You Build it: Most Expensive US Spec MINI
There’s been a lot of talk recently in the MF comment section about how pricey MINIs have become lately. Even in the US where they have traditionally been relatively cheap, MINI USA has slowly had to raise prices due to a number of reasons. While we’re certainly still of the opinion that the MINI is a relative bargain in some ways, we still are amazed when we see the sticker top out over $50,000 USD.
So our question to you – how high can you really get a MINI? Since MINIUSA.com has hands-down the best configurator of any of the sites worldwide, we’re going to focus on the US market. So get started configurating. Our guess is that the winner will come in the form of a R55 JCW but you never know now that the R57 has been introduced.
+ MINI USA Configurator / MINIUSA.com
<p>I have no idea how BMW thinks a $50K JCW will sell better than a $42K BMW 135i! I own a MCS Cabrio and a 135i…love them both butI wouldn’t pay $50K for either one of them.</p>
<p>I managed to build a new R57 MCS Cabrio by ticking nearly every option (JCW Stage 1 Kit)…..$49,900.</p>
<p>Similarly a JCW Clubman with every option on the menu went a hair over $50K.</p>
<p>Even at $35K a MINI is way too expensive.</p>
<p>I said it before and I’ll say it again… MINI is pricing themselves out of the market.</p>
<p>Amazing! My 03 DS Cooper S with sport package and auto a/c was a little over 22K.</p>
<p>4 years ago I paid $22.5K for my R53 S and $24K out-the-door. The Clubman was $26.2K and nearly $28K and change out-the-door.</p>
<p>I built a R56 JCW for 59K… Wow…</p>
<p>Interesting. I built an MCS Convertible and loaded it up with EVERYTHING the system would let me include. Every JCW goodie, the most expensive rims, etc. It came to $52,300 and change. This would be an incredible MINI, but for $52,000 I’d get another 135i which was a few grand less and my 135 is very well equipped. If however I had money coming out of my butt, I could see getting a MINI such as the one I built just because.</p>
<p>Just got a convertible up to $59,113, with every tacky option and accessory available…………… looks like a Christmas tree!</p>
<p>I ordered an R57 and it came to 46K, thats before the installation costs for the JCW and MINI Motoring Parts. I added all the packages, all the JCW Engine Parts, The Lounge Leather Seats, NAV, SAT, HD Radio. HIFI, Etc. I bet it comes in at over 50K when the dust settles</p>
<p>$54,889 – JCW hard top loaded to the gills with all the crrrap you can get.</p>
<p>Two words: Heck No</p>
<p>I’ll be keeping my 04 MCS thank you.</p>
<p>(but the configurator is still damn fun)</p>
<p>At $50K you have a damn fine selection of cars at your disposal. Sorry but you have to be a little cuckoo to dump that much cash into a MINI.</p>
<p>There’s another point to being able to build these kinds of cars. Prestige MINI always has a 50K car in the showroom. Lets them show buyers what every option and accessory looks like installed, and makes it easier for them to sell more stuff. Yes, not 50K worth of stuff – but a lot of extras.</p>
<p>Just makes me kinda laugh still, I love the Mini brand (excluding SUVs) but can say for 50k I can get a aftermarket Mini that will blow the doors off anything coming from Mini in acceleration, handling, and looks. While I understand Mini is having to boost prices to make a profit I think in a great many ways they are in process of pricing themselves out of the market in many ways for a small car.</p>
<p>Was able to take a R57 to 46,600 and a R55 JCW to 49,800 (with-out making it to ugly ;)</p>
<p>The point isn’t really that one can spec a Mini up to $50,000 because very few people are looking to buy every available option. Everyone, however, will be happy to have the chance to buy only the options they really want without getting stuck with a lot of other things they don’t want. For instance, if you want nav, buy the nav – you don’t need to also buy a sunroof and leather interior.</p>
<p>Bee1000, that’s a great point. Many cool cars come with $3000+ in package options to get one must-have feature. MINI doesn’t, if you order your car. The downside of everything ala carte… $52,000 car, but that’s not the intention of having an ala carte system.</p>
<p>IMO, the recent lamnting of MINI (they are making design mistakes, product mistakes, they are getting too expensive, etc…) is definitely due to growing pains and price adjustments, but also the arc/cycle of interest that any super-cool product goes through… first elation, devotion, then disappointment, skepticism and then a love/hate settles in among the faithful. You see this in great bands and their fans as well. To do some things wrong means you’re still alive and kicking…</p>
<p>Built a $57,338 JCW</p>
<p>So MINI offers ~$20k worth of addons.</p>
<p>Sounds like they give you alot of personal choice options.</p>
<p>I have seen a couple people pay $45k for a MINI before so there are people who will do it.</p>
<p>My MINI was just under $44k. Sure I could have gotten a BMW for that but guess what, it wouldn’t have been a MINI and I didn’t want a BMW.</p>
<p>The “unification” is great and is partially what makes MINI a unique marque :-D. There is also extra incentive in it for MINI as they make a profit on each option/accessory in addition to base profit on each model. Of course there are development cost associated with them too.</p>
<p>Ooops, I meant U-ification :-D</p>
<blockquote>$54,889 – JCW hard top loaded to the gills with all the crrrap you can get.
