German Car Zone

[/quote]Then again, it would never be a true-blue JCW[/quote]
thats why i thought blue is your color

Well James if money is not an option i'd take the JCW,but IMO the Scirocco is the sweetest one of those and would my choice for sure

i don't know about the scirocco, i have seen it live at the dealer but it didn't really convince me. well yes, four sport seats are standard but thats about it what i like. the design is abit over the top for my taste. and in terms of price - 120ps scirocco costs aprox. 24000euro and it has hardly more space then a mini.

designwise i'd say 1:0 for the mini

What would your conversion kit include? Body kit, exhaust and seats? Is that it?

My guess would be that you are missing: a few dashboard items, ECU, cooling (?), wheels, tweaked DSC?

I'm completely guessing as there wasn't that much information about the differences between this and the Cooper S.

For about 10-20 percent the price, it's quite a big difference but if it doesn't matter that much to you, I'd say go for the real deal. Plus, even though the Cooper S is one of the best cars on the road to hold its value, I'll bet you the JCW is even better.

Personally, I think it sucks the JCW is only available with a 6SMT (I'm an extremely small minority I'm sure). All things considered I'm not sure (considering the U.S. spec car) the JCW factory car is worth the premium over the standard Cooper/Clubman S. Especially when you can spec on all the JCW bits individually. However I'd rather save myself the even bigger expense of adding on all the JCW bits and just shut up and learn how to drive a MT properly and buy the JCW factory car. It's just a little cooler than the regular Cooper/Clubman S.

I was considering hanging around for a Camaro, but with the way gas prices are I think I'd be a fool not to buy a Cooper/Clubman. Especially since I can drive it like I stole it all day and still return 26+ mpg combined.

I feel like you can do even better than 26mpg. I'm not exactly a granny driver and I'd say I drive 60 highway and 40 city... still get 24mpg with a 6 cylinder 2.8 l engine.

And yea, you gotta learn to drive MT!! The Mini is such a blast, especially in MT form. Never drove the Automatic though.

Hey, that's why I said 26+ mpg!

I hear the MT in the MINI is great, even in traffic because the clutch action is so light and the gear shift is perfectly synchronized.

so here is a small list (translated from german into english, so please forgive fatal errors)

Well there you go... that should definitely be worth getting the real car because I feel like it would cost almost as much to modify your stock Cooper S to that level.

yep thats definitly true, at least it applies to the R53.
i'm currently driving alot in a Ford Transit Connect Ford Ka and Ford Caddy, the clutch is like a different world (in the mini). the way of the clutch is very short and it gives you the feeling that you totally know what the car wants.
but in a ford ka steping the clutch down makes you feel like stepping into a black hole, far from being balanced (in my opinion)
the clutch in the transit and caddy is a pain in the ass, you really need to kick hard it and its hard to feel when you need to step off. after 1 hour of stop and go you feel like walking 100km, but only with the left foot.
i have always liked the mini clutch and gearbox, its very responsive, but you really appreciate it when you drive other cars.
but i would recommend to buy the JCW shift knob (alcantara) - its worth upgrading!