BMW 120i or Cooper S Chilli

It may seem like a strange comparison. A BMW 120i up against a Mini Cooper S Chilli. From a historical perspective, it's a small German luxury vehicle against a utilitarian British car for the masses, albeit the performance variant. But as with any number of instances in the car world these days, history has little to do with the reality of the present.

True, the British Leyland Mini of the 1960s was a no-frills car. It came with the bare essentials, including a four-cylinder 850cc engine and four-speed manual gearbox.

But how times (and exchange rates) have changed. Both the BMW120i and the Mini S Chilli now come from the same family, the BMW group. These days, neither would be considered as a true luxury vehicle.

And since both appeared in the carsguide garage recently, both are around the $50,000 mark, why not a comparison?

Today's Mini is to all intents and purposes designed and built by BMW. Bits of it come from various parts of Europe but it is a German car masquerading as a British vehicle.

You get two doors, in the “S,” a highly sophisticated 1600cc turbocharged engine, and, in the test car, an equally sophisticated six-speed automatic gearbox. The interior, and for that matter the external appearance, is about as far from utilitarian as it's possible to get, especially in this “Chilli,” which came with heated leather seats, six airbags, floor mats, interior lighting package (colour adjustable), climate control, cruise control, 10-speaker sound system, sports seats and stainless steel pedals and footrest.

Automatic transmission ($2200), Dynamic Stability Control ($840), chrome line interior ($250), glass roof with sliding and tilting function ($1840) and seat heating ($560) brought the total cost to $49,190.

The BMW 120i five-door hatch (with executive package) tipped the scales at $52,850, thanks to options such as metallic paint ($1300), executive package of leather, USB interface and preparation for Bluetooth mobile interface ($1700), BMW navigation system ($3500), luggage compartment separation net ($150), electric glass sunroof ($2200) and voice recognition system ($700).

Options excluded, the Beemer was $43,300 and the Mini $43,500.

So for the same money you could have either vehicle. On the one hand a quick turbocharged 1600cc engine putting out 128kW and 240Nm of torque from as low as 1600rpm. An engine at the cutting edge, both frugal and powerful. On the other hand, another four, 2000cc, naturally aspirated, putting out 115kW and 200Nm of torque but at 3600rpm. Also a sophisticated engine, a revver in the best BMW tradition.

The Mini wins the power contest both on paper and on the road, where the generous torque figure so low in the rev range means the Mini can be described as quick, while the BMW performance is moderate to good.

True, there is only a 1.3 second advantage to the Mini in the 0-100km/h time if both cars are redlined, but real-world driving means the “grunt” of the Mini gives it much stronger legs in all conditions.

In handling and roadholding stakes, the Mini takes the honours but not by as much of a margin as might be imagined.

You can still provoke considerable understeer in the Mini and there is also noticeable torque steer if you gas it up with the wheels turned.

In the ride/comfort stakes the BMW wins hands down.

Both the 120i and the Chilli S use run flat tyres with hard sidewalls. The tyres do neither car any favours when it comes to passenger comfort, but it is the Mini which thumps and bangs over potholes rather than the Beemer.

Both have stability control, which lets the driver push hard but stops the same driver from overdoing things.

Interior set-up is much of a muchness in terms of switches and gadgets and dials.

The Mini is more “funky” with aeronautical toggle switches both overhead (a la Boeing aircraft) and on the centre console. It also has an adjustable interior light colour scheme tooling through blue to red. The BMW is more traditional, the baby 120 having a cabin much like its bigger brother, understated if anything. The Mini is brashly youthful.

If you want to go fast and be noticed, it's the blue Mini with the white bonnet stripes and twin chromed exhausts. If comfort and prestige float your boat, go for the BMW. However, $50,000 is more than a reasonable amount to pay for a motor car and neither the blue-and-white badge of the baby BMW or the “S” logo of the Mini present a watertight case of best value for money. If the budget is around $50,000, both the Mini and BMW have plenty of competition not restricted to Ford Focus XR5 ($37,000), VW Golf GTI ($40,000), VW Passat 2.0 turbo FSI ($45,000), and Mazda3 MPS ($40,000) for the Mini; and Mercedes 200 Turbo Avant ($48,300), Mercedes B-Class 200 ($48,500), Volvo S60 2.4LE ($50,000), Audi A3 TFSI ($43,000), and Audi A4 2.0 sedan ($50,000) for the BMW.

The choice available these days is truly all encompassing and figuring out how much you are paying for the badge rather than the abilities and appointments you want is a tough task.