[mini5lover]

Hi all,
I have an electric blue cooper s, two years old 9000 miles. I say we should have it upgraded to a works but my husband thinks we should trade it in for a new factory built s works.
I think the cost would be too much, we have chilli pack plus 6cd changer and the lovely blue which you cannot get now.
What do other mini s owners think?

[Fevs]

its your choice i had mine upgraded from standard to JCW the other month

got the JCW pack and brakes ordered at the same time

[supercharged]

I personally would trade it in for a new factory built S Works. The newer MCSs have revised gear ratios and quite a few other improvements that are nice to have.

It depends what's more important to you.

Good luck

SuperCharged

[Tonyt3]

Depends on your circumstances....

You could spend £3500 getting a Works conversion on your low milage EB car which you seem to still love,

or,

you could buy a brand new MCS Works which is going to cost you what,, £20k..? maybe more. You'll be lucky to get abouut £11.5k trade in , so its going to cost you best part of £8k to get a resonable MCS Works. However, if you go a bit mad with the options (nice wheels, JCW racing seats etc etc you could add another £4k to the bill. But you will renew the warranty and TLC package.

So, go faster car (which is what you are trying to achieve) for £3500......

or flash new motor, with new toys, for around £12000 (plus your old car as trade in)

The choice is yours...

Personally, the colour of your old car means nothing - all mini colours are good. EB is nice, but not that nice. However, if you want to get a good feeling on how much this is going to cost you, go ask the dealer for a trade in figure. Just don't feel too bad when he tries to rob you blind. Mini dealers are your bestest friend, until you start talking trade in prices.

[mini5lover]

Quote: Originally Posted by Tonyt3

Depends on your circumstances....

You could spend £3500 getting a Works conversion on your low milage EB car which you seem to still love,

or,

you could buy a brand new MCS Works which is going to cost you what,, £20k..? maybe more. You'll be lucky to get abouut £11.5k trade in , so its going to cost you best part of £8k to get a resonable MCS Works. However, if you go a bit mad with the options (nice wheels, JCW racing seats etc etc you could add another £4k to the bill. But you will renew the warranty and TLC package.

So, go faster car (which is what you are trying to achieve) for £3500......

or flash new motor, with new toys, for around £12000 (plus your old car as trade in)

The choice is yours...

Personally, the colour of your old car means nothing - all mini colours are good. EB is nice, but not that nice. However, if you want to get a good feeling on how much this is going to cost you, go ask the dealer for a trade in figure. Just don't feel too bad when he tries to rob you blind. Mini dealers are your bestest friend, until you start talking trade in prices.

Thanks very much, I just cannot make up my mind yet but will let you know when I do.

[mini5lover]

Quote: Originally Posted by Tonyt3

Depends on your circumstances....

You could spend £3500 getting a Works conversion on your low milage EB car which you seem to still love,

or,

you could buy a brand new MCS Works which is going to cost you what,, £20k..? maybe more. You'll be lucky to get abouut £11.5k trade in , so its going to cost you best part of £8k to get a resonable MCS Works. However, if you go a bit mad with the options (nice wheels, JCW racing seats etc etc you could add another £4k to the bill. But you will renew the warranty and TLC package.

So, go faster car (which is what you are trying to achieve) for £3500......

or flash new motor, with new toys, for around £12000 (plus your old car as trade in)

The choice is yours...

Personally, the colour of your old car means nothing - all mini colours are good. EB is nice, but not that nice. However, if you want to get a good feeling on how much this is going to cost you, go ask the dealer for a trade in figure. Just don't feel too bad when he tries to rob you blind. Mini dealers are your bestest friend, until you start talking trade in prices.

Thanks very much, I just cannot make up my mind yet but will let you know when I do.

[Rakey]

I'd go for the new MINI with the JCW, just so you get the LSD and the better Gear Ratio's.

Adding a works kit for £3500 at that age isn't going to add very little value, infact once you put it on you will probably add only about £1500 in value based on the current market.

Getting the factory fit you will also get the brakes too which is a nice bonus

[bimini]

Yes, the brakes are seriously worth considering on a JCW.

[Olly.]

I would personally go for a new MINI if you can afford it.

