(Updated several times since first post)
Janet and John’s take on my comparison.
In 2011, I switched from a Mini Cooper 2007 to a Subaru Impreza 1.5 2010 “Swiss edition” model. In 2014, I switched to a Dodge Magnum R/T 2008 (including Mopar Performance kit, KW V2 coilovers, later I got Eurotec slotted and drilled brake rotors installed). In 2019 I sold the Dodge and bought a Subaru Outback 2018 2,5L. In 2023 I traded the Outback for a Toyota Prius AWD.
While the Mini Cooper clearly seems to be a great and well made car, and while the Dodge is probably the best way to experience muscle car driving, I was surprised just how much I loved so many features of the Subarus better. Then the Toyota is a whole class above these still.
And I really liked them a lot more, so much more, that I felt like writing a short blog entry about it.
I did drive Mini Coopers for 5 years, I have an overall experience of various Subaru models of about 5 years (1800, 1,8L Turbo Coupe, later Impreza and Outback see below) and I had three VW models for a total of maybe 11 years (Golf, Passat, Polo), now a Toyota. The Dodge Magnum R/T went far beyond other experiences; for the massive comfort and performance, its gas consumption is quite moderate also due to the very modern engine, given the performance – but for all these years and up to 2019 here, certainly needlessly high for our planet.
Also, other cars were not considered.
| Feature | Mini Cooper 2007 Automatic | Subaru Impreza 1.5 2010 Automatic | Dodge Magnum 5,7L Hemi R/T AWD 2008 Automatic | Subaru Outback 2,5L gasoline 2018 | Toyota Prius, 1,8L gasoline/hybrid, 2022 |
Comment |
| cw
A cw*A |
0.33
1.97 0.650 |
0.33
2.12 |
0.34
2.36 0.860 |
0.33
2.55 0.841 |
0.24
2.18 0.523 |
The easiest way to save gas is to start with an aerodynamic car. |
| Windshield | Rather steep windshield. | Relatively oblique windshield. | Relatively oblique windshield. | Relatively oblique windshield. | Relatively oblique windshield. | The steep windshield of the Mini Cooper makes for very noisy driving. Compared to that, both the Subarus and Dodge feel like ocean gliders.
When using windshield wipers, the noise the Mini generates is more than extensive. No problem to live with that as such – but it’s quite a factor and after a few hours of driving that becomes extremely tiring. Also, with the steep windshield design of the Mini, many redlights are very hard or impossible to see if they are high up and you are too close to the intersection with a Mini. When driving a Mini you forget how hard this sometimes is but it in fact it is not at all well designed in terms of that. The Subarus’ large and not so steep windshields allow for easy viewing of all things high above and far away – so, great for city driving. Same with the Dodge, where one sees that the engineers were professionals also in that regard. On faster roads, the wind resistance noise in the Mini is almost deafening. The amount of relaxation one gets in the Subarus or Dodge, particularly with respect to the better windshield design compared to the Mini, is rather extensive. The Toyota Prius is even more relaxing to drive, but it is not a slow car! |
| Door handles (outside) | Hard to get open. | Easy to open. | Very easy to open. | Extremely easy to open due to keyless entry. |
Extremely easy to open due to keyless entry. |
I had about 80% of my Mini passengers fight with a passenger door handle they could not get open. Not because it was damaged or because it was jammed. Simply because one had to exert a rather perpendicular push direction towards the handle from its inside rather than just being able to pull. Even though it is indeed cute to have this type of customized non-standard handle of the Mini, it somewhat simply failed its purpose.
