Newbie with a few ?'s on the JCW S (210)

[Vtec Abuser]

Evening chaps.
As the title suggests, i'm new on here and in the process of changing my CTR for a JCW S around March 05 time. Now like the CTR, the Mini will also be a company car. I'm looking at going for Dark silver with white roof, wing mirrors and 17's (wheels). With Chilli pack and obviously the 210 Works pack. Would love a few other bits, but already gone over budget, so that'll have to do.
Now before it's ordered I was wondering if you chaps could answer a few questions for me?
Here we go.....

1. What is the actual true weight of one. Is it 1140kgs or 1215kgs?
2. Have you guys got any pics of one in the same colour i'm going for (with the white bits )?
3.How do they compare to the old Works (197bhp one)? As i've already driven one of them and i've heard that the new version is alot better and has shorter gearing, thus making it quite a bit quicker. The one I drove previously had the JCW 18" rims on it, which I thought made it drive like a bag of crap and honestly felt unsafe and dangerous. Thought I had a puncture on more than one occasion...
4. How effective is this this AMD plug in chip that i've seen advertised? What sort of power gains am I looking at? How much is it? Can it be detected in any way for warrenty purposes and is it really worth it?
5. Is there any previous CTR owners on here that have made the same change? If so, how would you say they compare, performance etc etc?

There's a few more ?'s that I have. But I won't go mad and ask to much straight away. If any of you chaps can help on any of these ?'s, i'll be very gratefull.
Cheers, Ben.

[tnoy66]

Welcome to MINI2

I can help you with the pics, click this link
http://www.mini2.com/forum/memberlist.php?do=search

then select
MINI Model: MINI Cooper S
MINI Body Color: Dark silver
MINI Roof Color: White

Then scroll down near bottom and select
MINI Personal Gallery: Yes

All MINI2 members with a DS/W MCS with a gallery will then appear, so you can drool at your leisure

[Vtec Abuser]

Quote: Originally Posted by tnoy66

Welcome to MINI2

I can help you with the pics, click this link
http://www.mini2.com/forum/memberlist.php?do=search

then select
MINI Model: MINI Cooper S
MINI Body Color: Dark silver
MINI Roof Color: White

Then scroll down near bottom and select
MINI Personal Gallery: Yes

All MINI2 members with a DS/W MCS with a gallery will then appear, so you can drool at your leisure

Doesn't seem to work mate....

[Vtec Abuser]

Cheers for all the help lads......

[gezmedinger]

Can help with a couple of those questions...
1. Unladen weight with no driver in the car is 1140kg, weight with driver and some fuel in car is stated as 1215kg - hence the apparently conflicting figures.
3. New works is much better, for general response and driveability as well as increased power, according to just about everyone.
The CTR questions someone else will have to help you with!

[Vtec Abuser]

Cheers for the feed back chap. Least there's a couple of you on here that managed to give some help on my questions...

[LordNikon]

Quote: Originally Posted by Vtec Abuser

Cheers for all the help lads......

Not going to make many friends like that

Weight is listed here as 1175kg ...

http://www.mini2.com/technical/coopers.php

HAd VTECS in the past and the Supercharged MCS is much easier to get going quickly. Only thing VTEC based I can compare it to is the Intergra Type-R Turbo I had. Even then the MCS is smoother.

You dont need the AMD ontop of the JCW, as I wont do you anything, or thats my understanding, unless you have further engine work done, that would invalidate warranty !

My MCS is DS and Black so cant help with the pics

[gezmedinger]

Try a forum search for "civic" & "type" and you should get some good opinions on how the cars compare... I know there's a couple who've posted on here a few times who've got both (MCS for him, CTR for her), I seem to remember them saying something about them.
Also, regarding the wheels, the best handling and riding wheels on the MCS are the 16" X-Lites (standard without chilli pack). I've driven a few with the 17" S-Spokes and they tramlined noticeably more (and rode noticeably harder) than the 16"s I've got on mine. Haven't driven one with the 18" JCW wheels but it stands to reason that the difference between will be similar... i.e. expect it to be better on your 17"s.
As for pics, try these... it's a pre-05 one but the colour and wheels haven't changed..

http://www.mini2.com/gallery/MINI%20...static-lhd.jpg
http://www.mini2.com/gallery/MINI%20...on-corneri.jpg
http://www.mini2.com/gallery/MINI%20...ear-action.jpg
http://www.mini2.com/gallery/MINI%20...ction-side.jpg

[Tonyt3]

the quoted 1175kg weight would be without options, so adding aircon, sunroof and heavier alloys will probably add around 60kgs.... so real world weight would be with options and would be over 1200kgs.....

If your serious about performance (and it sounds as if you would be), order the car with lightweight alloys, no sunroof, bin the runflat tyres (these things are awful) put some proper rubber on, and you'll get a car thats truely hard to beat. Its the runflats that always make the car perform badly on track based group tests - probably knock 3 seconds a lap off the cars tyres.

