I've been contemplating adding a JCW setup to my 03 MCS. Does anyone know how much of the 5-6K spent on the mod would be recovered at the sale of the car?

 

Being one trying to sell a modified 325 with a supercahrger, you will no recover much if you sell the car. My advise from personal experience is
to leave the car stock unless you're keeping it for a long time.

 

JCW is as closest to "Stock" modding you are going to get. Remember that aside from the high cost of admission, JCW upgrades carry pedigree and also are the only ones officially approved by MINI/BMW, meaning that the next buyer of a second hand JCW equipped MINI will still receive full coverage of whatever is left on the factory warranty.


JCW should at the very least protect your resale value and desirability to used buyers. Also every JCW kit is serial numbered (Like bottles of Johnnie Walker Blue label scotch).

What kills resale value is aftermarket mods or non-JCW stuff. Typically aftermarket mods have little next to no resale value.
MINI owners that mod their cars with aftermarket componentry do so for their own pleasure, not for the next owner and expecting to make profit or recover the costs of installing such mods.

If you want the JCW upgrade, by all means do it. Is not going to hurt the resale value of your car.

 

From what I've seen, you *might* get 50% back, depending on mileage. Even with the JCW, modding a car is an expense, not an investment...

 

I would agree that adding JCW would keep the highest resale value provided you do not abuse your MCS or run up high mileage. If you track your MINI or autocross regularly then JCW will not help resale value that much.

If you drive only on the street and keep miles low you could recover maybe 30-50% of the cost but it depends on the condition of the car and your other options. If you have a fully loaded MCS with leather, sports, and premium packages then the price will already be high and adding another $6000 of options is not going to make it easier to sell, even with a warranty.

The best value of JCW is getting years of enjoyment from having it along with the security of a warranty. You'd be doing it for yourself.
If you want the most resale value then keep your MCS stock.

 

Even if you got a JCW kit and sold it implying that you "drove it like a grandma" I wouldn't believe a lick of it. Modded cars are usually driven hard, and while some mods (aftermarket turbo, a ton of engine work etc) could improve the resale, I wouldn't expect more than 2-2.5K back on your "investment". Now if you kept the car for 20+ years then you would notice a great difference in price between a JCW MCS and a stock MCS. Take the Integra GS-R for example. Right now Kelly Blue Book lists a 1997 as having a private party value of $7,420. The LS model, which does not have the Vtec engine (an extra 30hp), a moonroof, or alloys is listed at a private party value of $7,425. KBB isn't the best example, but you get the idea.

 

It probably depends on how you sell it, and to whom.

I purchased my '03 DS/B, with JCW and R90's in Jan.

The Toyota dealer I bought it from did not negotiate price based upon the presence of JCW. Rather, they priced it strictly on an "S" basis, and the JCW package was simply not relevant, to them, though they seemed to understand the car had been modified. With 13.2k on the ODO, they were asking $26k, for the above, with Leather, HK, add-on gauges, 6-disk, premium and sport packages, and the factory roof rack system.

In contrast, the MINI dealer, two miles away, had almost the exact same car, with fewer miles (9k), S-lites, heated leather, HK, premium and sport. the MINI dealer wanted $32k. In service date for this one was three months earlier than mine, and it was expressly marked "demo."

The MINI dealer apparently got $29.5k, per the MA I talked to later, and I got mine for significantly less than asking price. Note that both were the 200 hp spec JCW.

KBB at that time was ~27k for an "S" configured without JCW.