4th April 2007

I am not sure if the company has woken up to the fact yet, but over-confident and greedy MINI seems in real danger of being dethroned as the king of the cute, small car about town. A number of rival manufacturers and their dealers are ramming home the point harder than ever that they can - and, indeed, do - produce vehicles which are as good as or better than the 2+2 MINI in terms of space, build quality, fun, design, efficiency and environmental friendliness.

	Volkswagen's new Polo Bluemotion slaughters the latest MINI on fuel efficiency and CO2 - the most important statistics in towns

Then there's the little matter of price. Ford's cheapest model is the Ka Studio 1.3, which officially retails at just over £7,000. True, it's a bit long in the tooth, but the present going rate for this car is less than £5,000 after a now-obligatory discount of more than two grand (you don't even have to ask for it). Even at that mouth-watering price, zero per cent finance may also be thrown in, if buyers put down a 50 per cent deposit or offer a trade-in worth £2,500.

Now, compare that quite brilliant Ka deal with the cheapest model in the latest-generation MINI range. It has a 1.6 lump, is listed as a £12,995 car and, no, you can't have a discount of 2p - never mind £2k. All things considered, not least the interest-free loan available on the Ford, I'm forced to conclude that the latest entry-level version of the MINI is about THREE TIMES more expensive than a Ka 1.3, which is marginally shorter but more spacious.

But, I hear you say, putting an upscale brand such as MINI alongside a bread-and-butter marque like Ford is a somewhat meaningless comparison. OK, let's compare the cheapest VW Fox with the cheapest latest-generation MINI instead. You won't get a discount on either model, but who cares when you can have two of these modest VWs parked on your drive for the price of one MINI?

Even more intriguingly, VW has put a Polo 1.4 TDI Bluemotion up against MINI's 1.6 petrol (strangely, BMW hasn't got around to doing a new diesel yet). Admittedly, the MINI soundly beats the Polo in terms of power, top speed and 0-60mph - which are, I'd argue, all pretty irrelevant on a car that will spend most of its life in town at a 12mph average. But the VW slaughters its rival when it comes to fuel efficiency (72.4mpg versus 48.7mpg) and CO2 (102g/km versus 139g/km) - which are the most important statistics in towns and cities.

In Geneva last month, when MINI sent out cars with "Stop staring at me" spray-painted on the bodywork, VW put a fleet of 102 Bluemotions on the street, graced them with more subtle, positive messages (I'd call a combination of 102g/km and 72.4mpg pretty positive, wouldn't you?) and offered all-comers a ride in them. A brilliant and informative publicity stunt.

On the grounds that it makes the holier-than-thou Toyota Prius and Honda Civic petrol/electric hybrids (plus the new MINI) look comparatively dirty, thirsty and expensive, the Polo Bluemotion already deserves to be a contender for Car of the Year - if only because it is simply THE most fuel-efficient and least polluting proper car (that is, not an all-electric quadracycle) on sale in Britain in 2007.

However, another hopeful for that title is the Fiat 500. Yes, it will be expensive at around £11,000 and no, the Polo Bluemotion isn't exactly cheap at around £11,500. But the pair at least cost less than the latest-generation MINI on sale today. More importantly, there are good reasons to buy the VW and the Fiat. I wish I could say that about MINI, but I can't. The bubble, I fear, has burst. Discuss here

Mike Rutherford writes for the Times, Daily Telegraph and Independent, presents ITV's Pulling Power and is founder member of the Motorists' Association

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