It’s strange that we owe it to Germans to revive a British brand given the history between the nations. BMW getting the rights to MINI & Rolls Royce is the best thing they ever did like how they gave the world angel lights and carbon fibre roofs. BMW carried on to build the classic Mini for a while when they took ownership of the brand from Rover, so there were manufacturing the car from 1994 to 2000. A year later we were given the BMW MINI or modern MINI we have been living with since to which is much loved by Mini/MINI owners across the world, so there is vast fan base too after and sell more cars to.

The answer simple and the MINI brand should have brought out the MINI Sport Group instantly giving them access to Classic & New MINI customer base and thriving business. This would allow them to understand the customer base of the classic Mini owners allowing them to gain access to the Mini show events. In turn, this would allow great market research and talk to real owners who own both a classic and new MINI giving a business case for more profits and allow cross-selling of the New MINI.

MINI over the years has lost its way but not understanding it’s customer base and the F-Series is the product of the disconnect and they need to back to the drawing board and understand owners and their desire. They should have not listened to a customer focus group who they want to sell to who are not die-hard MINI owners as the best way is shown in the F-Series with the window switches moving to the conventional place on doors.

This lead to the question of why you can’t buy certain parts for New MINI anymore as models have finished production??

I personally received a lot of messages on IG, Facebook and requests at shows – Can you get or know someone that can get this part as I can’t seem to find it anywhere?

I have seen countless people asking for specific parts for the MINI but finding out they are no longer available to buy ranging from classic Mini to the 2nd Gen MINIs. There isn’t a lack of cars being sold as 10 million Mini/MINIs have been sold since 1959 which is significant amount even if you take 40% out for being wrecked that still leaves 6 million cars on the road worldwide.

Obviously, over time, these cars will be kept and cherished with some MINI parts added to add that extra touch or retrofit items later. Others will be sold on to new owners so they will have the modding bug to make their new MINI personal to them. All the above follows the reason why you buy a MINI in the first instance to customise it to your taste and liking.

A lot of the MINI parts that people are looking for are the carbon fibre variety. Weirdly, MINI doesn’t just reproduce them given BMW now has it’s own carbon fibre manufacturing facilities. It would be just the case reusing mods, and they have all the rights and blueprints of all the parts so matter for pressing a few points.

I understand there has to be a business case, so another thing has missed MINI’s mind is they have a database of MINI owners, so a simple newsletter to get the info following to them that Classic MINI Parts are coming. Along with the fact, the world has changed, and social media would allow fast uptake an interest to see what fan would like to be reproduced with requests or putting up a survey to forecast sales. This, in turn, would help the dealer network, service departments and bring in extra revenue for long term as the dreaded 2030 cut off point for no more petrol/diesel engine being sold within the UK.

You might be thinking I am mad, but I am not as Porsche as do they classic parts for the legacy models so they can be updated to have Apple Carplay or navigation for example which makes life easy instead of ripping out the stock stereo for something non-OEM looking.

The OEM look comes at a price which is near on make no difference of 3 times the price of normal double din unit but making something like it should be is something else.

I have personally toyed with the idea of adding a double din unit to my R56. The fact I have to look down to see the nav is off-putting, but the want for Apple Carplay is massive given the mileage I do, and I am apple fanboy here as well.

Well, that’s one price point, and we can move to JDM life as Nissan has started reproducing R32 & R34 parts. The Skyline GTR was never a volume car, but it adored across the world with its cult following from the Playstation generation. This genuinely made me happy as dream car alongside my Zonda Cinque is the R34 Skyline with the Z Tune bodykit and Nismo parts. Something about the R34 that is magical and sits within my heart as they got everything right with styling and performance and it wasn’t trying to Euro copy but flew the Japan flag with pride.

If inline 6 Godzilla isn’t your poison, then Mazda is making the triangle goodness parts again with the RX-7 with its rotary engine. No JDM part is complete without VTEC gang coming through as Honda is making legacy parts for the Civic as well.