Two words: Heck No
I’ll be keeping my 04 MCS thank you.</blockquote>
<p>Saying that you will not buy a MINI because it is really expensive if you load every option and accessory is unreasonable. It’s like saying you refuse to shop at Super Stop and Shop, because they have a larger inventory than your local convenience store. Just because more options are available doesn’t mean that everyone needs or wants every option.</p>
<p>If anything this is an advantage over other competing cars, since no one else can approach the level of customization of the MINI.</p>
<p>I just build a JCW Clubman and it went up to $52,003.00!! No way I’m paying that for a MINI! But as someone said, the Configurator is still lots of fun!</p>
<p>to Tony C:</p>
<p>WHAT??!! Almost $60,000.00!!?? Wow!!</p>
<p>As a matter of principle, steps 5 & 6 should be excluded from the “contest” because that is all dealer-installed stuff.</p>
<p>How about: What is the most expensive <strong>factory</strong> MINI?</p>
<p>That’s why I always recommend to friends speccing out a MINI to try to ignore steps 5 & 6, and base their purchasing decision on steps 1-4. That way they won’t later regret not getting factory options they wish they had. The stuff in steps 5 & 6 will always be available later from the dealer… but once you make your final decision on steps 1-4, you can’t change it! (with a couple of minor exceptions)</p>
<p>CraigE… you nailed it.</p>
<p>The point is not that you can build a MINI for $50K. The point is you get a hell of a lot more for $42K in a 135i than you do in a $50K MINI.</p>
<p>If one is hell bent for a MINI at any price then all the comparison in the world won’t make a difference.</p>
<p>Call</p>
<p>$54,627 on a <em>regular</em> Cooper. That’s $18,550 base and $36,077 in extras. I had it even higher for a minute, but I think the configurator was being buggy. One trick is to not use any packages–add all of the components individually.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.miniusa.com/?eid=69001&tid=1032&pid=1131775&sendconfigid=1399040&rs=906F7E3RG4ZKOM7X#/build/configurator/sendToFriend" rel="nofollow">Holy Expensive Mini Cooper</a></p>
<p>At $50K you are a few thousand shy from a “basic” BMW M3 4 door.</p>
<p>I wonder how far can you get in price if you load up a BMW 135i?</p>
<p>Think what would be a better question would not be whats the most expensive Mini you can make, rather ask if money were not an issue whats the price of the Mini you would buy or have bought.</p>
<p>If I were to buy a Mini today I would spec a S and it comes out at 42,800. Still think a bit deep on the price point but most the options are related to making a car better than the JCW in most every way. Funny enough comes out looking not much different than the S Gabe just sold with a similar spec.</p>
<p>On the other hand, you can have a very nice Cooper for $20 K.</p>
<p>I know my limits. I will never pay more than $25K for a R56 S and $28K for a R55 S. Options for the most part are profit centers for the dealer and manufacturer. If anyone wants to spend $10K in options is really their own call.</p>
<p>As for me, a MINI in the $30K range is simply crazy expensive. MINIs are great cars but start to lose their competitive edge in value when the prices shoot up this high.</p>
<p>The main attraction of the R53 era MINIs is that you could get a very nice car with respectable performance for under $25K. That equation of value has gradually being lost with each new model year.</p>
<p>I guess MINI is betting high that customers are willing to pay top dollar for MINIs no matter what. Current financial situation tells us that those days are gone. Buyers are now more than ever price aware and will compare more than ever before.</p>
<p>In case anyone cares… :-P</p>
<p>Most expensive <strong>factory</strong> MINI:</p>
<p>JCW Hardtop – $43,950
JCW Clubman – $46,350</p>
<p>Those are both using <strong>only</strong> steps 1-4 in the configurator. The “packages” in step 2 were not checked of course, to drive up the price from individual items. The amounts using the packages came to $42,450 and $44,950.</p>
<p>After that, with dealer add-ons… the sky is the limit. How many dealer accessories are available that <em>aren’t</em> on the configurator? (Hint: LOTS!)</p>
