Last week there was a thread that floated the idea of a John Cooper Works Kit for the CVT COOPER coming to the U.S. After further questioning by the original poster with his source, the information came into question and the thread was pulled at the request of the original poster.

That still left the issue hanging about whether or not the JCW COOPER kit was coming to the U.S., and if so, whether there would be a JCW CVT.

Mark Ferguson followed up with the Product Manager at MINIUSA for clarification.

This morning MINIUSA responded with the following information:
- It doesn't make economic sense to bring the JCW COOPER kit to the U.S.
- The cost of the JCW COOPER kit (without installation) would be nearly as much as the $3000 price difference to get the COOPER S, while producing significantly less power than a COOPER S (COOPER = 115 HP, JCW COOPER = 130 HP, COOPER S = 163 HP)
- The JCW COOPER kit does not work on the CVT.

Dave

 

So....it makes economic sense for those in Great Britain to have the JCW available on the Cooper? Interesting.

 

I think the price points in the UK are different. From memory, there is a much bigger gap between the Cooper and the MCS, which give more "wriggle-room" on the cost of the kit.

 

There is more to it than just "economics" There is an emissions issue there as well I believe. And fixing that to US standards would be prohibitve based on how many kits they would sell. And of course, selling more MCS models to power hungry Cooper owners is a good thing.

 

Hey, I'm taking this as a positive... one less thing to buy :smile: . One less big thing to buy . Thanks, Mark & Dave!

 

>>So....it makes economic sense for those in Great Britain to have the JCW available on the Cooper? Interesting.

Remember JCW is an independent tuning company, just like Dinan or anybody else. JCW has gone through the development process to ensure that their package is "blessed" by BMW/MINI worldwide. I would bet that JCW in UK is installed and done BY JCW, not the dealers. Thereby allowing JCW to offer it regardless of what the BMW/MINI beancounters think.

In the US the exclusive channel for JCW is through MINIUSA. So MINIUSA gets to make the determination of whether it doesn't make sense financially.

Honestly I agree. I wouldn't bother to spend that kind of money on my Cooper when it would make much more sense to just buy an "S"

 

My actual point is that MINI really would like Cooper owners to have one upgrade choice - and that is a move to the MCS, not mod their Coopers. Believe me, many of us have already exceeded that $3000 bump to the MCS. Selling or trading in my Cooper for an MCS is a money losing proposition, no matter which way I look at it.

I personally would not go with the JCW on the Cooper in any case. Regardless of whether getting anything powerwise out of the Cooper is like getting blood from a stone, I sort of fell into the whole upgrade scene. Quite frightening actually.

 

>>Honestly I agree. I wouldn't bother to spend that kind of money on my Cooper when it would make much more sense to just buy an "S"

===>Yes, that is true. Thus, I've purposefully aimed all of my mods early on to be visual (rims, etc.), audio (exhaust, etc.), and functional (autocrossin', baby!). Realized at the semi-start that power couldn't really be factored in sensibly. Nevertheless, I'm an extremely stoked motorer

 

I would have got the JCW for the MC if available, because I wanted the MCS but due to bad knees do not want to drive the stick. I could a little bit, but not regularly. So, I got the CVT, and the dealer installed the Madness CAI and exhaust. I want more performance, and will add more upgrades over time. I am not bothered that MINI won't sell their JCW over here, as there are planty of quality parts available. The JCW for the MC includes a modified head, and there is no JCW shop here to do that as there is in England, so I have been wondering how they would have done that over here, but now we don't have to worry about that.

 

The JCW COOPER S kit in the U.S. has the head being replaced too. It is done as a core exchange (i.e. they sell you the new machined head, but your old head goes back to MINI/JCW).

 

Has anyone driven a 5-speed JCW Cooper in Europe? Do the extra 15HP make a world of a difference? If the JCW Cooper package wasn't worth it from a value and performance standpoint, so then why BMW and John Cooper Works bothered developing it?

It all boils down to dollars and cents. MINIUSA wants to make as much profit as they can on every car and every performance package they sell here. At $1K or $2K the JCW Cooper package would be a reasonable compromise for those customers that for a) or b) reason are not interested in moving up to a new MCS. Perhaps MINIUSA wants to pocket at least $3K to $4K for each new JCW Cooper package (The MCS JCW package retails for $4.5K not including labor) so they figured that no one would be stupid enough to pay all that dough for a "measly" 15HP gain when the same money buys you 48HP, more torque, a Supercharged engine with all the fixings, SS+ suspension, a 6-speed Getrag box and all the'S' cosmetics...its a no brainer.

