2006 John Cooper Works Accessories

Sections: JCW | R50 (Coupe) | R52 (Conv.) | R53 (Coupe) Oct 19th, 2005 76 Comments

Update: We’ve got photos and new info below!

Despite 2006 being the last year for the current generation MINI, JCW has a few new products in the pipeline for the venerable R50 and R53. Beyond the highly anticipated JCW MCSa Engine kit, JCW will be releasing a new collection of interior accessories:

Leather Dash (with contrast stitching in a variety of colors)
Leather Trim (shift ring, cub holder surround) [photo]
Carbon Fiber Trim (shift ring, cub holder surround)
Leather and Carbon Fiber Steering Wheel [photo]
Carbon Fiber and Alcantara Steering Wheel [photo]
Leather and Carbon Fiber Shift Knob and boot
Carbon Fiber Shift Knob and Alcantara boot [photo]
Carbon Fiber E-Brake handle and Leather sleeve
Carbon Fiber E-Brake handle and Alcantara sleeve
Carbon Fiber Down-tubes [photo]
Leather Down-tubes
Alcantara JCW Sport Seats (most likely not coming to the US)
JCW Indoor and Outdoor Car Cover [photo]
Checkered Flag Floor Mats [photo]

Interestingly we got this email from Juan Coles a few weeks back:

Last week I was on the John Cooper Works website and I saw a few items that have since been removed for some reason. The items I noticed were a new alacantara seat, carbon fiber dash tower pieces, carbon fiber shift knob, alacantara steering wheel with carbon fiber and carbon fiber trim and stick shift rings. Has anyone seen these items or know what they are? And if so where did they go?

Good question Juan. I’d guess that someone pulled the trigger a few weeks early and quickly realized the mistake as that vaguely matches what we’ve been hearing about the 2006 JCW products.

When you combine these new accessories with the just released R105 18″ wheels and the JCW rear spoiler, 2006 would seem to be another banner year for JCW. Prices and availability information should be coming in the weeks ahead.

(Big thanks to Marc for the pics)

Written By: Gabe

76 Comments

Leroi Washington Oct 19th, 2005 Link

How much do the new 18″ JCW wheels weigh?

GMINI Oct 19th, 2005 Link

and what was the price on that steering wheel?????????

renaultf1 Oct 19th, 2005 Link

mmmm…alcantara seats…I’ll take red please :)

Gabe Oct 19th, 2005 Link

How much do the new 18″ JCW wheels weigh?

About the same as the other 18″ JCW wheels… 23lbs.

Micah Oct 19th, 2005 Link

The eternal question is whether any of this stuff will be available in the States — both the seats and steering wheel could have air bag issues. I love how grippy Alacantra is, and would welcome these products to the US market.

My guess is that the Alacantra seats and steering wheel will be incorporated into the new lightweight Mini as well…

drew Oct 19th, 2005 Link

and where…for the love of god…is the jcw kit for the mcsa…?

tanya Oct 19th, 2005 Link

A carbon fiber cup holder. If that is not the definition of “rice,” I don’t know what is. John Cooper is rolling in his grave.

Gabe Oct 19th, 2005 Link

A carbon fiber cup holder. If that is not the definition of “rice,” I don’t know what is. John Cooper is rolling in his grave.

Made specially for the American market :) BTW I can’t believe it took a whole three hours for someone to comment on that!

Bryn Oct 19th, 2005 Link

Not much point in carbon fibre for a gearknob either IMO – since the more mass in the knob, the better the shift.

Chester's Liver Oct 19th, 2005 Link

Alacantara? What the heck is that?

matt Oct 19th, 2005 Link

love the steering wheel and the alacantara, not so much the down tube

indimini Oct 19th, 2005 Link

“Alacantara? What the heck is that?”

It is a man-made fabric with the look and feel of suede with better wear properties.

mataku Oct 19th, 2005 Link

checkboard floormats sound cool can’t wait to see the prices on those.

davinewhvn Oct 19th, 2005 Link

The leather dash looks cool. But why?

davinewhvn Oct 19th, 2005 Link

I mean what’s its purpose? Sorry so vague before.

Gabe Oct 19th, 2005 Link

The leather dash looks cool. But why?

Because it looks cool :) I can’t wait to see this in person. It looks amazing.

