Compare the2025 Honda Civic SiVS 2025 MINI Cooper Hardtop 4 Door

For enhanced safety, the front and rear seat shoulder belts of the Honda Civic Si 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 Si 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 Si 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 Si’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 Si’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.

The Civic Si has a standard blind spot warning system that uses sensors to alert the driver to objects in the vehicle’s blind spots where the side view mirrors don’t reveal them. A system to reveal vehicles in the Cooper Hardtop 4 Door’s blind spot costs extra.

To help make backing out of a parking space safer, the Civic Si has standard Rear Cross Traffic Monitor, helping the driver avoid collisions. MINI charges extra for Cross Traffic Warning on the Cooper Hardtop 4 Door.

Both the Civic Si 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 and driver alert monitors.

The Honda Civic Si achieved a “Top Safety Pick” rating from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) for the 2025 model year. This recognition was based on its impressive performance in the small overlap frontal crash test, updated moderate overlap front crash test, updated side impact crash test, headlight evaluations, and pedestrian crash prevention testing. The Cooper Hardtop 4 Door has not yet been evaluated by the IIHS for 2025.

Honda’s powertrain warranty covers the Civic Si 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 Si’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 Si’s 1.5 turbo 4-cylinder produces 39 more horsepower (200 vs. 161) and 8 lbs.-ft. more torque (192 vs. 184) than the Cooper Hardtop 4 Door’s standard 2.0 turbo 4-cylinder.

The Civic Si 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 Si stops much shorter than the Cooper Hardtop 4 Door:

For better traction, the Civic Si has larger tires than the Cooper Hardtop 4 Door (235/40R18 vs. 215/45R17).

The Civic Si’s tires provide better handling because they have a lower 40 series profile (height to width ratio) that provides a stiffer sidewall than the Cooper Hardtop 4 Door’s standard 45 series tires.

For better ride, handling and brake cooling the Civic Si has standard 18-inch wheels. Smaller 17-inch wheels are standard on the Cooper Hardtop 4 Door.

For a smoother ride and more stable handling, the Civic Si’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 track (width between the wheels) on the Civic Si is 1.5 inches wider in the front and 2.6 inches wider in the rear than on the Cooper Hardtop 4 Door.

The Civic Si handles at .94 G’s, while the Cooper Hardtop 4 Door S pulls only .91 G’s of cornering force in a Motor Trend skidpad test.

The Civic Si 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 Si’s standard Smart Entry allow you to unlock the doors from either front door handle, open the trunk, and start the engine, all without removing the key from the pocket or purse. start/stop switch standard on the Cooper Hardtop 4 Door only offers hands-free access for the ignition, none to unlock the car.

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

The Civic Si 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 Si 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.

Consumer Reports® recommends both the Honda Civic Si 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.