In the summer of 2007 MINI introduced the first drivetrain upgrade for theR56 – the JCW Engine Kit. The kit consisted of a free flowing exhaust, a JCW air intake and more aggressive engine software. The result was 192bhp and 200 ft lbs of torque on overboost. At the time it was arguably as fast as the previous 208 hp JCW (thanks to that torque figure of course). But remember those figures for a second. They appropriately split the difference rather well from the 175 hp MCS and the factory JCW car with 211 hp (released in 2008). Now fast forward to 2011 and MINI has upgraded the MCS engine to include variable valve timing and a host of other improvements that add up to 181 hp. So MINI was faced with a decision. Do they upgrade the JCW Engine Kit or simplify the product offering and kill it. And according to sources MINI has made the decision and will not be upgrading the engine kit for the MCS from 2011 onward. The key to this choice was that the JCW engine wasn’t upgraded with variable valve timing and thus is still at 208 hp / 211 bhp. With the the new 1.6L MCS engine at 181hp it’s not hard to imagine a new JCW Engine Kit getting dangerously close to the performance of the rather pricey factory JCW
So basically.. instead of offering a kit that gave most of the performance at a fraction of the cost, they killed that and you have to spend more! But you do get some neat parts with it too.... But still.... Matt
I had heard about 4 stages of JCW kits back when R56 first came out. With the Chain tensioner, timing chain, carbon build up and sludge, plus noise related problems with the N14 I guess they decided the engine was not reliable enough. I do not think there will be a separate JCW kit offered for the the new Cooper S engine. Just because of marketing since the all JCWs will still have that N14 engine in it. It would be a conflict to full 2011 and up R56 JCW owners.. but just my $0.02