2022 Hyundai I20 vs Mini Cooper

What's the difference?

Start occupying the top step of the World Rally Championship podium and the brand benefits are huge. Just ask Audi, Ford, Mitsubishi, Subaru, Toyota, Volkswagen and the many others which have done exactly that to great effect over the years.

And Hyundai’s most recent foray into the WRC has focused on the compact i20, and here we have that rally weapon’s civilian offspring, the much-anticipated i20 N.

It’s a lightweight, high-tech, city-sized, hot hatch designed to steer you away from Ford’s Fiesta ST or VW’s Polo GTI, and add even more lustre to Hyundai’s N performance badge. 

Can it really be eight years since we first lay eyes on the current-shape Mini – and 20 seasons since the BMW-led brand revival burst onto the scene?

With much input from now-defunct Rover, the 2001 R50 was all about reinvention, attitude, fashion and athleticism for the new millennium. These also defined the two following generations (R56 of 2006 and F56 of 2013), along with stingy equipment levels and laughably high-priced options. On-paper value-for-money was never a Mini strong suit.

But fads come and fads go, and by early 2021, BMW seemed to have finally realised that Mini fans are ageing and the market is changing, as reflected in the ever-smaller pool of city cars and superminis. The days of looking cool at the wheel of this retro icon are long gone.  

Result? A couple of years into the F56’s facelift – which itself brought a long list of improvements to help keep the old show-pony fresh – BMW has ushered in another round of updates, streamlining the way you buy a Mini in the process via – shock, horror! – ‘free’ specification packages.

We take a look at the popular Cooper 3DR Hatch Classic Plus to see if the Mini’s still got it for 2022.