Seth L Oct 19th, 2005 Link

Leather dash, too cool.

I wonder if red is going to be the only stitching color available?

MrV Oct 19th, 2005 Link

I do love the leather dash. Hope that red isn’t the only stiching.

What is a little disapointing is that it doesn’t appear as if the Leather Dash replaces the top portion, only the three front pieces. That will look a little odd to me.

It makes me wonder though, couldn’t a decent leather shop do something like this locally? And my bet is that they would do it ALOT cheaper (I’m just guessing based on JCW prices in the past). Hmmmmm.

Never a fan of the boy-racer carbon fiber stuff. Never saw the point.

David Bunting Oct 19th, 2005 Link

What is a little disapointing is that it doesn’t appear as if the Leather Dash replaces the top portion, only the three front pieces. That will look a little odd to me.

I had the same intial reaction. It just seems strange to me to have leather front pieces capped off with the hard plastic top.

If there was one piece I’d like to see in leather it would be the top of the dash, and then have an option of keeping the “normal” front pieces or replacing them with leather as shown above.

GSKChicago Oct 19th, 2005 Link

The leather dash looks solid.

Wonder if it’s the same leather used in our Mini’s or if it’s a higher grade, softer leather?

Either way, it looks outstanding.

Nathaniel Salzman Oct 19th, 2005 Link

Wow, the leather dash is tops! Pair that with cloth/red leather seats or the english leather seats and you’d have one sweet cockpit. I’m with you MrV, the popularity of carbon fiber everything makes no sense to me either.

Gabe Oct 19th, 2005 Link

What is a little disapointing is that it doesn’t appear as if the Leather Dash replaces the top portion, only the three front pieces. That will look a little odd to me.

I had the same intial reaction. It just seems strange to me to have leather front pieces capped off with the hard plastic top.

This makes it much simpler to swap out. If they did the entire top part of the dash they’d have to worry about the passenger airbag not to mention the assumed high price of the entire leather dash.

BMW also does this on their cars. Just basically coat the trim in leather

Leroi Washington Oct 19th, 2005 Link

I love the shift knob and e-brake handle. ACtually I will take one of each please. Hopefully these goodies will be available for the holidays…

tscheez Oct 19th, 2005 Link

i wonder if that leather dash is quieter than the plastic one. I like it.

johnsocal Oct 19th, 2005 Link

New JCW stuff = Very Cool

Glassintrepid Oct 19th, 2005 Link

What is the little thing ontop of the speedo? That looks interesting!

rossii Oct 19th, 2005 Link

I think sticking the JCW Logo on everything is tacky. How many logos would you have if you had the all the interior JCW accessories? They should just incorporate the colors and leave it at that. Just my .02.

David Bunting Oct 19th, 2005 Link

Originally posted by Glassintrepid — What is the little thing ontop of the speedo? That looks interesting!

As seen previously on MF, the JCW Shift Indicator

greg Oct 19th, 2005 Link

Is that shifter of the “short throw” variety?

Mark Oct 19th, 2005 Link

Great new info….thanks Gabe.

nervous Oct 19th, 2005 Link

That leather dash is flippin’ HOT! I was really trying to keep the next MINI down to $35,000.00 (US) – looks like to match the dash I’ll have to get leather seats again – While at it I might as well throw-in the JCW wheels, too. OK, now I’m definitely over $40g’s.

Edge Oct 19th, 2005 Link

Bleh – not that interesting to me… I love JCW stuff… the PERFORMANCE stuff. Not too big on the bling though. The only pure bling JCW thing I bought is the sill covers, but they are somewhat subtle.

I was hoping for more performance-enhancing pieces… including another tuning kit performance bump? (Rumors of the new lightweight limited edition having 235hp of JCW power only begs the question… will there be a 210hp -> 235hp retrofit update?)

Gabe Oct 19th, 2005 Link

A carbon fiber cup holder. If that is not the definition of “rice,” I don’t know what is. John Cooper is rolling in his grave.

Looks like that should have said “carbon fiber trim” which happens to be near the two cupholders. Sorry for the confusion. I knew that didn’t sound quite right.

phaedrus Oct 19th, 2005 Link

All of this has been on the John Cooper Works section of the MINI international site for quite some time.

dgszweda Oct 19th, 2005 Link

Steering wheel, steering wheel, steering wheel. I got to have one!

