My JCW has ~1600 miles, and I notice a bit more burble & pop now than when the car was new. When I first got it, it seemed to burble & pop only in Sport mode w/the gearbox set in manual. Now, I hear burble & pop when the gearbox is in sport auto mode, and that's a good thing!

So to others: did you notice more sound effects as you put more miles on the car? I certainly hope that's the case. Coming from an R53 that popped all the time, I'd love more theatrics from the JCW.

 

 

What is actually happening when it burbles and pops? Not backfiring... so what is it? (Yes, I'm new to MINIs... my first one)

 

When I added the Manic ECU tune to my JCW the pops and burbles became much more prominent. Like night and day. And the guy who did the tune never mentioned it either.

 

it's a little extra fuel (unburnt or intentionally added) hitting the hot exhaust manifold.

There are some other explanations too, but in most MINIs it's normal, and for most drivers, thoroughly enjoyable

 

My 2018 JCW is up to over 8K miles now. Not sure I notice any more or less burble/pop now vs. when the car was newer. I think part of the reason is I didn't push the car that hard until after break in.

But I do notice a bit of popping when I get off the throttle with engine RPMs up around the 4K area. Kind of catches me by surprise as I'm not really paying that much attention -- often I'm in traffic and that gets most of my attention -- and previous cars were rather quiet in the exhaust area and I just got out of the habit of really listening that closely to the exhaust.

Tried sport mode a few times.The car reminds me of a rally car the way it sounds. Neat.

 

It will develop more burble and pop sounds with time, don't worry and it has nothing to do with engine tuning. It's the nature of the beast getting older. Some times after exiting a freeway, I feel it is a little bit too much. This is just a matter of taste.

 

Mine does it big when I let off the gas at around 4k RPM. I don't think the F56 cars hardly even get to 4k RPM with that tranny. It stays low RPM and shifts to 5th gear at around 40 mph even in Sport. So it might not burble much like that.

 

Thanks for the feedback. I love the soundtrack of the MINI's exhaust; the burble & pop adds character and is part of the package to me. I'm hearing more B&P now, and I'm happy to know I can look forward to more as the car matures.

 

I have 13K on my JCW, and it doesn't burble and pop as much as I want it to (mostly in Sport mode on deceleration). I'm adding the JCW Pro exhaust soon, so I'll definitely hear a bit more :-)

 

Does the jcw come with crazy pops stock too or only if you add the exhaust? Because I'm thinking of maybe adding dinan to it AND the jcw exhaust and I'm curious if the dinan would get rid of the extra pops that would come with the exhaust if the exhaust is responsible for all those pops

 

The JCW has them in Sport mode, mostly while letting off the gas after a decent acceleration. It is mostly a function of the fuel, air, timing map not the exhaust. Exhaust can either quiet the sound (stock), or exaggerate with the Pro. In the case of the S model, the full JCW tune, plus the exhaust will increase the pops and burbles.

 

Ahh I see, so no matter the exhaust on the jcw I'll have the crazy crackles

 

Exactly. The exhaust will only affect the volume of said crazy crackles, burbles & pops.

 

*muffler packing is burning in a bit.. changes the tone and flow slightly over time.

*you can heat wrap your exhaust too.. this also will change the tone of the exhaust and add a bit more velocity to the BANGS! Fully catless, with resonator removed + heat wrap = you get a nice POP,POP with throttle lift at each shift.