I can see a massive difference between the two, but I don't want to call one better than the other, because one is more developed and the other works different. So I'll say this: I personally still prefer Blender Render (BI)

Here's why I do.
I've used the same project, creating first a Cycles Render version and then a Blender Render version. Out of the two I like the overall look of the Cycles Render one more, but the capabilities in procedural textures in Blender Render overshadows the quality (just see the bricks in the Cycles Render, it had to be painted on a new UV image using Texture nodes).

Both have a charm and the difficulty level of Blender Render is way higher than Cycles Render for two reasons: material settings and scene lighting. I say I prefer Blender Render for three reasons:
1) Texture abilities,
2) speed and
3) customization of materials are straight-forward.

Now getting to speed. The Blender Render version took 01:44:31 (HH:MM:SS) vs 16:46:09.70 (HH:MM:SS.ss) @ 1460 passes with Cycles Render. Such a speed difference between the two can't be ignored for such a small difference between the two's final quality. The strangest part is that the Blender Render project needed a lot more power and was still almost 17x faster. For example, the wheels are a higher resolution, so are the top and bottom rails, the floor and the tree in the background. Almost everything has some level of normal value on and that too uses more power, not even touching on how many textures were used.

Cycles Render is definitely something to be very very excited about and especially on what it can become, but for now, Blender Render (affectionately known as BI or Blender Internal), remains my render engine of choice for speed and quality combined, texturing capabilities and overall user-friendliness.

Here are the two projects side by side: