Overview

These two vehicles have almost nothing in common. They both run on four wheels though, but that's about it. For a start, they are not even classified under the same segment, with the 1 Series being a small family car and the 2 Series Coupe representing sports car vehicle class. Apart from that, different body styles uncover their separate purposes. The first one is a 5-door hatchback meant for people who use their car around city on regular basis, but still need some room for luggage. The other one, a 2-door coupe is mostly desired by those who like to emphasize the sportivness of their car and are somewhat performance-oriented.

Safety

The fact that the 1 Series got tested by the European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP), while the other contender didn't, puts it sky-high safety-wise, in my eyes at least. That aside, let's consider some other aspects which affect safety. The first vehicle is a small family car, providing approximately same level of protection as the sports car competitor, at least that's what statistics show. On the other hand, taking kerb weight as an important factor into account, 2 Series Coupe offers a marginal difference of 1% more metal.

Reliability

I don't like generalizing things when it comes to reliability, although it does seem that BMW displays higher than average breakdown numbers, at least on all of the models level. That's the official data, while our visitors describe reliability of BMW with an average rating of 4.1 out of 5. Independent research findings rank 1 Series as average reliability-wise, and 2 Series Coupe is more or less at the same level.We should definitely mention that owners of cars with the same powertrain as 1 Series rank it on average as 3.0, while the one under the competitor's bonnet gets 1.0 out of 5.

Performance & Fuel economy

Both of the cars accelerate exactly the same, so we couldn't put one above the other. Car No. 1 reaches top speed of 250 kilometers per hour, exactly the same as the other car does. When it comes to fuel economy the winner has to be 1 Series, averaging around 6.8 liters of fuel per 100 kilometers (42 mpg), in combined cycle. We can't ignore that 15% difference compared to 2 Series Coupe.

Verdict

1 Series appears just a bit more reliable, although the difference is truly marginal. The most important thing when deciding between any two vehicles should always be safety, both passive and active. In my opinion, everything taken into account, 1 Series beats the other contender by far, making it the best choice without even considering other things. When it comes to performance, both vehicles provide similar experience, so I wouldn't point any of them out. 1 Series , on the other hand, consumps significantly less fuel, and that's a big plus. All together, there's not much more to say, in this case I wouldn't even consider anything but 1 Series. Anyway, that's the most objective conclusion I could've came up with and it's based solely on the information found on this website. Aspects such as design, practicality, brand value and driving experience are there for you to measure them out. In case you have two minutes to spare I invite you to define your needs, desires and budget and see which car would be chosen by the virtual adviser™, out of 12.000+ vehicles we currently have in our database.