So in the eyes of MINIUSA, it makes way much more financial sense just to have existing "Power hungry" Cooper owners to trade in their 5-speeds and CVTs for new MCS' and if they still feel that 163HP right out of the box is not enough, they are welcome to plunk another $6.5K and voila you are in the 200HP stratosphere!.


So for every disgruntled Cooper owner moving to a full fledge JCW MCS, they are making at least $9.5K per car!

 

Many tuning companies here and abroad offer mods that would easily eclipse the performance of the JCS Cooper kit for less money... Same goes for the MCS, which is why I wonder why anyone in their right mind would go for the JCW kit for either model?

FWIW, the MC has a 150 pound weight advantage over the MCS. The 5-Speed's gears are nicely spaced and seems reliable so far to 145 hp at the wheels (several people are running at least that much), which you can do for about the $3K difference between the MC and MCS. Which leaves me wondering if a hopped-up MC has run a stock MCS? And given it a run for its money? I'm betting it would...

Personally, I love my MC... and I love hanging with the MCS' in our club on runs in the twisties - many of whom have very modified cars. Haven't had a problem keeping up yet except on very long straights and you can catch back up in the curves, relying on good driving instead of hp.

Both models have their advantages, IMHO. It only seems to be the MCS drivers that have chips on their shoulders, but it's no different than with other enthusiast groups. I take it with a grain of salt, and enjoy keeping up with them, tongue in cheek...

 

DiD,
9 months ago when I owned a CVT I e-mailed info@johncooper.co.uk and asked them:
"> I am in the USA and I know the Works Kit is coming out here soon.
> I wanted to know if you could send me the specs on the CVT Kit? The pdf
> on your site only gives info on the Cooper."

The responce:
"Many thanks for your email
The Works kit for Cooper is exactly the same be it manual or CVT

Best regards

Paul Cooper
"

According to JCW the kit works just fine on the CVT.

 

What I posted above came directly from MINIUSA. If John Cooper Works is saying the Cooper Kit works on the CVT then I'd probably trust them. It's their kit afterall.

In any case, it's a bit academic because again, according to the Product Manager at MINIUSA the JCW COOPER kit is not coming to the U.S.

 

Dave,
I wasn't douting where you got the data, just wanted to add in what I got from JCW.

As far as JCW is concerned you can buy a kit, ship it here and install it yourself. It won't be cheap but it's posible.

I solved the problem a better way, I got an MCS

 

No offense taken. :smile: I'm glad you added that bit in. Personally, I'd really like some super motivated CVT owner to import the kit and install it.

 

How much is the JCW Cooper kit in the UK?

I might be interested.

 

I'd like a JCW kit for my Cooper for no other reason than to have a JCW Cooper. Extra performance would be welcomed openly.

_________________
-goin440 IB/IB MC

 

>>Many tuning companies here and abroad offer mods that would easily eclipse the performance of the JCS Cooper kit for less money... Same goes for the MCS, which is why I wonder why anyone in their right mind would go for the JCW kit for either model?
>>
>>FWIW, the MC has a 150 pound weight advantage over the MCS. The 5-Speed's gears are nicely spaced and seems reliable so far to 145 hp at the wheels (several people are running at least that much), which you can do for about the $3K difference between the MC and MCS. Which leaves me wondering if a hopped-up MC has run a stock MCS? And given it a run for its money? I'm betting it would...
>>
>>Personally, I love my MC... and I love hanging with the MCS' in our club on runs in the twisties - many of whom have very modified cars. Haven't had a problem keeping up yet except on very long straights and you can catch back up in the curves, relying on good driving instead of hp.
>>
>>Both models have their advantages, IMHO. It only seems to be the MCS drivers that have chips on their shoulders, but it's no different than with other enthusiast groups. I take it with a grain of salt, and enjoy keeping up with them, tongue in cheek...
____________________
zgokart is a proud pony with 115 horses. Very virginal with Sport suspension and K&N drop in filter. Suits my need and I'm able to keep up with most everyday traffic.

Just yesterday, coming home from my waterfowl photo-op adventure, a couple of pickup trucks and a Ford Taurus station wagon were playing macho and driving excessively fast along a canyon road. They were going over 75 mph. I stayed behind and watched this madness, until the trucks finally pulled out of a long line of vehicles ahead. Zgokart said, enough of this. Downshifted to 4th gear and the car emitted a nice growl which began to roar mightily going up a 6% grade at 80 mph and over 5000 rpm. Whoosh, the Taurus is memory and I keep up with the two trucks for a while before sanity got the better of me and I slowed down.

Too bad, because this baby had a lot more pep left and was rarin' for a good fight.