We know the money and desire is there from multiple parts of the market, so MINI has fighting chance to make it commercially viable.

What parts would you want MINI to produce??

Here is a list of what I would love to see come back:

1. All JCW Carbon fibre parts
2. JCW Recaro Buckets
3. JCW Shift Lights
4. MINI Mission Control
5. Wireless Apple Carplay
6. Digital Gauges

I choose those parts as they often on the most wanted list from owners and it would nice to MINI to update the R56 for the future digital world as over 10 years have passed since the first one rolled out from Plant Oxford.

The carbon steering bits, handbrake and gear knob have all been discounted but often go for silly money now online. Wow doesn’t like a bit of Carbon???

The number of looks my JCW does get when they have seen the Recaros is countless and forever on everyone’s wishlist. They are still the best seats for any car as they fit your snuggle, hours of driving and you won’t be fatigued plus they have the heating elements in them all ready for the winter months.

Another on the most wanted list is the JCW shift lights for the race vibes.

MINI Mission Control was an underrated feature which highlighted MINI’s fun, humour and lightheartedness inside your car. For those who don’t know your MINI turned into KITT from Nightrider so it would talk to you depending on what mode you were in e.g. so if you switched from sport mode to normal it would say ‘Oh that’s no fun back to granny mode’. Yes, it had humour but it had useful information telling you the car reached optimum temperature but announcing it. Other features were inbuilt such as if you took your MINI back to the factory you would get points and tick of list of achievements as top speed, 0 to 60 times and fuel economy.

Apple Carplay would bring the car up to date so you can get to where ever your going and have support from Siri wherever you go. Apple has always done things great and innovated with its ecosystem hence why MINI has always supported the brand. You do it your R56 now with installing an aftermarket Apple Carplay module.

I said digital gauges as analogue dials are a dying breed as most new cars have digital dashes now to relay all kinds of information from water temperature, tyre pressure, sat-nav directions and etc. Lotus did something similar to all their existing and previous models buy making digital dash retrofit kit which costs – £1470 and comes with a 2-year warranty.

It’s all good and well-saying let’s get this stuff made by MINI but what would it cost at the dealers?

JCW Carbon Parts Price Examples – £799 – R56 Carbon Wing, £65 – Carbon Gear Knob and Carbon Door Pulls – £80

JCW Recaros Alcantara/Leather – £1500 each or £3500 for a pair fitted & coded

JCW Shift Lights – £250

MINI Mission Control – £200 – Module & Software

Wireless Apple Carplay – £300

Digital Gauges – £350

All the above are possible to do with no so much work and the coding being the only major issues as it would have work with all the current system software correctly to which MINI own all themselves. Carbon manufacturing is now easy for them as BMW has all it’s own carbon manufacture facilities and will own all the moulds and copyright. Re-establishing the brand partnership with Recaro is a simple step as they have collaborated in years gone with both MINI & BMW.

If you want to modify it? – Here is my Ultimate R56 MINI Modding Bible – Click here for my guide

Hopefully, this guide will give you a stepping stone to find the perfect MINI and look forward to the MINI Adventures.

Here are my recommendations for MINI UK & Overseas specialist to visit for repairs, upgrades or parts:

Lohen – lohen.co.uk

1320 Mini – 1320.co.uk

Sussex Road & Race – sussexroadandrace.co.uk

Millys Auto – millsysautos.co.uk

TWG Automotive – twgautomotive.co.uk

MiniWorks – mini-works.co.uk

RSI C6 – rsic6.com

Outmotoring – outmotoring.com

ESC Tuning – ecstuning.com

Detroit Tuned – detroittuned.com

My list is made by own opinions and me speaking to respective companies & other owners across the world, and this is not sponsored post for full transparency.

If you got the modding bug don’t forget to check out JCW Adventures Store or Official eBay Store for some stickers for all generations of MINIs or R56 JCW carbon fibre exhaust tips as seen on my MINI R56 JCW to support the blog & YouTube channel.