<p>I just priced a 135I fully loaded for just under 60k. Not that I would ever load up a new car with a bunch of options. Just want to compare apples with apples.</p>
<p>@<a href="#comment-251823" rel="nofollow">C4</a>:</p>
<p>So you make your buying decisions on how much profit the manufacturer makes?</p>
<p>@<a href="#comment-251826" rel="nofollow">Mike Roberts</a>:</p>
<p>I make my buying decisions based on what my budget allows :)</p>
<p>What will the factory JCW cabrio cost? Maybe that can be loaded to $60k!</p>
<p>It’s apples to oranges to compare a fully loaded MINI with a fully loaded 135i. That doesn’t get you anywhere. What is in a fully loaded 135i doesn’t compare to a fully loaded MINI.</p>
<p>You get less on a fully loaded MINI say at a cost of $45K than you get on a $42K 135i or in reverse, you get more at a cost of $42K for a 135i than you get on a $45K MINI.</p>
<p>I have both so it’s pretty much a moot point for me;)</p>
<p>I heard that some Wall Street execs were taking their tax-payer-funded bonuses and buying loaded MINIs for as much as $50k. Shameful.</p>
<p>My JCW on order MSRPs at 34,400. Does that count since it’s a “real” MINI and not a fantasy MINI?</p>
<p>On the config. your not even adding every option. The dealerships last year had a JCW R52 with tons of carbon bits for well over $50,000…. it was missing the Full hands free bluetooth …$2000 installed, rear camera $500 installed, front camera with dual vision. And of course their is always non factory parts the dealerships sometimes offer like custom seats. Or maybe you can import the euro recaros.
So in the end with every possible option, and including the MINI Swag i would be surprised to find someone who spent over $60,000.</p>
<p>Sorry …would not be suprised…</p>
<p>R57 Convert w/ EVERY SINGLE A LA CARTE OPTION… $57,455…………beat that</p>
<p>I just spec’d out a 2009 R56 MCS with one of the dealerships in the area, with LSD and the hi-fi stereo. Including all the hidden dealership fees, taxes, etc., it came out to around $35,800CAD. Not too shabby in my opinion….</p>
<p>Ive never seen the mini as a value car (I have an R56 cause its fun to drive)but if anyone is buying it as one then they may want to reconsider their investment. There are a lot of cars that can outperform and be more economical than a mini for less. And why does everyone compare the mini to a 135i? THat car is overpriced. Get a 3 series its more of a ‘value’ lol</p>
<p>This JCW R52 demo is going for 82,000 Australian Dollars which based on today’s exchange rate is about 54,000 USD</p>
<p><a href="http://www.drive.com.au/used-cars/MINI/COOPER/Sydney/detail.aspx?id=10031931&lid=10031931&pg=1&pp=0&d=0&nv=1&SG=404490476&pt=1" rel="nofollow ugc">http://www.drive.com.au/used-cars/MINI/COOPER/Sydney/detail.aspx?id=10031931&lid=10031931&pg=1&pp=0&d=0&nv=1&SG=404490476&pt=1</a></p>
<p>Is the Mini overpriced? Look at people in the age group of 18 to 25 that work, and are paying to drive their own cars. They buy Volkswagen GTI’s, not Minis, because of the price and price alone. After that being said, it becomes the familiar car because hundreds of people you know already have them. It makes a Mini become outcasted because it is unusual, it doesn’t have a big following (comparing nam with 10k members to vortex with almost 500k), and even if VW is 1% of the market for tuning, Mini must be at .01%
Then again, I could have bought a lot of other cars when I spent 18k on an mc40. I could have purchased a vr6 gti, certainly a wrx or a civic si.
However, I thought at that time that the sunroof on my 03 R53 was too heavy, so I sold it along with other luxuries like cruise control and heated seats, and even smaller things like heated mirrors and the little buttons behind the wheel to adjust the radio volume. I didnt want an all wheel drive understeering, underpowered car, or a three wheeler in the turns, or worse, be driving a ricer. I bought the best value of anything you could get.
Is the Mini overpriced? Depends on who you ask.</p>
<p>Used, people think 02’s are still worth 18k. Sell it for 10 grand and stop re-listing it on ebay at that same price.