Nathaniel Salzman Oct 19th, 2005 Link

I think sticking the JCW Logo on everything is tacky. How many logos would you have if you had the all the interior JCW accessories? They should just incorporate the colors and leave it at that. Just my .02.

AMEN! The JCW logo is tacky to begin with (in my humble designer opinion) – it’s a total disconnect from the sharpness of the MINI brand and so amateur-looking which so so sad given the prestige and quality of the JCW performance parts. Even if it were nothing more original than the JCW initials with parallel bars ala BMW’s “M” it would be better than their current mark.

Here we go: An Illustrator Doodle

(forgive me if the link doesn’t work)

They really do overbadge all the JCW accessories and with that logo as crummy-looking as it is, it’s a total turnoff. I’d love the shifter handle if it didn’t have the “sticker” on the top of it.

Gabe Oct 19th, 2005 Link

AMEN! The JCW logo is tacky to begin with (in my humble designer opinion) – it’s a total disconnect from the sharpness of the MINI brand and so amateur-looking which so so sad given the prestige and quality of the JCW performance parts. Even if it were nothing more original than the JCW initials with parallel bars ala BMW’s “M” it would be better than their current mark.

I totally agree with you that, as a piece of work, the JCW logo is really quite bad. In fact when I first saw it I figured it was just a place holder for the final version. However, that said, I really have come to appreciate the look.. even if I don’t actually like the look (if that makes any sense).

Of course nothing compares to that damn “S” on the Cooper S. That has to be the worst single piece of design on the entire car. I so want to debadge!

groland Oct 19th, 2005 Link

Looking at the steering wheel in both pictures it seems like the materials on the grip are reversed, yet the MINI logo is straight in both images. Or is it just the lighting and the material is the same all the way around?

Nathaniel Salzman Oct 19th, 2005 Link

Yeah, the “S” is pretty horrid all by its lonesome. I don’t mind it so much on the rear badge, but all alone (like on the floor mats or door cills) it is just awful. Thankfully they haven’t plastered it all over the place. It, like the JCW mark, looks like such an afterthought – or worse, the very first idea with no revisions. I mean seriously, could we spend 45 minutes with a sketchpad instead of just slapping it on the car?

Yegor Oct 19th, 2005 Link

I am glad JCW doesn’t make windshields, otherwise we would have a large logo blocking the view. LOL

I absolutely agree. The JCW logo is poorly designed, even if it’s 30 or 40 years old. They abused it by putting on all JCW interior accessories.

alpinamike Oct 19th, 2005 Link

All i have to say is finally a leather OEM stiched dash, just like BMW has been doing for over 50 years. This is the british looking MINI now.Just like Rolls Royce. I wonder the quailty of the leather, so you do not get the banjo effect?? Found on all other poorly done dashes. Stiches have to be done at corner to avoid this! The pic looks like someone drew with a “red marker” for the stiching. I can’t wait till the “ALPINA” made MINI, they have the rims but nothing else. This will be a upgrade for the JCW. I look for this in the next year. I beat the auto mags on this. But the bad part , look for $50,000+ for this option, heck it might even go $60,000 considering what Alpina BMW’s go for. -alpinamike

Todd! Oct 19th, 2005 Link

If you take away the JCW logo (which I think looks like a dogs breakfast) you are left with the exact same thing as other companies have been bringing out for three + years…

It has taken them this long to wake up to it and even then they couldnt get it right.

The seats are cool, but I’m not going to sell my first born for them!

Maybe we should approach MINI with the concept of a competition to create a new logo for John Cooper Works – one we would all be proud of…

The prize could be a JCW MINI – with costs of design these days, that should cover the bill for a world wide branding exercise… :-p

Gabe Oct 19th, 2005 Link

I can’t wait till the “ALPINA” made MINI, they have the rims but nothing else. This will be a upgrade for the JCW. I look for this in the next year. I beat the auto mags on this. But the bad part , look for $50,000+ for this option, heck it might even go $60,000 considering what Alpina BMW’s go for. -alpinamike

Last I heard Alpina dropped the idea of a MINI upgrade back in 2002 due to high costs. The wheels (which are incredible looking) were the only thing to actually make it to market. They’re very similar to what was available on the Alpina Z8.

M1N1GUN Oct 19th, 2005 Link

Leather dash, too cool. I wonder if red is going to be the only stitching color available?