All your support over the years and please offer that same support by following my Youtube Channel as well : )

As Always it’s a MINI Adventure try to keep up & Stay Safe!

Support the blog by Sharing, Subscribing or Buying from the stores

JCW Adventures Store

Official eBay Store

JCW Adventures Youtube Channel

Facebook

Instagram

The post Am I Missing Something? – Why MINI should remake Classic & New MINI Parts appeared first on JCW Adventures.

Having been an R56 MINI owner for nearing on 10 years I do look back at the best and worst of times as decade comes to a close. My R56 JCW has love and death of me at times when it repairs bills and maintenance but that has stopped me for loving her the way I do with the smiles, memories and friendship along the way. The R56 has taught me a lot about cars, engines, car upkeep and mechanical sympathy the older she has got with age as the mileage has gone over 125,000 miles which is 5 times around the world.

Let’s get down the business and discuss the common faults with the R56 as it has become a modern classic:

N14 Engine – It has its issues, but it always boils down to how the previous owners to look after with preventative and routine maintenance. Check the oil and filter was changed a minimum of every 8-10,000 miles or every year. If you have tuned/mapped it you will need to more regular oil and filter changes at 5-6,000 miles if you like your pistons ring not to wear out or scoring the bore in the engine’s cylinders. I made a video on how to look after it, which is available on my Youtube Channel

Timing chain – It’s meant to last 100,000 miles but will be needed to be done at around 50 to 80,000 depending again it’s usage and owner maintenance. Signs of it will need to be done is high tapping noise, and rattling sounds like a diesel engine on cold start-up, and lack of go from the offset with the noise disappearing as the engine warms up. It will cost around £700 to £1000 to get this sorted from an independent or dealership

Carbon Build Up – A common issue on direct injection due to the way the fuel doesn’t go over the values to clean them compared to the old port injection. The plus was better fuel economy and power but carbon build up the valves was an annoying by-product. It will need decoking every two to three years to keep running right which set you back around £200 to 250. You might think oil catch can save you from this problem after all the youtube videos but it doesn’t sadly as the PCV system was poorly designed anyway so all it is doing is slowing down the process…

High-Pressure Fuel Pump – Common issue on MINI which is annoying as they seem to last between 50 to 60,000 miles before they fail so its £600 for an OEM one. The same issue plagues BMW’s of this era as the 135i has this issue with HPFP failing on them too

Valve Steam Seals – Common german car issue as the rubber seals perish over time allowing excess oil to enter the combustion chamber. Check for blue or white at idle or full throttle which will show either the turbo is on it’s way out or valve stem seals need to be done both are expensive jobs at £1,000 or £600

Engine Cover Weep – Typical German car problem which happens overage as the rubber gasket perished so its £150 for this job or if it’s the whole cover then another £300. On N18 engine cover melting is a common issue at the corner near the turbo

Turbo Oil Feedline – This issue because the MINI engine runs so hot as it leads to oil feedline to leak or coke up so make sure it has the recall oil feedline heatshield or buy the aftermarket braided oil feedline at £80 and £180 fitting

Water Pump & Thermostat – On an engine that runs quite hot any way you would think they would give it a good cool system but that’s not the case as they regularly fail as they crack or the rubber gasket fails – the joys of the plastic parts on modern cars compared to metal items of yesteryears. The water pump is £35, and the thermostat is £75 which is a bit awkward to replace so another £200 there easy

Bushes – You buy a MINI for it’s handling so expect the bushes will need replacing unless the previous owner has replaced them to poly bushes ones. Bushes are cheap at £40, but it costs four times as much to replace on given the hours of work going into replacing them at £300

Clutch – As MINI are brought to driven so the typical check of seeing how high the biting point or any whine from the front from the dual mass flywheel

Water Ingress – This issues only happens mainly in the boot as the rubber seals lose their seal over time, so do check under the false floor of signs of water in there. Boot seal is around £60, which can do it yourself

Panoramic Roof – They weren’t the best, to begin with, no they fail or leak – FUN Times – Replace £3k or motor £250. Use vaseline to stop water ingress as a temporary measure or WD40 silicone spray to keep the system working for the long run

