3rd Gen JCW Most liked posts in thread: It's mine! 2015 JCW 6MT

Here are the Details:

*Midnight Black with Chili Red
*Black 17" track spoke wheels
*"double stripe" cloth/dinamica [suede] upholstery, heated buns
*magical 3 pedal row-your-own. Allegedly only 37 imported into the USA for 2015 MY
*Harmon/Kardon
*MINI Connected + Visual Boost, the 6.5" screen w/ iDrive
*cornering LED headlights
*Sport suspension [which used to be an option on the Cooper & S but now only JCW]

That's it. Pretty pared down spec. I already have the JCW Pro coilovers on order. They're made by KW, I believe they're basically the V1's but warrantied by MINI and with red coil springs instead of yellow. Here are some basic driving impressions after a couple short miles:



*The ride quality is [gasp] comfortable and the cabin quite quiet on the Interstate. This is a Gran Touring car first and foremost.

*The outright handling is a cut above the 2 previous generations. It may not have the perceived "tossability", but the grip and balance is better, as evidenced by an impressively high speed on my "reference" 270 degree constant radius on-ramp.

*The engine sounds average; the exhaust tone is growly and fun if you roll the windows down, but with the windows up you can't really hear the exhaust. Again, GT, not hot hatch. This seems quieter and more civilized than the auto JCW I drove at Miles Ahead, so perhaps the exhaust itself needs break-in time. Also keep in mind I'm coming from a week with a fully modded R53, and also my fantastic sounding Abarth, so the bar is really high.

*The clutch pedal engagement is basically on the floor, and it's a longer-than-average pedal throw length too. The more clutches you drive the more you realize that most engagement points are either in the middle or up top, but this is very much right at the floor. Obviously with only 7 miles on the odometer, the clutch and brake feel will change as those wear surfaces break-in. The engagement zone itself is fairly narrow but reasonably easy to read. Pedal effort is light and casual. No leg presses needed.

*The shifter feel is excellent. Crisp and short throws, no confusion on gate selection. Definitely the best MINI shifter to date.

*Steering feel is average. Strong enough on-center, no real kick-back from the tires, but also no real chattiness either. You're not getting telepathy through the wheel of what the contact patches are doing. Again, the car feels like grand touring. I have no idea what the factory alignment numbers are, but for sure these Pirelli P7 LRR's aren't helping the steering feel.

It's a good thing I was looking to get into something more comfortable and quiet! I'd say job well done; it just happens to also have MINI wings on the bonnet.

 

"Dave.0 likes this"

Seems Legit :aureola: :devil:

I will say a few things. I borrowed an R53 and R56 for MINI's on the Mack. Having now split a week behind the wheel of both and then taking delivery of this JCW, I feel like I'm in a fairly unique position to give back-to-back-to-back feedback on all three generations.

I'm just going to put it out there; They're all unique and give completely different driving experiences. There are of course measurable ways to define "better", and then there are the tougher to measure interactions and aura's, but I'll be honest, there's not much use doing so. Right now a clean stock" low"-mileage R53 goes for let's say $9k. It's totally inappropriate to compare that to a brand-new $35k anything. Now, let's say you have $35k to drop on a "finished concept". That would open the world to your personal preferences, and you'll choose whichever platform, or brand, you prefer. At that point, your own defining metrics and priorities will clearly shine through.

This brings me back to what ends up being the big-picture reason we love MINI's; they're individual and unique, just like their owner. There is no best answer for everyone, just a good fun answer for each person. The whole point is that you enjoy what you have and celebrate our ability to be unique.






Do you really want my personal preferences? You guys are curious aren't you?

:drool


Ok fine! Here goes.

*The R53 is a prodigy child born out of wedlock between parents of drastically different aristocratic backgrounds. It's more brilliant than the sum of its parts. It's an old English design revamped by Germans, powered by an American engine built in Brazil using German and American computers. It shouldn't work, but it's fantastic. It's raw, visceral, and dances under your fingertips. It's not perfect, but it's FUN.

*The R56 is the pubescent teenager. It can run faster, it's leaner, stronger, and more efficient, but it's also more awkward, more emotional, and it's simultaneously cutting edge and behind the times. On the track it will crush the R53, but on the backroads it's just not that good of a dancing partner. It's an example of better on paper but less balanced in reality.

*The F56 isn't just a grad student, its a business professional. It's buttoned-down and well educated but still wears hi-viz sneakers and sometimes gets ridiculed for wearing Google Glass [doh!]. He's learned the smart ways to get ahead in life and be better than his younger days. He doesn't have hissy fits anymore, he learned to ballroom dance exquisitely but has forgotten how the breakdance, so his high school friends think he's a sell out, but they're also still living at home instead of having a fantastic condo in a high-rise downtown.


So, they're all good in their own ways with their own personalities. Which one you like it entirely personal.

 

Stock for Stock for Stock, each successive generation will hustle the prior gen on the track. Greater torque area-under-the-curve, better brakes, and improved mechanical grip via altered SAI and anti-dive do wonders for lowering lap times.

Ok, that said, is that really the point of a street car? We've all had the wool pulled over our eyes with automakers chasing an awesome Nurburgring lap times in the name of "winning the internet" and all the faux glory. A quick track car does not make for a good street car OR a good sports car. Those are 3 separate kinds of cars. The OEM's have definitely forgotten all that in the name of measurable performance metrics. Something I've learned all these years playing with suspension geometry; you can have great steering feel or great mechanical grip, but not both. A fantastic feeling sports car will give up lap time to feel good and be satisfying, but a race car is about lap times so appeasing the drivers' emotional satisfaction is not relevant.


I'm not entirely sure what a Mini or MINI is "supposed" to be. For sure the R50 and R53 set a tone that was markedly different than what the classic's were, and even then, which version of a classic Mini "should" we aspire to emulate? This comes back to my previous post where it ends up being an individual answer, and for sure not all of us agree what BMW's answer has become over the generations. We can't lose sight that they're in it for the profit first and foremost, so they're chasing the money, not the fanboys that aren't going buy a new model no matter what gets built. It's a very similar story with other long-running sports cars like the Miata, Corvette, and 911; they're fragmented into micro-communities that prefer the car they bought, and not too many have the luxury of experiencing the bigger picture.


I will say that the R53 I love from a decade ago hasn't diminished, however I now have an additional appreciation for the newer generations for what their core competencies are given the context of time. If someone came up to me and asked "which MINI do you think I should buy?" I would very much counter with the question "what are you looking for in a MINI?", because the intent definitely steers the answer.

 

Thanks Guys! I'll definitely be posting more when the JCW Pro coilovers arrive in a few days.