[vyasachetan]

Hi QuickDraw,
Great thread, very informative.
I am considering a 2015 Cooper s(without JCW exhaust and paddle shifters), mini is selling the JCW exhaust kit at 2.5L, but they say they cannot retrofit paddle shifters. Any after market paddle shifter wheel I can consider?
There is another car 2016 JCW with all extras.

Needed to know what gear box these two cars come with? Aisen 6 speed tq? Or JCW comes with 8speed zf?

Is there a difference in compression ratios in the S and JCW? Planning to tune the car going forward, hence the question

[asterix]

Hi Quickdraw,

Am close to booking a Mini Cooper S, and in the test drives, I noticed a lot of tyre noise from the stock Good Year RFTs. The car I am likely to book has Hankooks, and the dealership has offered to swap them for Pirellis from the factory. Any experience of Pirelli RFTs with respect to road noise and wear. I am guessing they will be better than the Hankooks but wanted some validation.

Cheers
Asterix

[quickdraw]

Quick update:

I got a call one fine day from Bhuvan (Bhuvan_Prasad on tbhp) saying that one of his friends is looking to buy a Mini. Although I was not really seriously thinking of selling the car, I entertained the idea because Bhuvan is awesome and since it was a TBHPian it would be a hassle free deal. Plus there is always an itch to upgrade and I had owned the car and really enjoyed it. Few phone calls with his friend and just 2 days before 2021 starts I bid farewell to one of the most special cars of my life. Shani has been enjoying biryani and life in Hyderabad.

Handing over keys to Bhuvan

I will keep this thread open and continue to answer any questions people have. I keep getting a lot of private messages but suggest folks who are interested in F56 generation MINI platform to ask here since it can help the community at large and I am always happy to help out.

Some parting remarks from my side

• The F56 was a robust and bomb proof car, at-least the generation I had with Torque converter never gave me mechanical issues of any kind and will age well if you're considering a used one
• If you intend to put the JCW kit on your car I strongly suggest getting the upgraded JCW brake kit from MINI. In hindsight its clear to me once you get the JCW remap the stock brakes just aren't good enough.
• The LCI version of the car that came in 2018 had the price increase of 1.5 lakh and had minor changes in form of headlights/tail lights and a DCT gearbox
• Overall maintenance of the car is very manageable and might be one of the best choices to have a sports car in India that can go anywhere.
• I am extremely pleased with the support provided by MINI India, in-fact I am sure I will forever want to have a Mini in the garage due to the excellent ownership experience with the brand. The community is also very tight knit.
• Unfortunately the Mini Cooper Hatch has been discontinued in India

The car was replaced by a F54 Mini Cooper Clubman in April 2021 and I have started writing the detailed thread and my ownership experience and intend to post it soon.

[quickdraw]

Originally Posted by vyasachetan

Needed to know what gear box these two cars come with? Aisen 6 speed tq? Or JCW comes with 8speed zf?

Is there a difference in compression ratios in the S and JCW? Planning to tune the car going forward, hence the question

Really sorry for the late reply here, but thought I'd add it so others can refer to it in the future. The Cooper S hatch indeed comes with a 6 Speed TQ and LCI was updated with a 7 Speed DCT and JCW comes with a ZF8.

The engine blocks of the Cooper S & JCW are different. On the Cooper S I would strictly not advise doing any kind of remap apart from the factory JCW tune. In-fact I have friends who had remapped and even gone to Stage 2 for both Cooper S and JCW (JCW has the 330i block whilst Cooper S had the B48) but both of my friends reverted back to stock form. Happy to answer more in-depth questions regarding this.

Originally Posted by asterix

Hi Quickdraw,

Am close to booking a Mini Cooper S, and in the test drives, I noticed a lot of tyre noise from the stock Good Year RFTs. The car I am likely to book has Hankooks, and the dealership has offered to swap them for Pirellis from the factory. Any experience of Pirelli RFTs with respect to road noise and wear. I am guessing they will be better than the Hankooks but wanted some validation.

RFT are terrible IMO. I would strongly suggest you change to tubeless. For Cooper S I would say no less than Pilot Sport 4 it does have some tire noise and if that bothers you then Primacy 4 as it will offer 70% of performance with 50% lesser tire noise in my experience.

Originally Posted by motorotor

I made the above comment on your review about a year ago and I finally pulled the trigger on a 2020' Mini Cooper JCW last month. I would like to thank you for your review @quickdraw, since it really was (and still is) the only real-world review of the JCW hatch in India! All the other so-called reviews are of driving the car on a track. After driving my car for the last couple of months I can definitely say that the JCW is a true everyday sports car that puts a grin on my face every time I spot a corner!

That feels amazing to know, I am glad that the review was helpful and now the spotlight is on you, there is no review of the JCW Hatch which is definitely a completely different animal compared to the Cooper S. Do start your own thread or feel free to add a short review here. She looks amazing is an understatement

Originally Posted by shaheenazk

What a lovely ownership review ! It is indeed a stand out car from the crowd. The pictures are lovely too ! However, there are no photographs of the boot space?