Windows – They tend to have a mind of their own most of them with squeaky noises which fixed by WD40 silicone spray. The other issues is them not closing and going down before reaching the top of the window due to regulator issues or the more common issue they need resetting. A simple reset is done by holding down both window switches down for 10 seconds for full system reset

Tyres – If it’s still on run-flats do yourself a favour and buy normal tyres and get some tyre sealer – You can thank me later

Gearbox & Fuel Filter – Replace the gearbox oil and fuel filter every 50,000 miles or every 3 years – Often overlooked as we are told they are lifetime (ignore it and just do it) a fluid change is cheaper than a gearbox or new fuel pump

Diesel Engines – They are relatively cheap to run, but DPF Filters and EGR Valves will become an issue like any diesel car as the clog up with dutty diesel gunk

Manual or Auto – Get the manual – It’s a driver’s car, as the auto-box is mehhh and unresponsive a ridiculous amount to replace or fix given everything has to come out

Clubman Barn Doors – Check for signs of rust between the doors as drain points in the doors can get clogged, so water sits causing rust between the seals and door edges

Convertible Roadster & Coupe – They suffer the same issues as everything is shared on the hatchback platform. The coupe boot struts can fail quickly, given how heavy the boot lid is – you will know when you open it for the first time

Countryman & Paceman – They suffer the same issues as everything is shared on this platform minus the chassis

With everything said and done I love my JCW and the older it has got stuff will just break which you have to accept like any car but a lot of the work can be done as preventive measures. A lot of the work you can learn yourself if you want to DIY or find a good specialist or MINI dealer to help you along with your MINI Adventure. I took out the MINI Extended warranty which has saved my ass a lot of times with my turbo replacement, timing chain issues and roadside recovery to a MINI dealer for repairs with a MINI courtesy car given within a few hours – £75 a month looks cheap – link to the MINI Extended Warranty site

If you want to modify it – R56 MINI Modding Bible – Click here for my guide

Hopefully, this guide will give you a stepping stone to find the perfect MINI and look forward to the MINI Adventures.

Here are my recommendations for MINI UK & Overseas specialist to visit for repairs, upgrades or parts:

Lohen – lohen.co.uk

1320 Mini – 1320.co.uk

Sussex Road & Race – sussexroadandrace.co.uk

Millys Auto – millsysautos.co.uk

TWG Automotive – twgautomotive.co.uk

MiniWorks – mini-works.co.uk

RSI C6 – rsic6.com

Outmotoring – outmotoring.com

ESC Tuning – ecstuning.com

Detroit Tuned – detroittuned.com

My list is made by own opinions and me speaking to respective companies & other owners across the world, and this is not sponsored post for full transparency.

If you got the modding bug don’t forget to check out JCW Adventures Store or Official eBay Store for some stickers for all generations of MINIs or R56 JCW carbon fibre exhaust tips as seen on my MINI R56 JCW to support the blog & YouTube channel.

All your support over the years and please offer that same support by following my Youtube Channel as well : )

As Always it’s a MINI Adventure try to keep up & Stay Safe!

Support the blog by Sharing, Subscribing or Buying from the stores

JCW Adventures Store

Official eBay Store

JCW Adventures Youtube Channel

Facebook

Instagram

The post Sorry I Am Not Perfect: Common 2nd Gen R56 MINI Problems appeared first on JCW Adventures.

The post Let's Motor: Unwritten Rules Of MINI Ownership appeared first on JCW Adventures.

The MINI Paceman is designed to be more of sporty looking Countryman with two fewer doors with a coupe like appearance without losing any of the MINIness, which adds to the reason why you buy a MINI? To be DIFFERENT. But there has to be some level of practicality to the car when you lose two doors and headroom, so MINI slimmed the dashboard and put a smile on your face with a centre console reminiscent of Mickey mouse’s face.

