seem that the whole point of the upgrade/retrofit kit was so that people who had already shelled out around $6,000 for the 1st generation JCW kit wouldn't feel cheated. How does an additional $900+ expense help with that goal?

It makes me wonder: if MINI says it's 1.5 hours of labor to install and the dealer says it's going to be 3.5 hours of labor, is the dealer incompetent or price gouging?

As always, just one man's opinion here...

 

I will get my upgrade kit tomorrow at Assael MINI, they ask for $525 plus 2 hrs labor. Let see what happen tomorrow.

 

Dave,

Did you go to Bob Smith to get the upgrade? I am still trying to figure out where to go...

BTW, If you got off work after 5-5:30PM you probably got to test it out, as the weather turned out PERFECT for an upgraded JCW test run.

 

the retrokit was just installed; can't really offer a fair evaluation yet due to heavy L.A. traffic, hopefully this weekend will be able to drive it the way it deserves. Overall the car pulls much better in all gears and over a wide range, nice jolt in the neck is found once you punch the accelerator over 4000 rpm and it sounds more serious (actually screams at very high revs).

This is what the works car should have been from the start, can't wait for the second eveloution!!!

 

What's that FOUR hours! For an intake, injectors and a 5 min ECU upgrade??? That's almost $1k for the "upgrade". Geez...They've got to stop this nonsense...

 

I just got back from a 60mi run.

All I can say is WOW!!!
There is a BIG difference. After 4500 rpm it just explodes with power.

Yes, mine was the test mule so it took longer. I am working on a refund.

Dave

 

The full 210bhp kits are now in. Mine came in this morning at Classic Mini. Unfortunately my car isn't quite there yet. It landed in yesterday.

 

How much did your JCW kit cost....,,........................................ ............, They are asking $6700.00 at My dealer.

 

I got my upgrade today from Assael MINI - Monrovia, CA. I paid $ 715.00 installed.

 

Sales tax on the kit plus labor was only $190? What's Assael's hourly labor rate?

 

Monday I will be talking to the service manager as to why I was charged 4 hours for a 1.5 hour job.


Dave

 

Well, I guess they gave me a good deal :smile:
When I go to Assael, I always ask for Tim West as my S.A. and mention about being a MINI club member, it might help.
Or maybe they just charged me 1.5 hour for the installation. Their labor is around $100/hr.

 

I had my upgrade kit installed yesterday at Century MINI in Greenville, SC. They charged me $473.00 for the kit. That was $525.00 minus 10% for our MINI club (M2C2) discount and $160.00 for 2hrs labor. We are lucky in the south with one of the lowest labor rates $80.00 in the country.

I did not get to drive the car much, but what a difference over 4,500 rpm.