MINI’s International website says that the leather stitching will come in a variety of colours :D And I’m loving the Alcantara seats and steering wheel although I’ll never spend the ridiculous amount of money I’m sure it’s going to cost.

And I totally agree with others regarding the JCW logo – it’s a shocker. Back in the day when I was considering the Works kit, I was confident that I would not include the exterior badges. Come on BMW, lets have a design contest.

Chris Oct 20th, 2005 Link

Wow-o-Wow!!! I really really want those floor mates! They’re amazing! I can’t take my eyes off them!

I love JCW!

Baker Oct 20th, 2005 Link

Whats the go with slapping leather everywhere? To me, the majority of the leather stuff they’re offering loks terrible… why do I need leather surrounded cupholders!?!!

I also can’t see why these are JCW accessories.. just a way to totally kill a performance brand by making every Mini OEM Aftermarket item “JCW”.

PeB Oct 20th, 2005 Link

Hello, the prices are available in germany. I know someone who receive the new catalog with prices… What price do you want ?

Wizz Oct 20th, 2005 Link

I soooo want all of those!

M1N1GUN Oct 20th, 2005 Link

Hello, the prices are available in germany. I know someone who receive the new catalog with prices… What price do you want ?

Why be picky, list ‘em all… :-)

blalor Oct 20th, 2005 Link

Gabe, you need a new list item for the Cover (next to last).

floor mats: barf.

Actually, same thing for the steering wheel and shifter. Brushed aluminum would do better than the c/f for the shifter knob, and probably the same for the steering wheel.

That logo really does look horribly tacked on with the shifter…

Josh Oct 20th, 2005 Link

So it looks like with the Carbon Fiber and Alcantara Steering Wheel you lose the muntifuntion buttons. Does this mean you would also lose cruise control? Is there some other way to activate it other than the steering wheel?

Larkin W. Oct 20th, 2005 Link

Whoa!! I’d love set of those seats. I have Alacantra seats in my Integra Type R and would love the option to spec my 06′ cooper with Alacantra seats too.

-Larkin

Eric Oct 20th, 2005 Link

Where is the MCSa JCW???! Will it happen for 2006???

Eelke Oct 20th, 2005 Link

Can someone please explain how to do the quoting? :)

Quoting Yegor: “I absolutely agree. The JCW logo is poorly designed, even if it’s 30 or 40 years old.”

Er… It’s not. The JCW-logo as it is “featured” on all these new products is just about as old as the first JCW kit for the 200x MCS.

What is 30 or 40 years old is the fully spelled out word “Cooper” in squary letters (Mini2.com deja-vue, the JCW-logo was getting a beating over there only a few days ago). With or without laurels, with or without “Mini” or “S” along with it, in various color schemes, but the squary letters has been a theme as long as I can remember, and used for just about any Cooper-branded product.

I actually find it a bloody shame (pardon the French) they abandoned the old logo, which has so much heritage, and replaced it with the current one (which, I fully agree, is just a poor, cheap looking design). BTW, although the M-inspired logo looks cleaner, I don’t think that associating JCW with BMW M is the way to go ;)

To comment on the new products, apart from the logo being everywhere, I dislike all the use of carbon fibre as well. Fine for those that want it, but it looks like that if you want some JCW-branded products, you have to accept CF comes with it. I would think that having an alternative line where the CF is replaced with brushed aluminium would be an instant hit.

Eelke Oct 20th, 2005 Link

Actually, the squary “Cooper” logo is probably older than the very first Mini Cooper, even, so it might well be a lot more than 40 years.

M1N1GUN Oct 20th, 2005 Link

Can someone please explain how to do the quoting? :)

Just follow the instructions of the 4th bullet point in the yellow box “The Fine Print” at the bottom of the page. :) Just paste the text you want to quote in-between the two blockquotes just as it shows, including the symbols.

drew Oct 20th, 2005 Link

i hear ya eric – it seems the jcw mcsa kit has been having a real problem clearing emissions and they are still tweaking the ecu. hopefully soon…

GBMiniGirl Oct 20th, 2005 Link

I need those floor mats!!!!!

Micah Oct 20th, 2005 Link

I must agree with Eelke and others that the ubiquitous use carbon fiber is tacky and looks bad. CF certainly has some functional uses, but when it is used purely as a cosmetic add-on (shifter handle, dash cover) it just looks cheesy IMO. From an aesthetic standpoint brushed alumiminum and leather are much more attractive, and also have better tactile feel than the “slick plastic” feel of CF.

carcounsel.com Oct 20th, 2005 Link

sad to see JCW spending so much of their effort on cosmetics – guess they’re twiddling their thumbs til the new MINI engines and chassis can be tuned ; )

Eric Oct 20th, 2005 Link

Drew, well if that is the case (tweaking emissions and all), with how picky the U.S. can be regarding that, it might not happen! :-0

Hopefully out before Christmas so at least it gets half a model-year to be offered for sale.

…crossing fingers…

drew Oct 20th, 2005 Link

i think they’ve put too much work into it to scrap it. it will appear…just keep saying that over and over..lol…

drew Oct 20th, 2005 Link

i think they’ve put too much work into it to scrap it. it will appear…just keep saying that over and over..lol…

Eric Oct 20th, 2005 Link

Hehehehe…let’s hope so…

In the meanwhile, that is sweet they are releasing an alcantara steering wheel. Those things feel unbelievably sweer!

j Oct 20th, 2005 Link

can we get a petition to bring over the seats?

Bryn Oct 21st, 2005 Link

Just forced myself to take another look at this collection. So, the idea is that you add weight with the leather stuff and take it off by replacing with carbon fibre….? Or are the offerings two ranges: one for the ‘gentleman’s club’ stylists and the other for the racer lookalikes.John Cooper – like Colin Chapman – was one of the most unfluential race car engineers and designers of his day. Consequently, the Cooper name was once synonymous with competition and performance. I truly cringe to see that heritage devalued and his name being exploited by its attachment to these unproductive embellishments.

Bryn Oct 21st, 2005 Link

“oops!” John Cooper was influential NOT ‘unfluential.’ Apologies for typo

mert Oct 21st, 2005 Link

I think you should give more ınformatıon about prices.. but At the same tıme everything is perfect..

Greg W Oct 22nd, 2005 Link

The Leather dash treatment probably harks back to old original Cooper Mk1 and Mk2 models – these had a leather covering on the steel where the ashtray and heater vents are, and on the lower crossmember which housed the key and switches panel. The Cooper Car logo – squarish letters in a round circle go back to pre-mini days. I cannot recall an official “works” badge, only a badge mini-cooper in a laurel wreath. The new name “John Cooper Works” superceeded “John Cooper Garages”, so is not that old, perhaps made for new MINI. Check out http://www.johncooper.co.uk

Bryn Oct 23rd, 2005 Link

Are you sure that circle was round, Greg?

Eric Oct 23rd, 2005 Link

Any idea on date-of-availability and pricing info., Gabe?

Gabe Oct 23rd, 2005 Link

Any idea on date-of-availability and pricing info., Gabe?

Nope. As soon as I get prices and availability info I’ll post it…

///ACS330Ci Oct 28th, 2005 Link

Must have Alcantara JCW Sport Seats!!!

Tiaan Oct 29th, 2005 Link

drools Alcantara/CF Steering wheel & Alcantara JCW Buckets drools

Just when I thought all was lost with MINI violating my eyes with their new concept cars, JCW comes to the rescue!

Also, to those of you out that that ask “what’s the point of CF?”, I ask in response, “what’s the point of chrome?”. Because they serve exactly the same purpose in this application…

Even the ‘ricers’ mini owners so love to pay out on wouldn’t truly believe they are getting any real ‘performance’ benefit out of CF cupholders – it’s done because it looks cool…

Just don’t let me see the prices for these lovely bits of kit – as they say, never let the truth get in the way of a good story!

David Jul 1st, 2007 Link

It’s better to leave the top surface made of plastic.

Leather doesn’t hold up well to the kind of direct exposure it gets in a fron’t windshield on top of the dash. It also shrinks a lot when it gets dry and hot. The top surface of the dash does get very hot, especially when the car is parked, baking in the sun on a hot summer day. Leather in that location would shrink, come loose, pop the stitching and eventually warp the whole dash. BMW has tried all-leather dashes (e.g. E24 BMW L6), but they generally have the problems I mentioned.

Gabe Jul 1st, 2007 Link

that part of the dash doesnt really get hot like the top does.

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