[KJ_daGreenMini]

JCW Cooper S Cabrio review

I went to JC's in Dundee on friday afternoon to collect their brand new Cooper S Cabrio JCW demo car for testing. £27,000 worth of near sexual enjoyment. I'll try and make it as nuetral as possible, but its difficult. I left my car with them for the weekend, afraid of leaving it my mind was soon occupied elsewhere. The first thing i asked Jc's was whether or not the car had been run in and luckily for me it had.

The car was fully loaded, missing only the sat nav. JCW 18 inch wheels, brake kit and exhaust. Coming off the slip road onto the Kingsway i was immediately taken by surprise as i pressed down on the accelerator pedal to join the usual kingsway traffic. Initially first and second gears were not too dissimilar to the Cooper, however upon putting the foot down and reving to 4500 in the first two gears you could tell there was something waiting to be unleashed in the higher gears. Third gear is tremendous and pulls magnificently from 3000 upwards. The first day i had it i was limited to city cruising, however i did get to open it up on the kingsway section leading to the Swallow Hotel. i reached the limit and beyond in no time, every time changing gear the exhaust would pop and burble... which leads me onto my favourite aspect of the car. Sitting in traffic lights, a swift press on the accelerator and release led to the sexiest noise i've heard from a small car, the popping and burbling signals to those around that this isnt just a normal mini, let alone cooper s. I had a group of teenagers in a pug 306 to the right of me signal a thumbs up and a round of applause as they heard the pops. A civic at the left of me was dying for a race unaware of what exactly i was pushin on the tarmac. Needless to say i left them in the dust, the traction and stability control came into effect briefly but did not make a noticeable difference to the acceleration of the car, i also didnt feel the draining of power as some have complained in the past, and to me the ASC-T helped a fair bit on the wet ground.

I had the roof down fri afternoon and in the evening as i went cruising around Dundee's city center. Usually i'd have got the usual barage of poseur abuse etc but no, the car comanded a certain respect from the night club goer that the usual souped up Japanese car would be crying out to attract. Even with the roof down people were complimentary of the car, and at one point had 3 girls in the car, one of whom left her bf on the pavement to wait as we went for a spin around the block.

The two things that annoy me about the car though is the lack of visibility from the rear quarters, but which is easily remidied by bringing the roof down; as if you ever needed an excuse to do so.

The second thing is the violent backdraft you get at high speed. I was able to compare this to the new Vauxhall Tigra convertible which i was taken for a ride in on the same night and the difference was incomparable. I think a rear wind-shield/breaker would have helped a fair bit with this, but its not too big a problem if you're on your own and driving in warm weather.

Saturday night saw me take in the m90 to edinburgh and back. After coming off the friarton bridge there is a big sweeping uphill corner which most cars would usually struggle to conquer, the JCW S however saw me peak at 95 mph around that corner, people were moving out the way. I'm sure i could have got the car faster up that but i didnt want to risk loosing my license. A few times people would slow down and not move till the last minute but all it took was a drop from 5th to fourth to blow past them, even at such a high gear the response is immediate and the supercharger noise is enough to make anyone smile. Every moment driving this car had me in smiles, even when alone i still found myself laughing and i couldnt help but weave in between traffic on the m90.

I still have my reservations on the look of the carbio compaired to the tin top, looking stunning with the roof down, my mother refused me parking permission in the driveway when she saw it with the roof up, saying that it looked like a pram and that she didnt want it in the driveway

Out of respect to JCs and the car itself i never took it above 5500 rpm out of fear that i might break something, but all the while no matter how hard i pushed it the car seemed to take everything i could through at it, including low revs in high gears and high revs in low gears, the car sounded as it should in every situation. After coming off the Fourth Road bridge and along the long straight road leading into Edinburgh i did get a fright when i heard a huge boom from the exhaust, i dont know what it was but i reckon someone got burned...

All in all the car is special, but at £27,000 well out of my reach, however a base S is something i am seriously considering now due to my desire for more power but the same amount of fun. I was insured without question on the JCW S Convertible which comes in at group 18... so the flood gates are open; considering turbo'ing the cooper because i want to keep the colour and have a sleeper, or trading in for a base spec S and stripping it to basics. Its a tough choice and driving this car only made my situation more difficult.

Whoever has one of these cars, convertible or otherwise; i am envious of thee.

[AidenL]

Great review KJ..............

[Rakey]

great review mate, made me want to go take mine for a spin

[Wren]

Thanks KJ for the review. I know you tried to be objective. I agree, the blind spots on the Cabrio is evident. I installed some blind spot mirrors on my side mirrors yesterday. It helps! I've been conisdering upgrading my MCSC to the JCW "kit". I wish I could test drive one right now.

[rentagas]

I've had the works kit on my car since september. The only problem I've had is problems with grip in the wet. It's very easy to spin the wheels in first and second by over enthusiastic acceleration. Over the last few weeks I've had the top down more and more as the weather has improved. The aural delights of the earlier and louder supercharger whine, popping and roaring exhaust and 4500 rpm roar as the air box opens is quite something with the roof down. On my way to work I pass through a long, wide straight road with tall buildings either side the echoing engine and exhaust noises are quite intoxicating.
My view, at least, is that the JCW MCSC is the ultimate mini. The JCW adds at least another 50% to the MCSC experience and, if you can afford it, is money well spent. There are most definitely cheaper alternatives that do the same thing and for the same money you can get another 20+bhp from other sources. However the argument is not whether it's worth giving the MCSC another 40bhp but which package to buy.

If you can afford 3500 notes do it you won't regret it!

[KJ_daGreenMini]

cheers guys, its a great car and i just had to do a writeup of it. i'm going to keep a hold of my cooper for now but the S works convertible is on a different level.

If you are thinking of getting the kit then its definately something that you wont regret, not to mention warranty stays in tact and your car is instantly transformed into something a little bit more special than the standard car.

[horn]

Thanks KJ - I still have to wait until June 15th on my MCSC JCW... and you have not made this waiting any easier...

[MadisonMini]

Just picked up my MCSC after the JCW conversion 3 days ago.

Your review is very accurate. If you are just driving under normal conditions, the car acts and sounds like a regular MCSC.

But it's when you step on the gas and the car immediately lurches forward, that you know you're driving something different.

It's hard for me to appreciate the exhaust bubbling more than it did before, but the supercharger whine now is AMAZING!

Anyway, love the car, glad I did the upgrade. Thanks for the review.

[KJ_daGreenMini]

glad you found the review useful. Oh how i miss the charger whine

lol.

congratulations on the new modification

[Wondaboy]

Great Review,

I enjoyed the read. Your right about both complaints, the visibility is poor and I think the wind deflector is a must. I'm on my second cab now, and don't notice the visibility issue any more. However, the interior does have a slightly dark feel about it. It would be difficult to produce, because of the way the canvas folds, but an interior lining, like Audi have on the A4, would be nice. 27K is silly money, I've got a tuning cabriolet automatic, (GTT conversion), with nav and other toys, and fully recognise the fact that for the sort of money we are talking about there's lots else very tempting. However, if you want a cheaper option than the JCW, you could always think about an after market conversion. There are loads of posts arguing both for and against in the performance and tuning section. These were really helpful to me when I did my conversion, not to mention great fun to read. I could not be happier with my GTT conversion, but do think I have been greedy in getting a 230 conversion for £595+ VAT, GTT and other good tuners do a fantastic 210. I won't go into all the warranty and other issues here, trust me they are more than covered elsewhere on this site.

Piers