If you want more power than the 210bhp from the Works, then its probably best not to get the Works conversion at all. There are several companies offerring 250bhp + at the moment, for around the same cost as the Works.

I myself however have the Works, as there is more to it than just straight forward bhp figures. The new 210 bhp is much better than the 197, but don't weigh it down with huge option list spends.

Although i'd say that aircon is a must, whatever it weighs....

[tnoy66]

Quote: Originally Posted by Vtec Abuser

Doesn't seem to work mate....

not sure why it didn't work for you, I just tried it again and it worked fine

[Vron]

Didn't have a Type R but had a Celica 190 which has the similar oomph (cam lift ) at 6800rpm. I must say the 210 JCW is much better as it has plenty of go in it at all rpm rather than having to wait for the revs to build up high before you got any go out of it, and, if you wanted the full performance you had to have the engine screaming all the time - maybe some people like that, I did at first until the novelty wore off.

I have got JCW Wheels on mine and I thing they are better than the 17"s that I had on before.

[northandy]

Quote: Originally Posted by Vtec Abuser

Evening chaps.
As the title suggests, i'm new on here and in the process of changing my CTR for a JCW S around March 05 time. Now like the CTR, the Mini will also be a company car. I'm looking at going for Dark silver with white roof, wing mirrors and 17's (wheels). With Chilli pack and obviously the 210 Works pack. Would love a few other bits, but already gone over budget, so that'll have to do.
Now before it's ordered I was wondering if you chaps could answer a few questions for me?
Here we go.....

1. What is the actual true weight of one. Is it 1140kgs or 1215kgs?
2. Have you guys got any pics of one in the same colour i'm going for (with the white bits )?
3.How do they compare to the old Works (197bhp one)? As i've already driven one of them and i've heard that the new version is alot better and has shorter gearing, thus making it quite a bit quicker. The one I drove previously had the JCW 18" rims on it, which I thought made it drive like a bag of crap and honestly felt unsafe and dangerous. Thought I had a puncture on more than one occasion...
4. How effective is this this AMD plug in chip that i've seen advertised? What sort of power gains am I looking at? How much is it? Can it be detected in any way for warrenty purposes and is it really worth it?
5. Is there any previous CTR owners on here that have made the same change? If so, how would you say they compare, performance etc etc?

There's a few more ?'s that I have. But I won't go mad and ask to much straight away. If any of you chaps can help on any of these ?'s, i'll be very gratefull.
Cheers, Ben.

I have driven a works on the 18's with runflats, and although I wouldnt say It "handled crapply" it certainly wasnt my cup of tea, I would say more that it "rode crapply".... I have 18's but with nice very grippy non runflat P-zero's and the ride is much better, IMO much better than the standard 17's runflats....

Just remember a works S wont be the cheapest or fastest car away from the traffic lights, but through the twisty stuff its difficult to beat for the money...

I doubt the AMD will make much of a difference to the works as its already remapped from the factory, and yes its detectable so could land you in lumber for warranty and more importantly insurance if anything happens....

I've never driven a CTR, although one of my mates has one... so I cant comment on how different they are, best you get to a MINI dealer and test drive a works and see for yourself

[Vtec Abuser]

Much thanks for all the help lads. I've just gone with the standard S with Works conversion and Chili pack (Can't stretch anymore really), so it shouldn't be weighed down with to many goodies. It's a company car so I can't really get it upgraded through another tuner ie BBR etc, as it's alot easier through main dealer and obviously warranted.
Think i'll give this "One click" device a miss then, judging by your chaps views. I reckon i'll be more than happy with the 210bhp anyway.
On another note. Have any of you guys taken your S' or Works up the 1/4 mile strip? As i'm a regular attender at Santa Pod etc and will more than likely be giving the Mini a run . If so, what sort of times have you guys achieved?

[northandy]

Quote: Originally Posted by Vtec Abuser

Much thanks for all the help lads. I've just gone with the standard S with Works conversion and Chili pack (Can't stretch anymore really), so it shouldn't be weighed down with to many goodies. It's a company car so I can't really get it upgraded through another tuner ie BBR etc, as it's alot easier through main dealer and obviously warranted.
Think i'll give this "One click" device a miss then, judging by your chaps views. I reckon i'll be more than happy with the 210bhp anyway.
On another note. Have any of you guys taken your S' or Works up the 1/4 mile strip? As i'm a regular attender at Santa Pod etc and will more than likely be giving the Mini a run . If so, what sort of times have you guys achieved?

Sounds like a nice spec.... I wish I could afford the works kit, but doing 23k a year and buying it myself and renovating a house just makes it impossible !!...

If you head into the perfromance and tuning area theres a few guys have posted threads with 1/4 miles in them, although I cant remember seeing a works in there (not that I look very often !)...