Chic in the city with the sunny Seat Mii

The sunny Seat Mii managed to brighten up even the dullest of days

Style – check. Practicality – check. Affordability – check. Fuel efficiency – check. It really does seem like Seat has ticked all the boxes with its new city car, the Seat Mii.

The Spanish car manufacturer has designed the Mii with both male and female drivers in mind and I’m reliably informed that my bright yellow hatch with white dash is the girls’ car (the boys’ version has decals).

A cute looking three-door hatchback, the Mii is almost toy-like in appearance. However, its tiny looking exterior gives way to a Tardis-like interior.

Visually, Seat has managed to save on space with narrower than normal depth on the doors (it’s still achieved a 5 Star Euro NCAP safety rating though), giving great elbow room in the front.

Legroom also is great, both back and front and the longer than normal doors make it easy to get into (and out of) the rear seats.

The interior of the Seat Mii is extremely spacious – with great leg and elbow room

The Mii is a very comfortable car, with that comfort lasting for even a long drive.

The boot is also extremely deceptive looking. While it looks quite small, there’s great depth in it – we managed to fit in an entire week’s grocery shop, plus a weekend bag, as well as a laptop bag. The rear seats can also be lowered for extra cargo space.

One of my main gripes with Seat in the past has been the dull interior, however, the mid level Mii Chic test car I was driving had a lovely bright interior to match its sunny exterior.

The dash in this car is actually white and both the instrument panel and the centre console are very functional.

As you’d expect for a little city car like this, the spec is quite basic. Although infotainment is limited to a radio/CD, there is a nice optional 5” touchscreen infotainment system, which sits on the dashboard and includes a SatNav, Bluetooth connectivity for audio streaming and a micro SD card slot. It also gives extra information on your driving.

Both of the windows in the test model were electric, but they had to be held, as opposed to one touch, to fully open and close them. This, while not a major problem, can be annoying if you’re hoping to pull off fast while closing the window when it’s raining – after taking a car park ticket for example. Also, you can’t activate the passenger window from the driver’s side.

There are some nice quirky design features though. The sunglasses holder, for instance, is in the glove compartment. There are also slots for a notebook and pen in there. The Mii has lots of storage cubbies and cup holders, and there are hooks in the back.

While at first glance it looks quite small, the boot in the Mii is actually quite deep and you can fit an awful lot more into it than you’d expect

The test car we were driving was a five-speed manual petrol model. As the Seat Mii is a city car, we chose urban streets and motorway traffic for our main test routes. And it was great fun to drive on all routes and the engine had a lovely sound to it.

While the Seat Mii is not the fastest at the lights, there was great satisfaction in working through the gears. It’s a steady climber to 120kph and has no problem staying there. Given its size, it’s also extremely easy to park.

The Mii is also extremely economical. We managed to travel 250km on urban routes on a quarter tank of petrol.

Seat has done a really good job with the Mii and there is very little to fault it on. One thing on my must have list is air conditioning. It’ll set you back an extra €519 but, if you have the cash, I think it’s worth it.

Overall, I loved driving the Seat Mii. It’s a cute and functional little city car that’s great fun and I think it would really suit a trendy younger driver.

The Seat Mii is available to buy now, with prices starting from €9,895 for the entry level Mii. The mid-level Chic model I was driving costs from €11,700.

Tech Spec
Engine: 999cc 1.0-litre 75bhp (petrol)
Acceleration: 0-100km/h in 13.2 seconds
Maximum Speed: 171km/h
Combined fuel consumption: 4.7l/100km
CO2 emissions: 108g/km
Annual road tax: €160 (Tax Band A)

Visit the Seat Ireland website or its Facebook page for further details.

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