newbie looking for advice

[geetee]

hi there
I currently own a impreza sti with ppp and im thinking about changing for a cooper S.
I would prefer the supercharged version over the turbo charged. Am i better buying one with or without the JCW kit . After coming from a car with 300 bhp im thinking id prefer the 200 or 210 over the 163 bhp of a standard cooper s.
Looking around the internet it looks as if it doesnt take much to get a standard car up to the same bhp as a JCW kitted car.
any advice greatly appreciated
cheers G

[Craig]

it really depends what you are after.

The supercharged car does much less mpg, but being in a scooby, your prob used to low mpg... :thumbs up: I have a 210 JCW car and I love it. I would suggest you drive one of each at a dealer and see what you think. The JCW Supercharged car is about as quick as the Std Turbo Car. There is very little to chose.

it also depends if a warranty is important to you. The supercharged cars are mostly out of warranty, but if you buy from a MINI dealer you will get a 1 year warranty. ;)

For me, it will be supercharged all the way. :clap::clap: Bring on the whine :yes nod:

[Craig]

I got my car for about £1k more than a std s with the same spec. I like the fact that it's all JCW kit and it also helps resale for some people.

If you buy a std car, you can get more for your money going aftermarket, rather than adding the JCW kit as it costs about £3k. Reduced pulley, manifold and exhaust, remap, induction kit etc could be done for about £1500 max. :thumbs up:

[RyanK]

Personally would hold out for a jcw. Then all you need is a newman/mega mini cam and a remap which should see you running around 250bhp i think.

you have a pm!

[GCA3N]

You guys and yer whiney superchargers , turbos all the way man.

[eddie 44]

turbo :thumbs up:

[Delboy]

hi there
I currently own a impreza sti with ppp and im thinking about changing for a cooper S.
I would prefer the supercharged version over the turbo charged. Am i better buying one with or without the JCW kit . After coming from a car with 300 bhp im thinking id prefer the 200 or 210 over the 163 bhp of a standard cooper s.
Looking around the internet it looks as if it doesnt take much to get a standard car up to the same bhp as a JCW kitted car.
any advice greatly appreciated
cheers G

Hi and welcome to NMS. I recently bought a Cooper S Clubman (so it's the turbo engine) but I previously owned three Impreza turbos, and the last one (a WRX) had a de-cat downpipe, Prodrive backbox, high flow air filter and was re-mapped twice by Andy F - it was running 270bhp and 300lb-ft.

I absolutely love the Clubman, despite the recent issues :rolleyes:, but it's not in the same league as the Impreza performance-wise. Sure, if you modify a Cooper S up to 250bhp then I guess it's going to feel as quick as your STi but the two cars will deliver completely different driving experiences, a significant difference being 2WD v's 4WD.

However, with the Mini, you should enjoy lower running costs while still having a really, really good time driving it, modifying it, cleaning it and talking to other sados like me about it ;).

As a new owner of a Mini, I cannot give you any advice about modifying one to increase it's power, or whether the supercharged version is better than the turbo, but I thought it was worth letting you know that there is life after Impreza :D.

[GCA3N]

I don't think these two cars are comparable. You will never get a mini to perform like a scoobie. I mean even a highly tweaked jcw will still not get you a sub 6 second 0-60. Where as I am sure your scoobie was considerably less than 6 secs. An r53 jcw, an r56 cooper S and an r56 jcw will all be around the 6.6-6.9 sec range not a massive difference. What I would say though is the mini's have way more character And have something very unique about them.

[RyanK]

An R53 with 260bhp is around the same performance (to a certain extent) as a standard E46 M3. Your talking low 5's to 60

[Ally S]

If your wanting a mini after a Scoobie then your not completely fussed about big power. I'd go for the best S you can find and not necessarily hold out until you find a JCW. I can't really say what its like to drive an S but a Cooper is fine for me after my previous higher powered cars.

Although if you want bigger power then the turbo might be better as turbos have always been better to tune (might not be so with Minis but time will tell).

[Gismo]

:welcome: your quest really depends on whether you will stop at the JCW quoted 210 bhp or if you will want to go a little higher.
If you want more power then start off with the standard S and get the mods that suit your aim and budget.

You can add upgraded brakes and suspension as you want as well :thumbs up:

[GCA3N]

An R53 with 260bhp is around the same performance (to a certain extent) as a standard E46 M3. Your talking low 5's to 60

Then your engine melts:eek:

[doogz__]

I used to have a GC8 STI import, around 300bhp.

Now i have an Audi A4, and my girlfriends Cooper S turbo.

The Cooper S is vastly quicker than my 3.0 krautwagon, but it's still nothing at all like my Subaru was.

I've been out of the Subaru now for around a year, and i'm seriously considering getting another one. To say its in a different ballpark is an understatement, it's not even the same ****ing sport.

Having said that though, don't get me wrong, the Cooper S is a fantastic little car, but you have to remember its FWD, traction, especially in the wet, can be a serious issue, i really with ours had a diff. You forget how much of an issue traction is i think, after the Impreza i had a Clio 182, and with much less power than the Subaru, getting off the mark in a hurry could still be scrabble-tastic

Hope you find a good one.

[KenL]

The Cooper S is vastly quicker than my 3.0 nazibarge,



:frown:

[doogz__]

better?

[KenL]

better?

Not really :rolleyes:

kraut -

"...Offensive Slang Used as a disparaging term for a person of German birth or descent."

No need for this sort of term is there?

Your Audi is a quality German car :thumbs up:

[geetee]

cheers for all the advice guys much appreciated.
Im not buying the mini for it to compare it to the power of the subaru, I fancy a change and if the mini is fun to drive i wont mind it being down on power.
Is there any extras on the car that are must haves
cheers G

[Crombers]

Why not look out for a good example of a GP MINI

[doogz__]

Not really :rolleyes:

kraut -

"...Offensive Slang Used as a disparaging term for a person of German birth or descent."

No need for this sort of term is there?

Your Audi is a quality German car :thumbs up:

You're one of these people that writes to the BBC every week after Top Gear and complains about Clarkson, aren't you?

[antihero3000]

The general consensus is that the R53 is much more tuneable than the R56 so if you're looking for big power that would be the way to go.

JCW cars tend to go for around a 1k-1.5k more than standard R53's. As JCW cars rarely make more than 200hp i'd be going for a standard car and spending that money on a reduced pulley, exhaust (proven 220hp) and coilovers.

R56's will have more warranty and be cheaper to run. Depends what you're looking for from the car.

[doogz__]

Geetee, i'd highly reccomend finding one with a LSD.

Ours doesn't have one, and i feel it suffers for it.

[KenL]

You're one of these people that writes to the BBC every week after Top Gear and complains about Clarkson, aren't you?

Nope, but I don't like Clarkson or his xenophobic language :hand:

[KenL]

Geetee, i'd highly reccomend finding one with a LSD.

Ours doesn't have one, and i feel it suffers for it.

Mine doesn't either, it can fight the steeing wheel a bit, perhaps an LSD would help there.

This doesn't spoil the car for me though.