The Subarus and Dodge have door handles that are extremely comfortable and easy for people to get in. Their door handles simply match average expectations of how a door handle should behave. Great design! The new Subarus and the Toyota have keyless entry, that makes opening doors even more accessible. |
| Door handles (inside) | Round and artsy looking. Hard to identify. | Looking like door handles on the inside of a car. Easy to identify. | Extremely easy to open due to keyless entry. |
Looking like door handles on the inside of a car. Easy to identify. | Looking like door handles on the inside of a car. Easy to identify. | About 95% of my Mini Cooper passengers – and almost all of the frequent passengers over and over again – did not at all find the inside door handle at first. They then were extremely irritated they could not get the door open as for some reason Mini doors always automatically locked after a few meters of driving. There was no way I could re-program that setting. My dad always nearly ripped off that handle as he got extremely frustrated with the handle by not finding it at first and because that handle then would not just open the door. Many people never learned they had to pull twice. This was one of the most irritating features of the Mini. It also is one of the most important features – if people feel unsafe or threatened it is always great to be able to rely on door handles. The Mini did not offer that comfort. Instead, the mind game the Mini Cooper offered felt like an actual “prison of weirdness in product design”. Also, current Cooper, Countryman and Coupe rely on these utterly strange door handles.The relief one gets from standard inside door handles cannot be over-estimated.The Subarus or Dodge Magnum as well as the Toyota never at all posed any difficulty there. |
| Motor feeling | Pushy, rough and powerful. | Well dosed, extremely well cultured and well groomed. | Well dosed, extremely well cultured, and powerful, where necessary brutal and raw as V8. |
Well dosed, with an automatic transmission that is gradual (CVT), and well cultured and groomed. |
Electric and internal combustion engine as hybrid. No conventional roar motor feeling for much commuter traffic. |
The Mini generates a type of rough and pushy acceleration that is well delivered and well hidden through a massive power steering unit. Without it, the Mini cannot be steered at all. Tyres rub down very fast due to the friction that the go-cart feeling of the Mini uses as physical correlate. Brakes also wear down fast. The Mini cooper accelerates rather massively already at 1600 to 1800 revs/minute.
At the same time, the Subaru Impreza has an All Wheel Drive, and two automatic gear modes – regular and “sports”; the Outback has two gear modes, “i” (intelligent) and “s” (dumb, eh, sports). Both are polite, and both allow for relatively fast acceleration however only after the motor has exceeded 3000 revs/minute. Conversely, this allows for moderate and well dosed driving well under that level of acceleration – which the Mini does not allow to the same extent. The Subaru boxer motor sounds absolutely brilliant, as Subaru’s boxer motors are legendary and very well groomed. The Dodge Magnum 5,7L AWD is an absolute jack hammer and it handles both softly and gently, yet pushes in an absolute way. The motor is present (as in the older Minis), not distant and absent as in BMW or Mercedes cars where a motor is something people seem to be ashamed of. No, the 5,7 Hemi V8 motor marks its presence in a very assertive and agreeable fashion. Due to MDS (multiple displacement system) the motor switches off cylinders when cruising, thus saving on gasoline. But if pushed, it delivers an almost dream like torque and that is a real asset on German freeways. The Subaru Outback is great for sturdy and efficient driving but no acceleration like Mini or Dodge, at all. The Toyota Prius has three driving modes, eco, normal and power – and in power mode, it really goes fast, with both motor systems combined, seeing as if the car is a really light build. |
| Trunk, space | Tiny space. Trunk door cheap and crappy. | Useful space. Trunk handles sturdy. | Large and yet, well structured. | Large, well structured, very accessible. |
Medium sized, well structured, very accessible. |
The Mini – even with the rear bench down, which was how I used it most of the time – is an extremely small car. Given that, it is very secure. Despite that, it is too small. The Mini’s trunk handle also feels cheap, and it is not geared towards daily usage as it fails. I had to get a repair due to that.Far better usage of space is offered by the Subarus that also have the better trunk door. Here, we get the impression of a matured product. The Dodge is a station wagon with useful trunk features – light, electricity, compartments. The Subaru Outback has handles to flip over the rear bench – and two of these are located at the rear gate – how convenient is that.
