More in common than expected

The Mini Aceman E Is The Latest To Challenge The 50-Year-Old Volkswagen Model For Hatchback Supremacy

- Christopher Tan

Comparing a petrol car with an electric one may seem like comparing chalk with cheese. But bear with me and I will show you such an exercise is not as ludicrous as it sounds.

To start, the two cars in question are compact hatches with similar dimensions. The petrol-powered Volkswagen Golf 1.5 is 4,285mm long, 1,789mm wide and 1,459mm tall with a 2,620mm wheelbase. The battery-driven Mini Aceman is 4,079mm long, 1,754mm wide and 1,514mm tall with a 2,606mm wheelbase.

The Volkswagen hatch is a facelift of the eighth-generation Golf. It is made in the German town of Wolfsburg which, in 2024, marked its 50th year of churning out the iconic model. The Golf 1.5, in sportier R-Line trim, weighs 1,399kg.

The Aceman is positioned as a crossover, but its ground clearance of 143mm is merely 4mm more than the Golf's. At 1,514mm tall, including roof rails, it stands 55mm taller than the Golf, which does not have roof rails.

Being electric, the Aceman is noticeably heftier at 1,645kg. It is built by a joint venture between BMW and Great Wall Motor in Zhangjiagang, China.

The most notable dimensional difference lies in length. Being the longer car, the Golf is endowed with a longer wheelbase, which translates into more interior room. With the front seat adjusted to accommodate my 1.68m frame, the space in the Volkswagen's rear seat between my knee and the back of the front seat is more than one phone's length.

In comparison, the same space in the Aceman is barely the length of a phone.

As for rear headroom, both cars are similar, with the gap between the head and ceiling being more than the width of a phone.