If you’re sat there and wondering what’s the point of it? Have you looked at the BMW 3 series coupe, Mercedes-Benz CL Coupe or Rolls Royce Wraith. Still don’t get the point? People buy cars on looks alone

I hope it’s starting to make sense. If not think of it this way, the MINI Paceman is the weird one of the family who likes to stand out and be seen. Just ask yourself this question – Who is the weird one in your family?  If you don’t know who the weird one is in your family is then it’s probably you!

MINI Shrewsbury kindly provided me with a JCW Paceman but it wasnt any Paceman it was the dealership principles, so I was interested to see what CD he had stored in his car…

Rocking the metallic absolute black with JCW red top roof, JCW Bodykit and the standard fitment of 18 inch burnished twin spokes wheels finish off the exterior road presence of the JCW Paceman. Under the hood there is the updated N18 JCW engine which develops 218 Bhp with 300NM of torque on overboost.

On the inside both the Chilli & Media pack were ticked so the Xenon lights,  auto lights & wipers, sat nav, MINI connected, Bluetooth were all there for the techno junkies to fiddle with. As you enter the JCW Paceman you are greeted to the JCW door sills and all around more comfortable seats compared to the hatch. The seats in the Countryman & Paceman are how they should have come in hatch with better support for the back and legs regardless of your size.

In the Paceman there is seperate seating for four, each with its own zone and cup holder. The boot space is more than ample for the MINI adventures ahead from the daily grind. This added space is down to Countryman platform being used, while the compact dashboard increases space for the front and back making it great gran tourer with lush sloping rear end.

As we taking about controversy the Paceman seems to be like a baby BMW X6. Its strangely the first MINI to have horizontal rear lights breaking the tradition of the vertical lights but the circle theme remains within the lights and cabin. I gather it was design decision to have horizontal lines to draw you away from how big the Paceman whilst keeping the elegance of a coupe.

Personally I loved the look of the Paceman when I saw concept, it looks miles better than the Countryman and its reminiscent of a BMW X6 which all the girlies love. But I sat there as an aficionado wondering if it would drive like a MINI or would that poor little 1.6 litre be up for the task for lugging around another half a tonne or something.

The Paceman was all ready to go outside of the dealership to what I could describe as a typical British day aka it was cold and raining. This made it a less perfect for video shooting but perfect for me to test out the ALL4 four-wheel drive system. I fired up the JCW Paceman to muted sound to which was a surprised by given the N18 likes to be abit more noisy when the sports mode is activated. I poodled out of the dealership letting the Paceman warm up before the test drive ahead, I pressed the sports button to see if we could get some more noise out of her but sadly she wasn’t playing ball.

That was disappointment number one, where is the noise? well the complete lack of it! I would have thought with sports button on the noise would increase but it clearly didn’t. Maybe the mapping on the JCW Paceman is either for performance or refinement, as no matter how I tried during the test drive it refused to pop n bang.

I tried to think of plausible reason for it not to do so and came to the conclusion it was either the lack of miles on the clock or MINI themselves have muted it because of the different target audience for the car. But like anything MINI it can be improved by the after market, so I whole heartedly recommend a sports cat, catback system or  a cheeky removal the resonator to make it sound fruity.

Back to the driving shenanigans, as I drove the JCW Paceman I didn’t think about the four-wheel drive system underneath me as there wasn’t any clunking or greater rolling resistance to get it going. The only difference arrived in the corner as the nature of the JCW engine encourages you to drive fast but the ALL 4 system allows you plant the gas mid corner. This added mid corner ability to put the down the power is what makes the JCW Paceman fun to drive as you learn a new technique of how to drive it through corners eagerly waiting to leave anyone behind in your rear view.