New Minis are overpriced if you pay anything more than MSRP up to 5k in options/accessories (this doesn’t include JCW models). Then again, that’s a loaded question. To say you purchased a fully loaded Mini is rubbish unless you truly built a 50k+ car and ordered one. If you are spending that on a Mini, you should recieve counciling twice per week.
If you are not in the 18-25 range, you will probably disagree (unless you still feel young)
On that note I will finish with saying how great a deal it is to purchase a 911 GT3RS. That car is a bargain, but I don’t have $120k.</p>
<p>Brad, what do you mean by “value car”? And unless you are purchasing an exotic car of some sort there is no such thing as buying a car for an investment. The term investment suggests one anticipating a monetary return above the initial cost…that is not going to happen with any of the cars we are discussing.</p>
<p>We were comparing the MINI to the 135i only because someone first posted they would rather have the 135i over the MINI if the MINI was going to be the same or higher price. And as for saying the 135i is overpriced…as compared to the 3 series and it being more of a value…I’ve owned a 335i Coupe loaded with everything BMW makes and at $54K…no thank you, it’s tank, handles like a boat. I put 4K miles on it, took a $12K hit and ordered the 135i at $42K. It essentially has the same power train as the 335i, weights less and kicks it’s ass. And, the 135i is only 1 second slower than the M3 priced at over $70K. Sorry, you don’t know what you are talking about.</p>
<p>I agree with C4. My 2007 MC was 21,900 out the door. If I had gone MCS it would have been about 24,500. Beyond that other cars would have come into play. I love my mini and right now it is in my plans to always drive one. Hopefully when the time comes to upgrade from my 2007, Mini still has a base model car that performs and handles great and isn’t approaching one or three series costs. I will give Mini credit in one area as far as the base model car goes. The current price is only 500 more two years after launch of the R56 MC, and DCS was made standard, so they have held that cost remarkably well, I hope that trend continues. I hope they always keep the base model car low so that many can afford to enjoy the mini experience.</p>
<p>I remember heavily dealer-optioned JCW’s in ’04 that were pushing $50K… wasn’t hard to do…</p>
<p>R57 w/ JCW and Hot Chocolate interior… and a crap-load of do-dads I would normallypurchase separately and install myself: $52,010 Base car (before JCW and other dealer installed stuff):$39.050.</p>
<p>Not knowing what the dealer labor charges would be makes the whole thing moot. The above car could exceed $60K at some dealers.</p>
<p>“(comparing nam with 10k members to vortex with almost 500k), “</p>
<p>These numbers area bit skewed. For one, the Vortex has been around for quite a bit longer than NAM/MCO. Second, the cars themselves have been around much longer, thus there is a much larger customer base to draw from. Third, the Vortex includes all VAG vehicles (Audi, Lambo, etc) – again, a lot more cars/models. Lastly, on occasion when I’ve jumped from one to the other (I own a VW as well) I’ve noticed actual members online higher on NAM than on the Vortex.</p>
<p>Besides that, there is a joke about the Vortex: “the ‘poor-Tex’… few of the menbers have any money… so advertising there is a waste, IMO, despite the member numbers.</p>
<p>Is this MotoringFile or BimmerFile?</p>
<p>We do sell about 3-5 $40k plus MINI’s a month….the remainder are in the mid-$20k range. But everyone gets what they want, without having to get things they dont want. And its a MINI…buy a BMW if you want a BMW!</p>
<p>2009 MINI John Cooper Works Clubman
TOTAL ACCESSORIES *$12,955
TOTAL MSRP AS CONFIGURED$46,250</p>
<pre><code> TOTAL COMBINED$59,205
</code></pre>
<p>Got a 135i conv up to $62,387….!</p>
<p>That’s apples to apples…..</p>
<p>Equipped the way I would like to purchase (not the absolute most expensive)my JCW Hardtop comes in at $46,600 not inclusing the install cost of some of the accessories like the JCW suspension and the JCW body kit. OUCH!!!! If I were to actually place an order there is much I would be forced to give up in the name of affordability. MINI’s are great cars but when you start approaching $50K it hard to wrap your mind around the concept.</p>
<p>There are two avenues of thought;
1. If you buy a new car, then add options as retrofits later, you could end up paying thousands more on top of the purchase price. This happens with customisers all the time. When they come to resell the car they have to find someone that wants all those options and willing to pay over the top.
2. Why would you pay more than the list price for a new car for a used car? Do dealers give you more for a trade in for a highly spec’ed car? Every car devalues once you drive it out of the showroom. The only cars that appreciate are those classic older cars.</p>
<p>In my experience, factory HEA cars (those with options used as demos or release cars) are very hard to sell as used vehicles.</p>