The boot space is nothing exceptional, can take backpacks and even 2 suitcases standing up. The rear seat have a position when you can make them flat and upright to fit square/big items. You can easily drop the rear seats and then have a huge space to fit whatever you want.

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by quickdraw

The boot space is nothing exceptional, can take backpacks and even 2 suitcases standing up. The rear seat have a position when you can make them flat and upright to fit square/big items. You can easily drop the rear seats and then have a huge space to fit whatever you want.

My friend’s 2021 Mini Cooper S. (F56 Facelift)
Seriously good boot space.
Just take a look.
I cannot fit so much into my 11 year old R56.

[countryman]

@quickdraw - Just reading through the review itself was such a pleasure. Thank you for sharing this. I recently bought a MiniCooper Countryman in Bangalore.

The decision to buy a MiniCooper was primarily driven by 2 aspects in my case. I am not too conversant on the technical details about cars and like a child, I focussed only two aspects: Looks and driving pleasure and after driving the Countryman for close to 6 months now, I must admit I am completely satisfied. The comfort, the pick-up and the driving experience.. all to me have been world class.

I hail from Bangalore, and off-late I am hearing of many untoward incidents involving fake accident scams. So, I decided to install a dashcam. On checking with the BMW dealership (Navnit Motors), they are quoting around ~65k for the BMW Advance Eye Care 3.0 Pro. The features are great, but I was looking at something that would record high quality videos while driving and also help serve as a means to retrieve videos incase of any untoward incident.

BMW folks tell me that if I buy a generic dashcam and have it installed also, it "could" void the warranty and that's the part wherein I am a bit sceptical.

Any words of wisdom to guide me on this?

[iliketurtles]

Originally Posted by countryman

I hail from Bangalore, and off-late I am hearing of many untoward incidents involving fake accident scams. So, I decided to install a dashcam.

BMW folks tell me that if I buy a generic dashcam and have it installed also, it "could" void the warranty and that's the part wherein I am a bit sceptical

There's no way they can void the warranty for installing a dashcam. The only scenario in which they could is if the installation messed something up for which the warranty being claimed, and the chances of that happening are extremely remote.

My advice to you would be to avoid the BMW system and instead get one of these dual channel dashcams, with 4k recording for the front camera. I have the Blackvue installed in my F30 since the past several years, and it has served me flawlessly.

You might also want to get something like this installed, to prevent parasitic battery drain and manage battery usage. The batteries on these Germans are way too pricey, so this goes a long way towards managing that.

If the Blackvue/Thinkware are deemed to be too pricey, go with the Viofo. It's a solid choice too, some on here have it installed too.

[Turbanator]

Originally Posted by countryman

I decided to install a dashcam. On checking with the BMW dealership (Navnit Motors), they are quoting around ~65k for the BMW Advance Eye Care 3.0 Pro.

Keep the connection as plug and play i.e. using the 12 V power socket, you can hardwire the rest of the wiring (concealed in trim). If not hard-wired correctly, the battery may fail.

[quickdraw]

Originally Posted by countryman

@quickdraw - Just reading through the review itself was such a pleasure. Thank you for sharing this. I recently bought a MiniCooper Countryman in Bangalore.
BMW folks tell me that if I buy a generic dashcam and have it installed also, it "could" void the warranty and that's the part wherein I am a bit sceptical.

Any words of wisdom to guide me on this?

Glad you loved the review, always makes me super happy to hear this. Also gives me high enthusiasm to complete my F54 Clubman review which was Shani's replacement.

If you have the car parked outside and its super hot get a super capacitor version. This website is one of the best options to buy dashcams. If you know a good installer just order the camera you want online. Or find a component place that does it locally, they will usually have 70mai cameras in stock, you can't go wrong with them. They should know how to hardwire it, ideally use a fuse tap and choose a fuse which has power current in accessory mode. So camera can detect and go to parking mode. Again, I stress find a good local reputed dealer and let them do it. Ofcourse BMW dealer will tell you that because he want to sell you his 65k camera.

Originally Posted by Turbanator

Keep the connection as plug and play i.e. using the 12 V power socket, you can hardwire the rest of the wiring (concealed in trim). If not hard-wired correctly, the battery may fail.

Hard wire literally means we are hardwiring it to the car, the rear camera wiring etc can be concealed easily. I've hardwired cameras in atleast 4-5 cars now and never faced an issue. The most important thing is to ensure you get a competent installer, so they know what they are doing. Its the only way you can get parking mode in these cameras.

[Turbanator]

Originally Posted by quickdraw

Hard wire literally means we are hardwiring it to the car, the rear camera wiring etc can be concealed easily. The most important thing is to ensure you get a competent installer, so they know what they are doing.

I know but the problem is that this incident is still fresh for me

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/india...-resolved.html (BMW India won't fulfil warranty on dead battery of a 4-month old 730d. EDIT: Now resolved)

I think power always stays on on the 12 V socket. I have been using it the same way on the 7 for a couple of years without any issues.