Looking at a used 2016 JCW for 21k, with 25k miles on it. I have a justa now still in warranty (certified used). What does everyone think, good risk, some warranty left until Dec. Have the JCWs been reliable?

 

Absolutely worth it for a JCW F56. Been really reliable. Though a warranty might be worth a purchase consideration

 

My 2018 JCW has been a very good car, but it has only covered a bit over 15K miles. Still I believe it should continue to be a good car. (I have the oil service done every 5K miles instead of the 10K miles called for by the built in service notifier.)

My best advice is regardless of which car you are looking at you need to remember it is just a used car and you need to give the car a thorough used car check out.

Below is a paste from something I have posted before:

My general advice is to visit the car cold, open the hood and check the oil level if you can at the engine (my JCW I can only check the oil from requesting this via the iDrive system and the engine has to be running at idle, warmed up, and it takes 60 seconds), look to verify the other vital fluid levels are ok. Get a feel for how the engine compartment looks. Afterwards, leave the hood open.

In the car start the engine. Be sure all warning lights come on and then go off once the engine has started. Pay particular attention to the CEL. Be sure the A/C is off. You test the A/C later.

Let the engine idle from cold. You want to listen for any signs of ticking/noises or any other signs the engine may not be healthy. A rough idle, backfires, spitting back, anything out of the ordinary.

Get out of the car and walk around the car checking body panel finish, alignment, and gaps. Note the condition of the wheels, looking for any curb rash. Check the tires. Ideally they should be factory sanctioned tires and in good condition. Check the brakes, look at the rotors for signs of damage/excessive wear -- a lip around the rotor outer diameter.

Check the hood and trunk hinges for any signs the fasteners have had wrenches on them. At the front carefully check the radiator fasteners for any signs of wrenching.

After some few minutes -- the longer the better -- and with the engine still running ok and sounding ok have the seller take you on a test ride. The route should be around 15 miles long and chosen to give the driver a chance to demo the car as you intend to use it. What is wanted is a mix of city driving with stop and go, steady moderate speed cruising on like a boulevard, and some highway/freeway driving.

If equipped with an automatic while it is still "cold" have the driver perform an K-turn to see how the transmission responds to repeated and rapid changes in direction.

Ideally there should be some opportunities -- once the engine is up to temperature -- for some rather hard acceleration with the driver starting out from a standstill or a slow roll and accelerating hard up through at least a couple of gears. No need to smoke the tires or try to duplicate the factory's 0 to 60mph time but you want to experience the engine under hard acceleration to verify it pulls good, runs right, and afterwards shows no ill effects from the hard acceleration.

While a passenger of course pay attention to how the transmission shifts, how the car rides, feels. The car should not want to pull to one side or the other and the hard acceleration should give the driver a chance to perform a hard braking. No tire lock up but you want to verify the brakes have plenty of bite and the car tracks straight under hard braking.

If an automatic transmission, with the transmission up to temperature, or at least warmer -- have the driver do the K-turn test again.

After the 15 mile test ride then back at the starting point -- leaving the engine running -- get behind the wheel and drive the car over the same 15 mile test route and drive it pretty much the same way although since the car is unknown to you you can dial back on the hard acceleration test. You don't want to let the car get away from you and wrap it around a telephone pole. (I refer to my JCW as the little green beast.)

After your 15 mile test drive then at the starting point if you still like the car confirm all systems work. From the head lights to the tail lights. From the horn to the back up camera (if fitted). The A/C. Check all the controls. The wipers. Everything.

At this point if you still like the car and believe you can buy it for a good price -- based on your market research -- it is good idea to arrange to have the car given a pre-purchase inspection (PPI) by a tech who is qualified to evaluate the car. A Mini dealer tech can be used. These guys evaluate trade ins all the time.

This PPI gets the car in the air so a check can be made for any leak sign. At the same time a check can be made for any signs of damage or damage repair.