The Toyota Prius has a surprisingly large trunk, that is very accessible. |
| Driver’s area – inside | The Mini has no well planned inside driver’s area. Window switches are extremely hard to reach. Indicator light switches appear strangely shaped. The instruments are non-standard and irritatingly misplaced and weirdly sized. No one would guess this is the matter of factual car that an original Mini once was. | The Subaru’s instruments prove what can be assumed from the brand. Instruments are very clear to read and located precisely where they should be. The ignition looks and feels like an ignition of a car. The area for plugging in devices, the drink holder and the middle console compartment are easy to find and signify a high degree of conforming to real needs. | The Dodge Magnum certainly is a car built for drivers that drive a lot of distance – all parts in the right place, comfortable arrangement, sturdy feel. | The Outback instrument cluster has colorful LED lighting which can easily be switched off – what I did, better design that way. The controls are all very well described and placed, no problems at all. The window levers are a bit too sensitive – they could have higher signal dampening. The Outback 2018 has so many aspects of assisting systems – EyeSight, lane warnings, posterior passing warnings, adaptive high beam headlights, adaptive cruise control – that are extremely well designed that it requires reading of the handbook before hand. | The Prius …. etc. | The driver’s side of the Mini, when sitting in the driver’s seat, is a truly irritating experience particularly over a longer period of time. Things simply aren’t where they should be, and things don’t work they are supposed to work. At first the impression of cuteness may be overwhelming but shortly after that one wishes one was driving an actual car.
The Subarus never got close to these problems. All inside dashboard and driver’s area parts are perfectly shaped, sized, and located. There is a standard equipment issued seat heating, and the middle arm rest is not too high (as in Audis or BMWs) so one actually can rest one’s arm rather than constantly banging it. It is possible to store the wallet, parking cards or other items right in the middle console rather than having no particular space at all to place them. Windows buttons are accessible, sturdy and well placed. The Dodge is just as relaxing as a very normally designed car with respect to its interior. Shape and color wise the Dodge Magnum with its green LCD style lights convinced totally. The Subarus have a very technical and cool design but then, the manufacturers use an industrial real-time UNIX system, QNX. |
| Powertrain and steering | Front wheel drive (FWD) in conjunction with good winter tyres (Pirelli Snow Sport Runflat) always allowed for good and safe driving. However, this is not an all wheel car. Around curves, the Mini indeed felt like a go cart. | The Subaru is no comparison to the Mini with that regard. The Symmetrical AWD and the horizontal boxer motor have an almost dream-like low center of gravity. The car handles both extremely elegantly, reliably and beautifully. There is no drama like the Mini, no screeching or go cart feeling. This is an extremely well built car that commands all wheels. It stays down around curves where it really really behaves well. | The Dodge Magnum with AWD leaves not much to desire, it has a 5 gear automatic transmission (5Tronic, Daimler Benz) and it absolutely hauls ass. | Very sophisticated CVT with SI-Drive for the AWD. Low center of gravity, a real monster to drive through curves. It is better than any of the others discussed here. Superb suspension. |
Prius … etc |
The Subarus simply have the better powertrain than the Mini. One should not even compare these. The Impreza was designed and built for racing and rally and even though these design features are not all required for public traffic in their comprehensive glory, they most definitely set that car off against others. The Dodge is yet another class, with AWD helping to mitigate the enormous torque in a safe way.
The best handling have the Outback and the Toyota Prius, same low center of gravity as other Subarus, and well tuned superb suspension. |
| Windshield wipers | Minimal options there. Interval, regular, fast. | Interval, regular and fast – but the interval wiper can be set to go relatively fast to almost not at all, which is perfect for wet fog, minimal rain or a little bit of rain in slow traffic. | Interval at various intervals, regular, fast. | As the Impreza, the Outback has a great windshield wiper control lever setup. | Prius etc… | The Subarus or Dodge as well as the Toyota are by far the better cars for wet weather – also inasmuch as All Wheel Drive is concerned – but also inasmuch as the interval wiper speed options are concerned.
