You want it all, don't you? Easy to park, yet spacious inside. Efficient and lively. Docile, but also burly—just like a grown-up SUV. These are all likely reasons why you're looking at subcompact crossovers. Oh, you want sporty and luxurious, too?

If an SUV extant hits all those marks, we've yet to drive it. But between the 2021 BMW X1 and the redesigned 2021 Mercedes-Benz GLA 250, there's good news: You can have most of it. However, one gives you more—a lot more—in how it backs up the badge it wears.

To decide which is better to live with every day, we drove city streets, bustling freeways, and curvy roads in between because when you want it all, you have to try a little bit of everything.

Small Outside, Big Inside

Looking at the specs, you might think there's a subcompact crossover copy machine in Germany; the X1 and GLA are sized just about the same. Despite its redesign, which added dimensional increases almost everywhere, the GLA is just under 2 inches shorter in length than the BMW, though now a half-inch taller and wider.

Inside, the X1 has a substantial headroom advantage in both rows, but it trails the GLA in legroom. For 2021, the GLA gained a whopping 4.5 inches of rear legroom, which we immediately noticed. "The rear seats are useful now. I can actually sit behind myself comfortably," said 6-foot-tall Associate Online Editor Stefan Ogbac. I can fit behind him, too, a surprise given my nearly 7-foot stature.

We both feel comparatively squeezed in the back of the X1. However, Ogbac observed that there's definitely more cargo space, but that comes at the slight cost of rear-seat legroom. Indeed, the BMW has a bigger trunk and underfloor storage area. Neither of our test cars features a spare tire, though.

So the X1 is more utilitarian, while the GLA feels more spacious. That's a reasonable tie at a standstill, but our favor quickly turned when we started driving.

Sporty? Sort Of

Again, the spec sheet indicates more similarities than the experience yields. Both pack 2.0-liter turbo-four engines, making 221 hp in the Mercedes, 228 hp in the BMW, and an equal 258 lb-ft of torque each. Both are linked to eight-speed automatic transmissions: a dual-clutch type in the GLA and a traditional planetary unit with a torque converter in the X1. Both vehicles in this comparison have optional AWD. We previously recorded the X1's 0-60 mph time at 6.8 seconds, and we estimate the GLA will be within a decimal place. EPA-rated fuel economy is 24/33 mpg city/highway in the GLA and 23/31 mpg in the X1.

Here's the funny thing: The X1 is sportier, but it doesn't drive better. Handling, like in many modern BMWs, feels detached and artificial. Ogbac commented: "There's less body roll in the X1, but I still don't trust it because there's zero feedback coming from the steering wheel. It's just numb and overly heavy." The X1 presents itself as a sporty SUV. But driving it like one feels a bit sketchy.

While climbing up a set of switchbacks, BMW's xDrive AWD system seems willing to send power to the rear axle—once the engine decides to make power. Boost takes a moment to build, and the transmission's reluctance to downshift into the powerband doesn't help. Even running in sport or manual mode, acceleration feels further away than we want it to be.

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