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

Leroi Washington

How much do the new 18″ JCW wheels weigh?
http://www.nemini.org GMINI

and what was the price on that steering wheel?????????
renaultf1

mmmm…alcantara seats…I’ll take red please :)
http://motoringfile.com Gabe

How much do the new 18″ JCW wheels weigh?

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

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…
http://www.alldigitalnyc.com drew

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

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.
http://motoringfile.com Gabe

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

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

Alacantara? What the heck is that?
http://www.detailingconcepts.com matt

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

“Alacantara? What the heck is that?”

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

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

The leather dash looks cool. But why?
davinewhvn

I mean what’s its purpose? Sorry so vague before.
http://motoringfile.com Gabe

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

Leather dash, too cool.

I wonder if red is going to be the only stitching color available?
http://www.jayandjennifer.com/minilaunch/ MrV

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.
http://www.motoringphotography.com David Bunting

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

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

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.
http://motoringfile.com Gabe

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

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

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

New JCW stuff = Very Cool
Glassintrepid

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

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.
http://www.motoringphotography.com David Bunting

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

Is that shifter of the “short throw” variety?
Mark

Great new info….thanks Gabe.
nervous

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

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?)
http://motoringfile.com Gabe

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

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

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

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.
http://motoringfile.com Gabe

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

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

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

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.
http://www.nemacolin.com alpinamike

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!

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
http://motoringfile.com Gabe

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

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.
http://Apartment7a.textamerica.com Chris

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

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

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

I soooo want all of those!
M1N1GUN

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… :-)
http://bravo5.org/blog blalor

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…

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