I'm looking at an '05 Cooper S and in the pictures it has a JCW intercooler cover and the the valve cover has the JCW sticker on it as well. Could this mean that it was changed to a JCW and not reported on the VIN? What else would be signs of it being real? I can't just run down and look at it since I am 700 miles away.

 

Vin will show jcw kit when u put it in the decoder

 

That's why I was saying that the VIN did not show the kit and was wondering if it was a dealer install and if that would then show the kit with the VIN. Any other ways to ID the full kit?

 

Appears to have the CAI and the silver intercooler cover. 1.) Mufflers would be twin tips with angle cuts that say JCW on the top. 2.) The injectors would have a blue cap (380s). 3.) There should be JCW badges front and back bumpers. 4.) There should be a JCW sticker on the back rear left corner of the valve cover. The sticker would have serial number of the JCW kit that was installed. 5.) The supercharger pulley would be smaller as stock S is 2.565 inches while the JCW is 2.285 inches in diameter.

 

I don't see the JWC air cleaner

 

The JCW Tuning Kit wasn't a factory option until November 2005 builds (2006 model year).

The 210 bhp JCW Kit (with the JCW airbox and 380 cc injectors) wasn't available until October 2004. If this 2005 MCS was built and the JCW Kit installed before that date it would be the 200 bhp version.

I wonder if a dealer could identify the version of a JCW Kit based on it's serial number.

 

Not to mention the intercooler deflector appears to have melted..

 

Thanks everyone for the input. I decided to pass on this one since there were more questions about the Mini than answers. The guy at the dealership became really shady as I asked questions too.

 

I am wondering if it was more a question of a sales person being intimidated by a customer that had more information on the car then they thought possible?

 

I would imagine that had something to do with it. I was able to find one closer to home that has some JCW goodies on it. Intake, exhaust, and the front brakes are all JCW on a 2006 royal gray with lsd I'm picking up this weekend.

 

With the 06 being a factory option you have the LSD that IMO makes it a completely different car than the 05

 

Either way it's not the way to get a car sold. I'd rather a salesperson just admit they don't know and work to find the answer than get weird about it.


This was the deciding factor when I bought my car. I did not want another front wheel drive car with an open diff.

 

Just got back from the Dragon. With the LSD no wheel slippage coming out of the corners with most of weight on the outside wheel.

Even so, I continue to be amazed at how well MINIs of all shapes and sizes handle.

 

Awesome you found another one, I would guess the yellow one might be a dealer installed and then someone left the stock intake in.

The dealerships can pull the original build and build list from the dealer add ons. If it was done afterward at another shop or the customer did it themselves, then there is no way to know.

 

06 MCS JCW is the first year of the factory install!
The VIN would not show it, as an 05 S JCW was a dealer install. Hard to say what options it has in it.