The Mini certainly sucks when it rains. |
| Automatic gear programs | The Mini – despite me asking Mini Switzerland about it – only offers one automatic gear program. It really is not hard to re-program these, or, to get the customer to select from a choice of programs. But what I wanted was a more graded acceleration for commute traffic. Mini does not offer that. | The Subaru Impreza 1,5 actually has a relaxed general automatic gear switch mode, that is laid back. For quicker gear transitions, a “Sports Mode” can be selected and the car accelerates with a lot more spunk. Also, there is manual tip-tronic style gear switching. | The Dodge has a superbly balanced automatic transmission, as long as it works well. Some models seem to have problems but ideally, the transmission is an absolute dream. | SI-Drive, CVT transmission – the car drives at astonishingly low revs at most if not all times, more extreme than the Dodge with its 5,7L motor even. |
Prius has …. etc. |
Subaru offers what is required. Dodge definitely does. Mini does not. Toyota is superb with the three programs – eco, normal, power. Best to try that out. |
| Sound, music | Great speakers (Harman-Kardon). Radio with traffic news. CD-player. 3,5mm audio line in. One 12V car plug in driver’s area. | Great speakers, comparable to the Mini’s Harman-Kardon speakers. Radio with traffic news. CD-/MP3-CD-player. 3,5mm audio line in. Two 12V car plugs in driver’s area. | Boston Audio sound system. Super speakers. Radio, CD/DVD audio- and MP3- player with a 5-disc switcher. 3,5mm audio line in. Two 12V car plugs in driver’s area. | Harman Kardon sound system, and Harman QRX audio/navigation system. Great setup, perfect sound. Two USB ports for video or music, and sufficient 12V power outlets (two in the driver area). |
The JBL of the Prius is so far the best, it clearly beat all other systems – even lower bass, even better frequencies. |
The Mini sounds good but only after purchasing expensive extra add-ons.
The Subarus have great sound options as part of the standard default setup. The plugs / access ports are more sensibly placed and located. The Dodge rocks. The Prius, however, screams – even at lower volume. |
| Accessories | Mini accessories are not widely found. | The Subaru Impreza can be equipped with a range of accessories by third party manufacturers. All weather floor mats, seat covers, steering wheel covers – that car can be really pimped to feel good. | The Dodge Magnum also features on many third party accessory shops. Wheels are a bit difficult to get, as the specs are hard to find and not many wheels have these. Also no steelies for the AWD snif. |
Many things from all kinds of third party accessory shops. Wheels with the required specs (18×7 inch, 5 x 114,3 mm pattern, 55 mm offset; 17 x7 inch, 5 x 114,3 mm, 55 mm offset) can be found here or there even though steel rims are nowhere to be found. |
Prius has 5 x 100 mm pattern and a 40 mm offset, wheels 15 x 6,5. |
Better, more and cheaper options for accessories for the Subaru and Dodge, not too much available for the Prius however. |
| Uneven terrain | The Mini was driven from Berlin to Zuerich once in heavy snow. The power steering died after that drive which had some minor snow pile bumps along that trip, nothing significant. They had to replace the whole steering column, it was very expensive. That car is not made for driving other than in very fine weather. |
The Subaru Impreza excelled on all terrains that I used in on, off road, on sealed roads, summer or winter. | The Dodge Magnum with KW V2 coilovers is too low for most practical purposes. So one really scrapes over most bumpy roads, country paths etc., and one regularly has to get the belly pan replaced. | This is a really well built car for uneven terrain. |
The Prius is not half bad there but not everything tried yet. |
The Subarus behaved like true cars when facing winter conditions, snow, uneven terrain.
The Mini and the Dodge Magnum are only really useful on straight flat sealed roads. The Mini is not good in winter, once one has to deal with snow. The Dodge is very robust but still too low for most practical purposes like, country roads or smaller bumpy paths. |
This Subaru Outback is a superbly crafted item, best I had for my purposes so far. Also, the Subaru Impreza 1.5L 2010 model actually is a car and handles impressively well across many everyday conditions. The Dodge Magnum 5,7L Hemi R/T AWD 2008 is a very nice car that beats all others on freeways but sucks on small bumpy roads or unsealed paths. Not so sure about the other product – Mini – any more however.