The test ride and drive are important. The engine runs about an hour and should have plenty of time to run through all the readiness monitor tests. If any fail this should have the CEL on. It should get the engine and the drive train plenty warm. An engine might not leak cold, just sitting there, but hot...

During both the test ride and test drive, you want to really experience the car in its natural state: engine running and on the road. All cars generally look good on the lot. But it is how they look and run and feel and sound and smell on the road, or after being on the road, that really matters.

If possible you'd like to know the service history of the car. Some brands the dealer service computers are connected but with other brands, not.

Unless the seller can supply paper work the services are current or you can run the VIN through a Mini dealer (perhaps) to know what services were done and and when, get the service schedule and see which services are due or close to being due and budget for those. Also adjust your offer to reflect what you will have to spend to bring the car up to spec.

Tires should be on good condition as so should brakes. If tires are worn unevenly budget for an alignment assuming wear is not severe enough to suspect the car's bent. In this case you don't want an alignment you want to walk away from the car.

Remember these things: Price is not fact only an opinion. And there is always another car. If you find something seriously negative about this car don't feel you have to buy it. There is another car out there you'll like just as much if not more than this one and it won't have any negatives.

 

I have a 2017 JCW with a little over 30k miles. The only issues I have had are the boot seal on the hatch was leaking some water, which was covered. I also had a strut tower mount that needed to be replaced, and the dealer replaced both, no cost to me.

Zero other issues, and I drive it hard, and take it to the track.

 

Great to hear. I have had zero problems with my B38 in the last 75k, hope to follow suit with the JCW.

 

Well let's see some pictures of the one you're looking at!

 

I will get her cleaned up tomorrow and get some pictures posted. Found out is has an NM Engineering tuner, cold air kit and AWE Exhaust on the car, Who know what else the last person did.

 

I'd see if he has the OEM airbox if it's an open box CAI that he put in. I'm not a fan of those designs and the stock one is rather good.

 

yah the open box type.

 

I agree, the stock air box is perfectly fine! Short of opening the fake hood scoop and using direct air injection, having an open air box in the engine bay is a total waste of time, as far as modifications go. It amazes me why people still do that after so much proof is out there that injecting hot air from inside the engine bay actually reduces performance! But, I suppose it looks cool!

 

Depends upon altitude. At 6,500 ft, the highest octane here is 91. CAI helps.

 

Here is the new cooper as promised

 

so a quick question on a strange issue I am experiencing. When I am driving on highway and take a turn, and have to brake fast after that turn, the car pulls to the right. It does not do this any other time. Is this the DDC?

 

No, The DDC adjusts the shocks. It will make them stiffer in Sport mode.

Does the car drive straight on a level road with your hands off the steering? If so, does it stay straight when you brake?

If you make a turn, does the steering wheel self center or does it stay in a turn?

 

it does not pull any other time. The reason I though DDC is the fact that the suspension feels "soft" compared to my justa, but I did have much more aggressive tires.

 

I've noticed on fast turns and transitioning to hard braking all of the sudden the car darted back and forth a bit. My thoughts was it was the anti-lock brakes kicking in awfully early because of the inside unloaded tire.. I didn't like it. To be clear, I'm still hard turning and braking at the same time. I haven't straightened the car out yet, and it's doing this.I don't have DDC.

 

yup that is about it. I never had that happen on my 2014 Justa. The car does not feel nearly as stable as my 2014 justa during breaking. I don't know if it is the tires or something else.

 

The DDC suspension is softer than the normal suspension when on the regular mode, it is stiffer when in sport mode.
What Warren2185 is describing is the electronic nanny that is trying to keep the car inline. See if it does it when you turn off DSC and traction control.

 

so I was cleaning out my car today and noticed a switch hanging out from under dash. Seems the previous owner installed a sprint booster as well. Like so Exhaust, CAI, NM tuner and now Sprint Booster. wonder if the previous owner did anything else.

 

After taking my JCW to the dealer about the brake issue the told me that I have uneven disk ware. The pads were replace under a bulletin for free. No more breaking issues.