MINI USA Officially Releases the R56 JCW Kit

The US spec cars already have the manifold installed from the factory.

well that explains the 2007 jcw monster car i saw being assembled at prestige yesterday… the certificate was kit #00047. the car was red, looked exactly like the car in the jcw brochure and completely decked out with every jcw doodad you could ever imagine. i also saw the jcw suspension kit sitting next to it (still in the box) so i would guess this car is going to be the holy grail of jcw demo cars.

I look forward to a review detailing the measurable performance improvements and, maybe more important, the change in driving feel. Coming soon, Gabe?

I wonder if the new JCW exhaust tips are the same size as the old JCW tips. I find I don’t like the R56 exhaust design and the JCW is much nicer, but I would think they would need to be much larger in diameter or else they would look smaller than the standard ones.

They probably got the VIN number thing from Harley. It’s a way of protecting intellectual property and making sure if you get another MINI down the road, you have to spend the $2000+ again.

Hmmm…..the acceleration numbers on the chart demonstrate the superior torque of the the R56 JCW package, but I’m not going to drag anybody from 50-75 in 4th gear, let alone 6th. Why didn’t they include a 3rd gear pull? Because the R56 would LOSE……

LannyMCS Aug 28th, 2007 Link Hmmm…..the acceleration numbers on the chart demonstrate the superior torque of the the R56 JCW package, but I’m not going to drag anybody from 50-75 in 4th gear, let alone 6th. Why didn’t they include a 3rd gear pull? Because the R56 would LOSE……

How do you figure? 0-60 the same and every other pull is faster. Sounds like someone is hitting the crack pipe of jealousy.

LoL

I’m wondering if this lower powered JCW kit will be available on the R56 with an automatic.

hmmm, well, so this is basically a JCW sound kit for the new S then. Kind of interesting. Other than the manifold, which US cars already have anyway. Im a big JCW fan, so that doesnt bother me, i just find it interesting that the new s “kit” is basically the “old” cooper sound kit, for all intensive purposes.

and talking about porsches, my friend in his 03 JCW literally chased one off the track in a corner, haha, he wishs he had is camera rolling for that one!

Beecher

Just to throw a little JCW GP comparison into the mix – the GP’s “official” 0-60 mph time is 0.1 sec. faster at 6.4 sec. (0-62 mph in 6.5) with 184 lb/ft torque, nearly identical to the new JCW torque of 185 lb/ft. So for this comparison the JCW GP is still faster with 25 more hp – 214 vs. 189.

BTW the GP’s 50-75 mph times are identical to the R56 JCW, theoretically, due to the identical torque figures.

All this being said, it is impressive that the R56 JCW with 13 percent fewer hp is nearly a match the the JCW GP. The stage II JCW next year should put the car over the top of the GP for sure.

How do you figure? 0-60 the same and every other pull is faster. Sounds like someone is hitting the crack pipe of jealousy.

I think there’s plenty to like about the R56, and the price of this package is a welcome surprise; now you can do a stripped S with just LSD and the JCW tune and be at around 24K, which wasn’t remotely possible with the R53.

But, I guess I’m just used to the next gen cars being demonstrably better than their predecessor, and I would have expected a bigger leap in acceleration than what we’re seeing here. I’m certainly not jealous if by some chance this R56 JCW is a tick or two faster than my car; with the light weight and what we’ve seen from other turbo designs, I would have expected this car to be way faster…….plus I’ve still got the burble ;=]….

I think that 99% of MINI owners(!) vastly under-estimate their own car’s track prowess. Completely stock the 2007 MCS (and to a slightly lesser extent the previous version) are extremely capable on the track. I think this talk of a tenth here and a tenth there plus all the countless hours wasted on auguring about modifications can be pretty laughable when you actually spend quite a bit of quality time on the track with professional instruction. It can be fun to debate but at the end of the day these cars are very capable straight from the factory. I’ve found that 99% of the time the limiting factor is what is between the driver’s ears.

This is true to a degree, depending on the track (Long straightaways are the bane of the MINIs existence)–all the mods in the world won’t make a bit of difference if you don’t take the time to learn to drive. In the novice class, (despite not being all that great of a driver, I’m still in early learning mode), I recently passed a GT3 multiple times (Highlight of my day), Boxster S, and 5 series BMW, Z3, and would have caught an RX8 given more time. I did however get passed by a very, very fast (older) M3, and the car that ran the fastest in our group was a well driven GTI (never passed me but would have if he’d had enough time), a car closer to the the MINI than a GT3 (This was on a track less than two miles long with 12 turns). OK, OK, I know you’re not supposed to be concerned about passing at HPDE’s, but its kind of hard not to…

But again, this is only true to a degree–get in the intermediate and especially advanced classes (A Mini was running advanced), where the driving equalizes a bit, and all of the sudden this goes out the window.

But I agree the Mini is about as good as it gets for a car out of the box to take to the track and learn in–from my limited experience, you can push the car and actually learn from an instructor safely and quickly; its actually harder to learn how to drive fast in a novice group in something with significantly more torque/HP than most people can handle initially. It is surprising how well it holds its own especially for people just starting out (By the end of the day the guy driving the 5 series was serious about buying a MINI; he was impressed at how well my car, and especially the guy running in advanced handled the track–although he wasn’t as fast as most of the other cars, he wasn’t exactly getting blown out of the water either. Got to sit in his passenger seat for 20 minutes–that was jaw dropping).

But talking about the track really isn’t a good idea–its addictive, and regardless what level of driver you are, you’ll find yourself looking at ways to get more out of your car (Adjustable camber plates and a stiffer rear sway bar are next on my list).

I missed something. Did they make use of the faux intake cowl?

I have no doubt something is coming eventually for the hood scoop. Just look at the design under the bonnet. It will be a CAI for $700 for 5hp. Bank on it that Mini knows they can squeeze more bucks out of us down the road. Hey, I’ll do it (sucker).