MotoringFile’s Roadster: Design & Spec Chosen

Last week we asked you to help us design and spec MotoringFile’s new MINI Roadster. And after 12 hours and over a thousand votes were cast and counted we have a definitive winner. The Angry Midnight Black JCW that we created won with over 500 votes cast for a total of 47% of the vote. So why was this particular design so popular? And what makes it special? Let’s take a closer look at the car, the options and the results.

Ever since MINI started adding unique visual identity to JCWs the go-to color for the car has been seemingly White Silver or Midnight black. Since we’ve spent the past six months in a white Countryman, Black seemed like an obvious choice for us. But beyond that it also has the right attitude for JCW given the position of the car and ability to add splashes of red pretty much everywhere.

And that’s exactly what we did by going with Midnight Black with red center stripes. However we did show some restraint by holding on the red mirrors caps. It still seems like that little bit of styling needs to be held sacred given that the JCW GP had red mirrors caps. That and it was a bit much.

Elsewhere outside we opted for the black JCW 17″ Challenge spoke wheels to complete the Darth Vader look. Is it too much black? We’re not 100% sure but after our year with the car we will definitely have an opinion.

Inside we simply had to go with the Recaro seats. US MINI enthusiasts waited for so long that it would be doing our readers a disservice not to get them and report back to you. Additionally we wanted to see how the new JCW leather dash would look (and wear) on a daily basis since we were such big fans of the previous iteration on the R50 & R53 MINIs.

Naturally we opted for Nav, MINI Connected and all the various bits and pieces of technology that make life easier. While it also took the price up into the stratosphere, we figured it would better to get it all and report on it rather than not and review it at all. This is not a stripped down MINI in options – just in design.

It’s an approach that makes much more sense for a test car when it comes to the Roadster as opposed to an R56 or even R55. With the Roadster it just felt right to go all the way with the JCW and the options.

One thing we did carry over from the Countryman is the splash of red inside the cabin. However in this case it’s JCW red and left to just the plastic trim on the dash and doors. Naturally this connects well with the red JCW stitching found on the steering wheel and various trim pieces throughout the cabin.

Finally we wanted a JCW and not a Cooper S and were thankful that’s the way the vote went. We’ve been reporting on the factory JCW for years and more specifically how MINI can fix the car aesthetically. Now that they’ve done it we want a chance to see if it’s really worth the money when looking at competitors, if there’s truly prestige given the changes and what the extra $7k over Cooper S really gets you.

We expect the MotoringFile Roadster to go into production sometime in April and finally make it’s way to Chicago around June. Just in time for open-top season to begin.