Well I thought I would start my own build thread. Seems like I just can't keep a car stock. This is our 3rd Mini. My wife had a 12 Cooper S convertible for a couple of years. Then we took a break and I got a 18 Cooper JCW hardtop. I autocrossed that one and did plenty of performance type mods. It was my DD and I got tired of the KW Coilover suspension for a daily driver so sold it. Took another break and now this car. It is not our DD. It is a fun weekend car for roadtrips and drives.

2022 F57 JCW - $46,735 MSRP. Paid $1K below that on 7/6/21 right in the height of car shortage and car craziness. This was not our build but was close enough.
White Silver Metallic. Carbon black Dinamica/Leather interior

• Iconic Trim - DDC, heated steering wheel, folding mirrors, Comfort Access, Caps in Chili Red, Black exterior trim, heated front seats, dual climate, HK Premium Sound
• Driver Assist Package - active cruise, parking assistant
• Touchscreen Nav Plus - HUD display, wireless Carplay, all the Mini junk
• JCW Bonnet stripes

Mods that are added, where we got them and price for your reference. (I will update this list as things get added)

• Carbon Fiber license bracket - Ebay ($20)
• Matte Black beltline tape - Cravenspeed ($20)
• Hardwire radar mount and "add a fuse" wire - Ebay ($35)
• Window tint and full front PPF - J&J Window tint ($1,400)
• Wheel spacers, black 15MM - Outmotoring ($290)
• Eventuri intake (on order) - Outmotoring ($890)
• Stubby Antenna - Cravenspeed ($26)

Mods that I want to do so far

• Valved exhaust
• Burger JB4 piggy back tuner
• Eventually new wheels and tires

Bone stock day of delivery.

 

So far after 2K miles hear is our first impressions on the car and comparing it to our previous Mini's.

• Still a great community and gets lots of looks.
• Car handles well and seems to be a little more civil then our previous models.
• Getting used to all the tech and setting up the car took some time. The wireless carplay is nice. I am a fan of carplay and this works nice. there are a few bugs and things I still need to work out but I think it is on my end. Can't have carplay screen up while listening to Sirius if you want to see the sirius information and song info.
• It is stupid and annoying that I cannot get my horn or a chirp to sound when locking the car. We didn't get the alarm so this function can't be done but the car still has a horn so why not Mini.
• MPG on our first 1,200 roadtrip was about 32 MPG. Roadtrip was fun, car was comfy on a few long days no problem.
• Yesterday was the first real drive in the twisties and in sport mode. When not shifting with the paddles and letting the car shift it is very clunky in the town. I found myself taking it out of sport mode when driving in a town we pulled through. Need more time with this.

Ended up visiting Barber Motorsports on our roadtrip.

 

Mods so far then I will do more detailed write ups for each mod. These were just some basic things.

• Tinted all the corner markers so they would blend in a bit better to the fenders. Tint "stickers" from Amazon. Sticks right on and then you cut with an exacto.

• Then I did the belt line tape from Cravenspeed.

• Then I added the 15MM black spacers from Outmotoring. Some before and after pics.

 

Well today I got a surprise and my Eventuri intake showed up about 8 weeks earlier than they said at Outmotoring. This guys so far have been awesome to deal with. I got the cheaper (yeah not cheap) non CF version as I do not plan on showing my car so no need for the CF inside. I will say the product is top quality for sure. Even from the packaging and care they take I will say it was a nice touch. With taking pictures the install took an hour and most of that was on the hood scoop. Super easy to do. Here are some before, during and after photos.

You can see how it was shipped. Tons of bubble wrap etc.

Before



Little white piece clicks out with a screw driver before removing the MAF sensor.


Out with the old.


Finished product




I will say the toughest part was removing the old hood scoop. At least on the 2022 you can only get to one of the clips to help push it out and start the removal. I think you could have used a trim removal tool from the top but I really was being careful. I used needle nosed pliers to squeeze the one center black clip you can get to and then I pushed. I was able to then easily get a trim tool in and pull the old scoop off. I did break a few of the tabs but they give you new ones for the install.

After a short drive I will say it is nice. The butt dyno says there is a small difference. Nothing to go crazy about in my book. It does not sound any different which is good in my book. I didn't want some turbo whine or something. I am sure it will maybe help a bit with MPG but we will see. Over all I like the product. It looks good and very top notch and like it belongs unlike some very basic options out there.