What Car Magazine recently compared four Superminis The Hoda Jazz 1.3 Hybrid HE,  Fiat 500 0.9 Twinair, Volkswagen Polo 1.2 TDI Bluemotion and the Mini One 1.6D. Of those tested the Mini came out on top and certainly in our experience Mini contract hire is the most popular of the four vehicles. Fiat 500 leasing is also very popular, although it didn’t come out terrible well in What Car’s comparison.

The cars were matched in different categories and each was given a star rating, which are as follows:

Performance

Fiat 500 2
Honda Jazz 3
VW Polo 2
Mini One 4

There was a five second difference between the fastest and the slowest; the fastest being the Mini and the slowest the Volkswagen Polo 1.2 TDI Bluemotion.

Ride and Handling.

Fiat 500.  3
Honda Jazz. 3
VW Polo. 4
Mini One 5

Quality and reliability.

Fiat 500 4
Honda Jazz 4
VW Polo 4
Mini One 5

Safety and Security

Fiat 500 3
Honda Jazz 5
VW Polo 4
Mini One  4

Refinement

Fiat 500 2
Honda Jazz 3
VW Polo 3
Mini One  3

Space and practicability.

Fiat 500 3
Honda Jazz 5
VW Polo 4
Mini One 3

Best rear space was the Honda Jazz and it also had the biggest boot. The car with the best front space was the Mini, although the boot is tiny. To be fair you can still get a large soft bag in the boot and in any event it doesn’t seem to put off any of our Mini leasing clients.

Overall as you would expect the Mini came out best and in second place was the Volkswagen Polo. The Polo won European Car of the Year in 2010. Third position went to the Honda Jazz and fourth position to the Fiat 500.

We find it is a little different when it comes to sales, Mini contract hire is by far the most popular but then the potential clients are very wide ranging. They go from those who lease a Mini with little money and a limited budget, to the very wealthy; the streets of Chelsea and Knightsbridge are full of Minis. It is one of the few cars where it is very difficult to judge someone’s financial position by what they drive.

The Mini is followed by Volkwagen Polo leasing. However Fiat 500 leasing is just as popular as the Honda Jazz. It may not be as good as the Honda Jazz in a lot of respects but many feel it has more class.