OT, but I have to answer!

If you live in the US, I'd assume that for you guys there's not so much a difference between a mini and a smart in size, as they are both miniatures compared to a magnum ;-) Here in Europe I see them in different classes. I have driven them both. My experience:

- The Mini has a lot more style, comes across as more fun since it has a premium touch (You can see minis in the most expensive neighbourhoods). In action though, almost anything of the pretty stuff sucked. And speaking of the interior's premium touch: it looked good but felt actually kinda cheap. If I want good carpentry for that price, I'd get me a bmw 1.

- The mini isn't "mini" at all. upside: feels spacy. downside: you pay a big premium for the brand name, yet it's brand core - being super small - has vanished (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:MINIandClassicMini.jpg). And it's not cheap! (the smart isn't cheap either but it's definetly small, I have always found parking space near my destination)

- it's reenactment of the old mini, seats you very low so you have a hard time guessing where your car's nose exactly is, the nose's roundness makes it worse (the smart simply has no nose).

- the front-window is actually kinda small (smart: the front-window feels larger/higher, giving you good vision). the rest of the windows are even smaller, you have a bad idea of what's going on outside (smart: way better)

- the rare front-window vision gets wasted by the minis gigantic rear-view mirror and its unbelievable thick frame so even more vision gets wasted

- there's a glove box in it, as in any other car. but in the mini it has to be special. so you can't pull it open, you have to push it, and then you have to wait until the hydraulics push the cover away. It brings so much joy at the toll booths ;-)

- the arm rest is rendered useless by it's integrated ipod-docking station, becuase its cover always sweeps open.

- the big tachometer in the middle of the console was at first confusing, then annoying, yet hard to ignore, since once in a while some functions are only accessible through it. it has a terrible ui. i'm sure in the future there will be a mini version where you have to swipe your left window, to make your turn signals flash.

- the uselessness of the big tachometer is proven by the real tachometer that is mounted on the steering wheel (the mounting gives it an even cheaper feel)

- the buttons in the center-console were mentioned. they suck. you have buttons, and then you have rings between the buttons, thus the main advantage of buttons (using them while not looking at them) is gone.

- it might be a classic mini feature, but putting the window lifter buttons in the center console makes the co-driver's arm getting in the way of the driver, who gets interrupted operating the shifter (ok, not a problem in the US).

- disco lights. you pay the price of an bmw and have to know that some of that money went into those interior neon-lights. Those lights are indirect, so the actual bulb is covered while the light is emitted through some sort of tray. the result: black holes in your side shelf. things that fall into that are lost forever ;-)

- (many more points)

If you buy a mini, you pay for the reputation of it's past models, which was built on functionality and price. You pay for what it reenacts, but not what it is. A smart isn't cheaper, but functional - and what makes me fall in love with it, when compared to the new mini: the smart dosn't acts to be something it isnt. There's no retro looking fake-metal dashboard made out of plastic.