Cars.com 2008 Faceoff: MINI Wins Again
The MINI has won yet another comparison, this time at Cars.com against the Volvo C30 and the new Saturn Astra (which of course is the old Opel Astra elsewhere). Here’s an excerpt:
> There’s still nothing on the road quite like a Mini Cooper. Beneath the trendy looks is an authentic driver’s car – with good gas mileage to boot.
+ Cars.comparison: Premium Hatchbacks / Cars.com
I like the C30 very much.
Upon sitting in the Astra at a recent auto show, I was left disappointed with the interior. The center stack is this expanse of silver painted plastic with tiny little black buttons. The overall impression I got from that was “Cheeeep”.
It also features the “Joey mod”; where the interior surfaces of the headlamps are painted black. Many tuners will intentionally do this to their cars’ headlamps, and the result can look quite nice, (especially on a MINI that has many other black accents already). But on the Astra, it looks so glossy, that it cheapens the overall look of the headlamps.
I wanted to like the Astra, because it is good to have another hatchback available to us in America, but I walked away feeling like it is missing the mark a bit.
I actually reeeeally like the Astra a whole lot.
In a way I HAD to go drive it — I’ve been begging and pleading for the Astra since even the last generation car, and especially this current generation. I ended up “educating” one of the Saturn reps who wasn’t all that enamored with the car in the first place, he was definitely more appreciative (and maybe a little carsick) after our drive.
The Astra’s strong point is handling, and the weak point is definitely power, no question. Not enough power, not enough gears. I think we got the engine that nobody wanted on the Continent.
Of course, duh, if this car had the diesel it would be hot sex and I would buy one in each color.
Right in the middle is the interior, which boasts some seriously great seats and excellent build quality, but the materials and colors are pretty depressing.
People complain about the ergonomics but personally I’m glad they didn’t dumb it down to our level. It all made sense to me after about 15 minutes.
The Astra comes very very close to the Mini Cooper for me, as long as I don’t spend any time thinking about the Cooper S.
For size and utility, the Clubman would have been the more appropriate MINI to compare. As the Clubman becomes better known and more familiar, it will increasingly take the place of the hatchback in comparison reviews.
A “premium hatchback” test with a Saturn Astra, but no VW GTI? Smells like payola to me.
If you mean the Rabbit, then I’ll agree. The GTI would be a total overmatch in terms of power and technology (DSG).
Nope, I meant GTI. At $23K-ish, it compares far better to an MCS and a C30 than a Saturn Aura. And it would probably win.