It is addictive to be so leisurely with the throttle as you play cat and mouse with the grip levels seeing how early you can apply throttle through corners. So much so I doubled back on myself a couple of times on the test route, I was grinning to myself on the same section of the road with the locals wondering what on earth I was doing. Sorry guys I practising for this years World Rally Championships ; )

The JCW Paceman with the ALL4 feels more planted than hatch with a feeling of a freight train once you get going. Yes I meant when you get going as the extra weight has blunted the performance, the tail wagging happy nature of the MINI is a little lost under the four-wheel drive and extra weight. It not as rampant as the JCW Hatch which chirps under full-bore acceleration, instead the revs need to be at least 3,000 Rpm before you feel power but the low-end torque nature of the turbocharged engine gives nice shove and responsive throttle off the line.

Despite the reduced performance to 7 seconds compared to the Hatches 6 seconds dash to 60, the JCW Paceman is still a joy to drive even with the higher centre of gravity, ride height and ALL 4 system all having no effect at all on the FUN factor.

I wanted to say NO to buying one as the Paceman is nowhere near what a MINI should be in size and weight but I was left with an impression this is a DADDY’S Car. What do I mean by that? While the MINI Countryman is the yummy mummies car, the MINI Paceman is Daddy’s Cool car!

Why Daddy’s Car? You have all the added practicality of SUV sized MINI with all the benefits wrapped in a sexy coupe body, yet you can still have FUN regardless of the weather and what lies ahead. It’s the perfect I am now a DAD car without making you look like a numpty sat behind I have given up mobile called the MPV.

Dad’s all across the world should rejoice that they can buy a COOL family car with big boot to drive every day regardless of the weather

ps Every Paceman should come preloaded with the song Daddy Cool by Boney M

There is BIG elephant left in the room which is the price. How do I put nicely its £29,535 for a base model before you start specing. My test drive model came to £34,000 which is hard to swallow given the options available at the price from a Land Rover Evoque to the Frankenstein styled Nissan Juke Nismo (I secretly like the JUKE’s weirdness). The Evoque is on par on price and you get genuine off road ability but every Mr & Mrs Jones has one. On the other hand the Nismo Juke is a cheaper JDM alternative with a starting of £20,500 and at that price you get Nismo Bucket Recaros as STANDARD!!!!!

Hmmmm they even made a Batman Edition

Lets step back for a second as you buy a MINI to different from everyone else in the first instance. All MINIacs like to add their own personal touch to make their own and make sure no MINI is truly alike. Is it a rational decision to pay £9,000 more than 2 wheel drive Nismo Juke or more than a frugal two-wheel drive Evoque with a diesel engine at £29,200. Yes, the Evoque maybe more appealing to some and Nismo Juke weird to others but the JCW Paceman gets Four wheel drive as standard.

On a performance standard point of view the JCW Paceman is significantly faster than the Evoque at a similar price, which comes in form of the devils juice of a Diesel engine. Here is a bomb shell for you, to rival the JCW’s performance level who have to pay £41,000 which is a COMPLETE UTTER JOKE!!! But the base Nismo JUKE fights back with no of four-wheel drive and with an equally as punch 1.6 litre turbocharged engine which musters up 197 bhp. The Nismo Juke will sprint from 0 to 60 in 7.8 seconds which isn’t quite enough to keep up with the Paceman at 7 seconds flat time. Nice try Juke Wukey

Now that I have enlightened you the JCW Paceman doesn’t seem so expensive given the performance, looks and build quality compared to its rivals. The JUKE is a value proposition, the Evoque is just the poor man’s Range Rover and the MINI Paceman is the modern mans’ choice for an urban SUV. Its been a dumb media hype which has had everyone thinking and including me that JCW Paceman is expensive when it’s not! The Paceman is great car to drive which makes you feel good whilst you know its that bit more special than its rivals

Review Score: 4/5

The MINI JCW Paceman is an odd ball of the MINI family, logically it makes no sense but looks alone sell cars. This looker does have style and substance which makes it the perfect gran tourer for long MINI Adventures away or Daddy cool to have FUN on the school run

Huge Thank You again to MINI Shrewsbury for their support and allowing me to review the JCW Paceman

Next Blog Post: The Last Dash: MINI Lakes Run

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The post Heavy Muscle: MINI JCW Paceman Review appeared first on JCW Adventures.