As has been mentioned you can get the LSD and new gear ratios, but not only that the build quality has mproved considerably in recent years

[BlueMax]

I am struggling with the same question in terms of doing the JCW. Also own an EB and love the colour. Added white bonnet stripes recently and now like it even more. April 04 build. My thoughts so far:

1. Leave it as is. At least you do not introduce the risk of a dealer doing major work on the car. Problem is to finally make peace with it that it is OK to do nothing. At least you save a lot of money which can be spent on other life enhancing things
2. Wait for now - who knows, maybe the kits become cheaper towards the introduction of the next generation Mini - probably why the factory fitted option has been introduced, to get rid of kits which may not sell later on.
3. Save the money and hope that the next generation will be very good, even though it is turbo and I am a supercharger fan. At least if you decide to buy next generation there will not have been a depreceation loss on the JCW. Bit of a long wait though because it will be stupid buying next gen just as it is released. I have learnt my lesson, in future I will wait at least until the first major facelift.
4. Sell the car (it has low milage) and buy an 06 which is a bit more nippy in the lower gears, but leave out JCW due to depreciation incurred by trading up. Probably not enough of a difference for similar money which would have been paid by simply adding the JCW to the 04. Problem - not available in EB.
5. Or go really wild and go for the lightweight special model (if it realises) and keep it for a long time as a collectors item - probably in red?
Other problem with any performance upgrade - insurance premiuims go up. Bottom line is can you really live without the extra performance? Is the extra perfomance really useable in normal use or only sensible for track use? This reply will probably not help much but it shows that there are other people in the same predicament. If money was no issue, no question. Why did they have to make such attractive options??

[mini5lover]

Thanks, I agree with all you said, am now trying to persuade my husband to wait for a bit. I love Maurice (my eb s). Couldnt bear to part with him for a new works really,he is very fast anyway, as you say when could I go faster than I already do?
Hopefully he will listen as I have told him there is a new model coming and then we will have spent all that money on an old one!

[M111 CGC]

If your car has only got 9000 miles on it you may as well keep it and get the JCW conversion, as it's not like the car is worn out and needs replacement. As Tony puts it, it's going to be a lot cheaper than buying a new factory built JCW and even the works conversion is 'only' worth £1.5k that's only 2k lost against guaranteed ££££ if you buy a new one so long as you are intending to keep the car for a reasonable period of time.

[Lord Hemming]

Quote: Originally Posted by M111 CGC

If your car has only got 9000 miles on it you may as well keep it and get the JCW conversion, as it's not like the car is worn out and needs replacement. As Tony puts it, it's going to be a lot cheaper than buying a new factory built JCW and even the works conversion is 'only' worth £1.5k that's only 2k lost against guaranteed ££££ if you buy a new one so long as you are intending to keep the car for a reasonable period of time.

My advice is drive both a 2004 MCS works and factory works (they should be available anytime now as a demonstrator) and decide for yourself. If the factory model drives that much better then go for it.

I have been put off the upgrade as you seem to loose over 50% of your original investment. Go buy yourself a nice watch or a good holiday and enjoy your MCS as it is

[mini5lover]

Hello and thanks to all who replied.
We have done it! we have traded maurice in for a five month old cooper s works 210 bhp.
He is black eyed purple with chilli pack, darkened glass, harmon karden hi-fi, uprated brakes and it only cost 1500 pounds more than it would have been to upgrade my mcs, so I had to go for it really didnt I?

[matfrost]

Sounds nice, look forward to the piccies

[mini5lover]

He is here - and I have uploaded a pic of him! I am in love!

[beej]

Congrats on the new BEP

My EB MCS was bought from new in July 03 and has about 23,000 miles on the clock. She is in great condition, but I am looking for more oomph.

The reality of the residuals isn't wonderful news. One option is to get the 210 JCW upgrade for $$$$. The second option is to trade in and get the best spec JCW MCS I can find - almost like buying and speccing a brand new car. The third option is that after 2 to 2.5 years ownership I think very seriously about a non-JCW upgrade.

After all, what's to lose on the warranty? Not a lot. So I'm thinking option 3, I get a GTT 220 upgrade (or similar) and get another years happy ownership out of my baby before I look to moving on or whatever....

[mini5lover]

Well. I think I was lucky to get such a new car for trade in, I got a good price for my mcs.
There are not many 6 month old works cars with a high spec out there for sale are there? You could do a search for one like I did - I certainly dont regret it for one minute the difference is amazing. Good luck.....