I just purchased a black mesh grill on eBay. It's the black mesh JCW style. Since my Cabrio is a 2007 I hope I made the right choice because the grill fits Mini's from 2002-2006. The lower(middle grill) grill is not supposed to need any modifications at all to fit unlike the Aero Grille. Does anybody know if I made a big mistake with the year selection? The grill was $79.99 plus shipping so I decided to take a chance.

This is the eBay item number in case anybody's interested 350251697172

 

For the 1st gen, the only OEM black mesh grill is in fact the aero kit version. Some modification is required to fit the lower grill on a standard bumper. Look here: https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...tallation.html

 

I read that thread on the modifications and I was hoping not to have to do it. I'm guessing that this is probably not a OEM grill then! I asked the vendor if it needed any modifications and they said no. It's possible they don't know what they're talking about and it does need to be modified.
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The vendor is wrong. The OEM MINI black lower grill does require modification. The only one available from MINI is for the Aero Kit bumper. MINI did not make one that fit the standard bumper directly. This is true for 1st gen MINI.

 

It wouldn't surprise me a bit that the vendor is wrong. I have no problem doing the modification. But I was hoping that this one was new and improved, LOL. At least the price was not bad. I'll have to whip out the X-Acto knife and dremel and get to work

 

As the OP stated, this might not be OEM. In fact, looking at the ad, it's almost certainly an aftermarket part.

Themajikman - this looks kind of interesting, please post some pics and your impression of the quality of this grille. Thanks

 

I only took a brief glance at it before, but looking at it again I would have to agree that it's aftermarket. However notice that it's pictured on an aero bumper. Most likely they used the OEM aero grille as their template.

 

Good point - still interested in hearing about how this install goes and what it looks like...

 

I'll definitely be posting how it goes and post some pictures

 

The vendor was definitely wrong in this case! The lower grill definitely needs to be modified. Even though the mods are relatively doable am going to be sending the grill back. Since I bought the car for my wife for our anniversary, she ultimately has the final say. And she'd definitely likes the standard grill instead of the black mesh . All is well