Picked GBMINI up today – the throttle problem should now be banished forever. Brian & Gary were also happy to tell me they discovered the source of the (tiny) oil leak that had baffled us on a previous visit, and fixed that too!
I also noticed a poster offering the John Cooper Works upgrade kits at a discount:
As the sign says, the 2005 kit is altered so they are clearing out the older kits – if you want power and warranty this is your chance to grab a discount! I wonder if other dealerships are doing the same?
With only a couple of kits at MINI Peabody, I guess if you are interested you should call them soon … I paid full price for mine back in January, but I got five months of driving for my $500 😉
M&I / GBMINI 
Ian,
am curious, was there any thought that this problem was related to the JCW in any fashion? I got mine back in March, the discount would have been nice but….
Their list price installed is really $5700, as I just had mine installed just over a month ago. So really it’s $400 off. I hate when places do that.
Chris,
The throttle is apparently a known issue on a few MINIs – something about a close-to-out-of-spec signal, which can go out-of-spec and trip an “EML” fault.
So not related to the JCW upgrade.
It is possible that the oil leak was related, since we only noticed it a little time after the upgrade. But it was such a small leak (I never had to top up the engine) that it was no worry anyway. Just nice to have found it.
Josh,
It is possible that the labor has gone up since you had you car done … I am happier with MOP offering the kit at a discount than if any MINI dealer simply kept quiet about the ’05 changes and kept selling the “old” kit at full price.
Does the ’05 kit fit older cars, or does the ’05 car still accept older kits..? IF it’s just related to model year change, I don’t see why they’d discount…
Gavin,
I believe it is because the ’05 Kit will provide a bit more power – rumour has it there will be a kit to upgrade existing JCWs to match the new kit, coincidentally for the same $500 that MOP is discounting …