Hey All,

It's been a roller-coaster couple of weeks... but the TLDR version is, that I just closed a killer deal on an '06 JCW w/ 40K miles!

So here's the breakdown (it's loaded... almost too loaded IMHO, but beggars can't be choosers right!)

The Specs:

• Hyper Blue Metallic Paint (A28)
• English Leather (LNPN)
• Convenience Package (ZCV)
• Cold Weather Package (ZCW)
• Premium Package (ZPP)
• Sport Package (ZSP)
• JCW Kit (3AL)
• LSD (2TA)
• Anthracite Headliner (ZAH)
• Navigation System (609)
• Chrome Line Interior / Exterior (345/6)
• HK Sound (674)
• Center Armrest (473)
• Rear Fog Lights (5AA)
• Silver Roof/Mirror Caps (3AF)
• Silver Bonnet Stripes (3AK)

The Deal:

So an ad popped up on Cars.com on Monday AM w/ no pics for a Cooper S w/ 40k miles. The car was priced at $7.7k and the free Carfax denoted 3 previous owners and a clean title. The 3-owner thing was admittedly a bit of a turnoff, but given the miles and price, I ran the VIN anyway like I've done at least 100 times over the last 5 months. Instead of the normal depressing **** like "VERT" or "AUT", (~50% of these listings are just plain wrong!) I saw the holy grail of options listed: "JOHN COOPER WORKS KIT".

I immediately called the dealer to confirm the miles, price, pics and etc. It was pretty clear from the get-go that the dealership had no clue what they had in their inventory (Mercedes BTW from an upscale Washington D.C. neighborhood). Regardless, (per @Burley's advice) I played dumb, but knew this would be snapped up right quick if I didn't move fast (especially given my experience here). With the 3 previous owner situation I def wanted to get a proper PPI done and found a local pro w/ mini experience that was willing to do a mobile PPI that day. Once I got the all-clear from the PPI (the car is super clean and passed with flying colors btw), I tried my best to negotiate, but by then (~8 hours later) they had (supposedly) a TON of interest in the car so I had zero leverage. They were admittedly pretty cool honoring the original list price as they had def realized by now that someone fcked up. Anyway, I had to swallow their $500 standard processing fee too which BTW is f-cking highway robbery and Virginia sucks for allowing stealerships to charge whatever they want for that (turns out that's about average for the state but still). Regardless, I was secretly happy to pay them $500 bucks for the privilege of owning an ultra low mileage fully loaded factory '06 JCW for just $8.2k!

In a perfect world, I'd def prefer a single tach/speedo cluster but we all know this car is special and I guess it will be fun to try and figure out how to love the NAV OR retrofit the Chrono pack?? I'll def be ditching the chrome bits and probably the bonnet stripes (I know this is a very rare option, but not sure its for me).

Now, I just need to decide if I want to road trip it from VA to CA or bite the bullet and ship. Either way, I have plenty of time to start planning how I'm gonna make this car my own (more to come on that)....

Thanks to all the folks on this forum for their ever-helpful advice and comments. And for my fellow unicorn hunters, hang in there - w/ some patience and vigilance these cars do exist!

Here are few pics (all I have right now). Will post more when I have her in my driveway.

 

Nice find! Congratulations and enjoy it.

 

With those miles and if the pictures don't lie, you got a great deal on the car. Sometimes bad luck turns out good . . . . .

 

If I didnt already have 3 JCW's I would have bought this :P I saw the post too and the Navi versus Chrono kept me from getting serious on it (thank goodness). Congrats on purchase

 

Nice car

 

makes me miss my 06 Space Blue JCW. congrats

 

Nice grab!

 

Nice looking MINI! Congrats on the find! I actually really like the look of the viper stripes with the hood scoop. In fact if I was sure my red paint hasn't faded too much underneath my bonnet strips, I would try to get a black set of viper stripes to integrate my CF hood scoop on my JCW.

Also, that looks like a NLA JCW strut tower brace....let me know if you want to get of that...

 

Thanks all! Setting up shipping to Los Angeles next week. @AeroJammin... I have to see the stripes in person. Black sounds awesome. I'll trade you my bar for the carbon fiber scoop!

 

also if anyone is interested in a chrome line interior/exterior swap... lemme know. i HATE the chrome bits and will def be getting rid of them.

 

First, congrats on such a great find!

Secondly, I'd be interested in your chrome interior pieces. I'm in the LA area and have a R53 with the dual speedo/tach.

 

here she comes!

 

Let the adventure begin.

 

Sorry I am a little late with this post!
Hey man a great find and the best year ever for the supercharged MCS JCW!
Congrats on you diligence in searching for just the right Mini!
I am quite partial to the model:

Life is good! Itsme Wayne's 06 MCS JCW

I only wanted the chrono package
I feel this is the top model and superchargers make more sense for the twisties, that I live in!
It took me over eight months to find it!

Again, Congrats on your 2006 MCS JCW!