Hi Gents! To those who've had their cars for a bit now, please share any new impressions, experiences, good and bad. And updated pics are always welcome too

 

Seems like the '15-'16 F56 JCWs are trouble-free and being driven happily so far. Great to know. Be safe guys!

 

I feel I can make a reasonable mid-term review now on my JCW. I took delivery on August 4th and just finished a 740 mile long 4-day weekend trip with the car to northern Michigan's wine country. I have 2,3xx miles on the car now which is a good amount for owning it only 7 weeks.

JCW at the FCT by Ryephile, on Flickr

The Good:
*The engine performance is incredible. The torque is excellent, all the way down low to the nice top end pull. A buck twenty [where the checkers on the speedo start] happens pleasantly quick. Passing power on the back country roads is effortless. The 40-80 pull to get around slow traffic is just a twitch of the right pedal. Not only that, but the fuel economy is astounding. This weekend I averaged 38.0 MPG actual, and so far on my Fuelly I'm averaging 35.1 MPG actual since rolling off the lot. It's way above the EPA estimates. For comparison, I averaged about 25 MPG in my R53's, and 30.5 MPG in my R56 MCS JCW. BMW definitely cranked it up to the next level with the power and efficiency.

*The brakes are epic for an off-the-showroom hot hatch. They have civilized pedal feel yet can really throw the anchor out and still not upset the chassis. Top shelf.

*The suspension kinematics are as strong a step up as the engine; the chassis is simply not upset during bumpy corners, NVH transmission into the cabin is lower than previous generations, and the mechanical grip is fantastic. It seems clear to me that the car with spring rates and dampers setup for race slicks would decimate a similarly equipped previous gen MINIs on a track. The geometry is simply better, there's no easier way to say it.

*The interior is a big step up in materials quality. The heated seats are plenty hot however the thermostat feels better controlled than the "hot/scald/nuclear" settings on the R56. The new MINI Connected system is genuinely useful. I'm accustomed to iDrive, and the MINI controller is exactly the same to use, so that makes it easy. The interior is also satisfyingly quiet, making long distance cruising totally effortless and non-fatiguing. The comfortable JCW seats also contribute positively to the whole experience.

JCW at the FCT by Ryephile, on Flickr


The Bad
*Exterior, yes, it's ugly. There are design cues that seem irrational and poorly thought out. Why the gas cap aperture intersects with the fender arch radius is beyond stupid. The "SUPPLIES!" face with the LED eyebrows are silly in a bad way.

*It holds water. Yes literally, after a car wash the car's many seams and crevices hold a bunch of water. This will likely be a problem in winter when the water wants to freeze and expand. We'll see if this is an unfounded concern come wintertime. I use an electric blower after washing the car and it still takes a while to blow the water out of the crevices in the bumpers, side scuttles, and beltline trim. It's much more water-retentive than the earlier gen MINI's.

*The accelerator pedal mapping is illogical. They decided to use varying sensitivity between 1st gear and the remaining 2nd to 6th gears. This means the car wants to go nowhere in 1st and then lunge forward in 2nd, given the exact same pedal angle. This doesn't makes sense and requires a conscious effort to give more angle in 1st and less angle in 2nd to achieve the same acceleration rate. It's idiotic and a classic example of the German's over-engineering something into oblivion.

*Speaking of 1st gear, it's also too short a ratio, it's a "creeper" gear and I absolutely hate creeper gears because they're totally useless for a sports car where the entire point is to wind out the gears. Get out of 1st gear ASAP and the whole experience is better. The pedal mapping only makes the creeper gear seem even more creep-y. Big thumbs down to MINI for a totally intentional drivability annoyance. The '02-'04 R53's 1st gear remains the best of all the MINI's. I'll admit the automatic JCW is a better car than the manual, and that hurts to admit being a die-hard 3-pedal guy.

JCW at the FCT by Ryephile, on Flickr


Conclusion: Other than 1st gear, actually driving the car is brilliant. They way it eats up miles and devours corners while being actually powerful and also passing up most of the gas stations is the definition of having your cake and eating it too. When I picked up the car I was like "oh ok this is actually nice", but now the car has shown it's not just nice, but really great.


JCW at the FCT by Ryephile, on Flickr

Cheers,
Ryan

 

I have had my 2016 JCW manual for less than three weeks and have less than 700 mils on it. This review reinforces my impressions and strong positive reaction to the car. I simply cannot wait to drive it and have invented reasons to do so. I look forward to spending eight days with it on a driving trip to Nova Scotia in October.

As to the negatives, i do not know enough to assess first gear as has Ryan but know that even in dense stop and go city traffic, i find the shifting to not at all be tiring or even irritating. That has been a very pleasant surprise. i do not disagree with the appearance issue but like a lot of things, looks can be overlooked and transcended by the true essence. Beauty after all is often only skin deep.

While i do not think it has the beautiful design simplicity of the BMW 2002, that car's mechanics and quality took the spotlight from its unorthodox appearance.

Ryephile clearly understands engineering, cars and Minis and articulates the strengths effectively. Not surprising, this car grows on you. With this thorough review from someone who knows and has driven the car so much more, I expect that growth will accelerate.

Thank you very much for an extremely informative assessment which helps make me more aware and understand better why i like this this superb car so much.

 

Spot on assessment by Ryan with a couple of other points.
My car is also a manual and is running the 17" wheels and tires, with the sport suspension.

The sport suspension, with the 17" wheels, is a pretty comfortable ride, particularly compared to my baseline R53 and Elise. I have some thoughts about changing to 18" wheels (more likely if I don't find any 17" winter wheels soon) and I would expect that the lower profile tires would firm up the ride, but for me I think it would still be acceptable, even here in crap roads Michigan.

I've noticed that the car in transient situations takes a slight moment to respond/set, which while I am getting used to it, is not okay for me long term and will be remedied with the JCW Pro suspension.

The short clutch action bugged me a little at first, but it's improved and I've become acclimated to it. I only had a short time in an automatic Cooper S before I put my deposit down and I definitely like the manual box better; maybe it's the involvement as compared to just flicking a paddle or some other intangible. I'm just a 3-pedal guy.

 

Great review, Ryephile!

 

Ditto! I can't wait!!

 

Have had my car for a month and have barely had a chance to drive it due to other obligations. Will be putting plenty of miles on it starting on Thursday though as I head to Minis in Foliage in Lake George, NY. I will post more next week when I have actually been able to drive the thing some on fun roads.

 

How the heck do you get 35 MPG, rolling downhill lol? I get about 26-27 in town, 31-32 on the highway in mine, definitely worse than my 2007 MCS by a couple MPG, which I expected.

 

It's not tough to figure out. We have different engines and transmissions and tires and aerodynamics. A better comparison would be that I averaged 30.5 MPG in my R56 MCS JCW 6MT.

Take a look at my fuelly for the JCW. My peak from last weekend's trip was 44.8 MPG actual with a cruise-control back-road run from one town to the next. No intentional hypermiling. Last year on an almost identical run with my Abarth I was hypermiling and was able to squeeze out "only" 41.8 MPG actual, so it's clear the F56 is a win-win. As for the downhill quip, no, the overall trip returned to the same elevation.

Now, if we were on a racetrack at full chat, then the F56 JCW should get worse FE than your R58 simply because it makes more power. Power = fuel consumption. Given the B48 engine uses the new-gen Valvetronic with targeted across-the-valve pumping loss calculations, of course it'll be more efficient at lower loads like cruise-control at 62 MPH.