Thanks everyone. What I would like to say to Martin is that my MINI wasn't that modified. It only had a retrofit MINI JCW engine kit and an aftermarket exhaust. I wasn't into ECU modifications and other major stuff. My MINI was slightly under the stock JCW.
I would say the 118i is quite far away from my car because of the extra weight(I think about 200kg extra). When I had 3 passengers in my car you could immediately notice the difference, and 3 passengers is slightly under 200kg.
I think I would go with the 125i rather than the 125d because as Superspeed said, the 125i is more of a true replacement to my MINI and with the forthcoming M performance engine kit it would be even better
, which is what I am looking for.
By the way: a 2010 Mercedes CL500 could only get away from me after 4'th gear...so you can realize why I loved my car so much
. Plus there is no better car to drive on a twisty road.
I hope I can test drive a 1 series after all, if not in the town where I live, than maybe somewhere else.
Early
reviews of the 125i are good and also better than the Mercedes A class which I was also interested in.