Similar to Skidpan really - we had a 118d as SWMBO's car, never had a thing go wrong with it. Economy similar, possibly a bit better.

The thing that can turn one of these from 'really nice to drive' to 'handles like a pile of crud' is the particular model and spec. I'd seriously avoid anything with big wheels (18" or the insane 19" options, 17s aren't too bad), and also avoid M-sport spec. All it does is make the suspension crashy, and the big wheels make it more crashy again. Ideally SE spec and 16" wheels, and it will absorb bumps all day long.

We had a look at the 3 door and 5 door hatchbacks, went with the 5 door. The 3 door, the doors are enormous, can make it a major issue getting in or out in parking spaces. Though with the doors wide open, access to the back was very good in the 3 door version.

The 116d, 118d and 120d are all the same basic engine, with different levels of tune. The 116d felt horribly underpowered compared to the 118d. The 120d, strangely, didn't feel like such a huge step up from the 118d, so we went with the 118d.

A few things on different 'edition' models at various times. Ours had heated seats (very nice), and a few other bits too, I think ours was an 'ES edition' model, though I can't be sure.

Spec. Exactly what, in terms of spec, I couldn't tell you though. The SE has a few extra bits, but the ES Edition model that we bought had those, plus a few more, for less than the price of the SE. Plus I seem to recall we got about 10% off the list price too.

Sometimes, car pricing and variants make no sense at all.