Hi,

I have just bought myself a beautiful 2010 Clubman S and loving every minute, was an impulse purchase though and am wondering if I should have held out and looked for a JCW instead

So lets talk mods, can I add a JCW kit to my existing car?

What about something like the Alta performance pack 3? Is that just a matter of purchasing the kit and taking it to my local mechanic to install?

Will I easily be able to get the performance of my car to JCW specs?

How about a ECU upgrade? Will this make a noticeable difference alone or only once I have all the parts installed?

Ideally I want to do one big upgrade to start with and hopefully get a noticeable change in performance rather than little by little, piece by piece.

Looking for some advice and direction! Thanks in advance

Finally if anyone knows of a good mechanic in Cairns Australia that would be great

 

Here's my advice. PLAN!

The popular American thing is to go straight for power adders. This is the most expensive way and what I would say is the least usable modification. Think about how much time you spend driving at wide open throttle compared to when you're turning and braking. It makes sense the more you visualize it in your head.

I would mod the MINI in this order:

• high performance summer tires
• suspension
• brakes
• power

The top three are mods you will feel all the time when you're driving day-to-day. Power is something you need when you want to brag or you need to be faster coming out of the turns. Expect to pay big $ compared to the other three to get a significant gain. I'm not trying to be a downer, but I've been down this road before and have learned a lot.

 

Test drive a JCW MINI and then see if that added power is going to be worth the amount of money it is going to cost you to try and maker your Clubman that fast.

I test drove a JCW MINI and when I took my wife and son to test drive it they both wanted a Clubman S instead. Although my Clubman S is not as fast, it's still a lot of fun to drive and I'd rather spend the money on gas than trying to make it something it will never really be - but that is just how I feel.

If you still feel a JCW is what you want you could sell your Clubman and find one.

 

OP if you were in SoCal I woul have been able to introduce you to my friends shop and you could get absolutely anything done there if you wanted to. But sadly that's not the case :(

Country has a point but I don't necessarily think adding power is that much more harder to achieve hen you have a company like NM Engineerig doing ECU tunes for $500 out the door! And you can find use Alta/Cobb AP tunes for about $650 used in the marketplace. These tunes even on stage 1 give a significant difference in power.

First mod should be suspension. Easily one of the biggest gripes for me was how much I looks like a 4x4 stock height. Get it planted and you'll feel immediate difference. Whether you get full coilover or just lowering springs that up to you!

Second I would get an intake. Let your MINI breathe more with the Defender of Speed cold air intake.

Third is an exhaust. Always a big debate but the most gains here would be a turboback system. As for which one? That's up to you to decide.

Fourth. FMIC followed by tune. At this point you should be rolling for power.

There are more things that can be done but good luck!

 

Unfortunately not possible to test drive one where I am, no MINI dealers anywhere near here, mine is the only Clubman for hundreds of km's!

Really appreciate the reply's, how would a ECU tune go with no other mods to start with? Is this worth the effort, considering either a local shop or ALTA plug in. Going to the local mechanic tomorrow to have a chat and will report back on what I'll be looking at doing in the future.

Finally not very keen to sell this is Clubman's are as rare as hens teeth over here and this one is exactly the colours and trim I am after.

Here's a photo of the new toy with an old one on top!

 

Alta AP has a map for a vehicle with no mods. So it's a stage 1 map that will increase te power a bit which is still safe and the advantage there is they also adjust your throttle response since the drive by wire in the MINI sucks.

 

Does your Clubman S already have the sport option?

 

Drive the car for a few months. Then look up Shane's post and start from there.

Decide what is important to you and how you want to drive. Is this a around town car, spirited driving, really spirited driving, autox etc.

Too many places to waste money with bad mods.

 

Also, you can post on the Australia section of NAM to introduce yourself there. They will know the shops there and what works.