Compare the2025 Honda CivicVS 2025 MINI Cooper Hardtop 4 Door

For enhanced safety, the front and rear seat shoulder belts of the Honda Civic have pretensioners to tighten the seatbelts and eliminate dangerous slack in the event of a collision and force limiters to limit the pressure the belts will exert on the passengers. The MINI Cooper Hardtop 4 Door doesn’t offer pretensioners for its rear seat belts.

For enhanced safety, the front seat shoulder belts of the Honda Civic are height-adjustable to accommodate a wide variety of driver and passenger heights. A better fit can prevent injuries and the increased comfort also encourages passengers to buckle up. The MINI Cooper Hardtop 4 Door doesn’t offer height-adjustable seat belts.

Using vehicle speed sensors and seat sensors, smart airbags in the Civic deploy with different levels of force or don’t deploy at all to help better protect passengers of all sizes in different collisions. The Civic’s side airbags will shut off if a child is leaning against the door. The Cooper Hardtop 4 Door’s side airbags don’t have smart features and will always deploy full force.

The Civic’s standard lane departure warning system alerts a temporarily inattentive driver when the vehicle begins to leave its lane and gently nudges the vehicle back towards its lane. A lane departure warning system costs extra on the Cooper Hardtop 4 Door.

Both the Civic and the Cooper Hardtop 4 Door have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front and rear side-impact airbags, driver and front passenger knee airbags, side-impact head airbags, front wheel drive, plastic fuel tanks, four-wheel antilock brakes, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, crash mitigating brakes, daytime running lights, rearview cameras, driver alert monitors, available blind spot warning systems, rear parking sensors and rear cross-path warning.

The Honda Civic has achieved the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s (IIHS) highest rating of “Top Safety Pick Plus” for the 2024 model year. This distinction is based on its exceptional performance in IIHS’ rigorous battery of safety tests. Specifically, it earned an “Acceptable” rating in the latest, more stringent moderate overlap front crash test, a “Good” result in the updated side impact test, and an “Acceptable” score in the revised pedestrian crash prevention test. The Cooper Hardtop 4 Door has not yet been evaluated by the IIHS for 2024.

Honda’s powertrain warranty covers the Civic 1 year and 10,000 miles longer than MINI covers the Cooper Hardtop 4 Door. Any repair needed on the engine, transmission, axles, joints or driveshafts is fully covered for 5 years or 60,000 miles. Coverage on the Cooper Hardtop 4 Door ends after only 4 years or 50,000 miles.

There are over 11 times as many Honda dealers as there are MINI dealers, which makes it much easier should you ever need service under the Civic’s warranty.

J.D. Power and Associates’ 2024 Initial Quality Study of new car owners surveyed provide the statistics that show that Honda vehicles are better in initial quality than MINI vehicles. J.D. Power ranks Honda above average in initial quality. With 1 more problems per 100 vehicles, MINI is rated lower.

The Civic Hybrid’s standard 2.0 DOHC 4-cylinder hybrid produces 11 lbs.-ft. more torque (232 vs. 221) than the Cooper Hardtop 4 Door S’ standard 2.0 turbo 4-cylinder.

On the EPA test cycle the Civic Sedan gets better mileage than the Cooper Hardtop 4 Door:

On the EPA test cycle the Civic Hatchback gets better mileage than the Cooper Hardtop 4 Door:

To lower fuel costs and make buying fuel easier, the Honda Civic uses regular unleaded gasoline. The Cooper Hardtop 4 Door requires premium for maximum efficiency, which can cost on average about 84.9 cents more per gallon.

The Civic has a standard cap-less fueling system. The fuel filler is automatically opened when the fuel nozzle is inserted and automatically closed when it’s removed. This eliminates the need to unscrew and replace the cap and it reduces fuel evaporation, which causes pollution. The Cooper Hardtop 4 Door doesn’t offer a cap-less fueling system.

The Civic has a standard continuously variable transmission (CVT). With no “steps” between gears, it can keep the engine at the most efficient speed for fuel economy, or keep it at its peak horsepower indefinitely for maximum acceleration. The Cooper Hardtop 4 Door doesn’t offer a CVT.

For better traction, the Civic Sport/Touring’s tires are larger than the largest tires available on the Cooper Hardtop 4 Door (235/40R18 vs. 215/45R17).

The Civic Gas has a standard space-saver spare (not available on Hybrid) so you can replace a flat tire and drive to have the flat repaired or replaced. A spare tire isn’t available on the Cooper Hardtop 4 Door; it requires you to depend on roadside assistance and your vehicle will have to be towed.

For a smoother ride and more stable handling, the Civic’s wheelbase is 6.6 inches longer than on the Cooper Hardtop 4 Door (107.7 inches vs. 101.1 inches).

For better handling and stability, the average track (width between the wheels) on the Civic is 1.7 inches wider in the front and 2.7 inches wider in the rear than the track on the Cooper Hardtop 4 Door.

The Honda Civic may be more efficient, handle and accelerate better because it weighs up to about 200 pounds less than the MINI Cooper Hardtop 4 Door.

The Civic Hybrid uses computer-generated active noise cancellation to help remove annoying noise and vibration from the passenger compartment, especially at low frequencies. The Cooper Hardtop 4 Door doesn’t offer active noise cancellation.

The Civic has .9 inches more front legroom, 1.5 inches more front hip room, 5.8 inches more front shoulder room, 5.1 inches more rear legroom and 6.2 inches more rear shoulder room than the Cooper Hardtop 4 Door.

The Civic Sedan has a much larger trunk than the Cooper Hardtop 4 Door with its rear seat up (14.8 vs. 13.1 cubic feet).

To shield the driver and front passenger’s vision over a larger portion of the windshield and side windows, the Civic has standard extendable sun visors. The Cooper Hardtop 4 Door doesn’t offer extendable visors.

The Civic Sport Sedan/Sport Touring/Sport Hybrid has a standard center folding armrest for the rear passengers. A center armrest helps make rear passengers more comfortable and it can provide a boundary between children. The Cooper Hardtop 4 Door doesn’t offer a rear seat center armrest.

To keep a safe, consistent following distance, the Civic has a standard Adaptive Cruise Control, which alters the speed of the vehicle without driver intervention. This allows the driver to use cruise control more safely without constantly having to disengage it when approaching slower traffic. The Cooper Hardtop 4 Door doesn’t offer an adaptive cruise control.

Compared to the MINI Cooper Hardtop 4 Door, the Honda Civic Touring/Sport Touring eliminates the need for separate garage door openers and associated risks of losing, breaking, or having dead batteries with its standard integrated Homelink® universal remote controlled from the rear view mirror.

Consumer Reports® recommends both the Honda Civic and the MINI Cooper Hardtop 4 Door, based on reliability, safety and performance.

The Civic was chosen as a Car and Driver’s “Top Ten” for 2025 and 10 more times in the last 41 years. The Cooper Hardtop 4 Door has never been chosen by Car and Driver in their “10Best” issue.

A group of representative automotive journalists from North America selected the Civic as the 2025 North American Car of the Year. The Cooper was last chosen in 2003.

The Honda Civic outsold the MINI Cooper Hardtop 4 Door by almost 76 to one during 2024.