SEAT Mii review

A good city car needs to cope with the rigours of urban life but also deliver comfort on the motorway. The SEAT Mii does just that, and will be cheap to buy and run, not to mention practical. It's not the fastest city car, but it's still more fun to drive and offers surprising refinement when compared to rivals.

Along with its Skoda Citigo and Volkswagen up! sister models, it’s fair to say the car has redefined standards in this hard-fought class.

All three stablemates have the same basic architecture and lively three-cylinder engine, but the SEAT Mii is a little cheaper than its Volkswagen counterpart, and gets a dose of Spanish style thrown into the deal.

• Best city cars

That’s why it's one of the best city cars currently on sale – although we tend to like the Skoda Citigo better for its even greater value.

Like its predecessor the SEAT Arosa, the latest SEAT Mii city car is a rebadged VW. It’s a version of the VW up! which also shares (almost) everything but the badges with Skoda’s version, the Citigo.

The three models are built alongside each other in VW’s Bratislava factory. Between them, they provide a pretty good argument against a wide variety of city car rivals, that includes the Citroen C1, Hyundai i10, Kia Picanto, Peugeot 108, Renault Twingo, Suzuki Celerio, Toyota Aygo and Vauxhall Viva.

By offering the SEAT Mii for sale alongside VW and Skoda versions, the VW group offers a range of price and equipment levels in the city car sector. The SEAT version is cheapest of the trio, but like its sister-models is available in three and five-door body styles. The engine line-up is shared too, but while the Spanish brand’s version gets 59bhp and 74bhp versions of the VW Group’s 1.0-litre three-cylinder petrol power unit, SEAT doesn’t offer the up!’s punchier turbocharged version. Likewise, SEAT doesn’t offer the Mii with an auto transmission, whereas the Citigo and up! both come with that option.

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SEAT Mii trim levels start with the Mii SE, which doesn’t have a bad list of spec as an entry-model. The haul includes alloy wheels, air conditioning, electric front windows, split-fold rear seat, six-speaker sound system and body colour mirrors and door handles.

Next up is the Mii Design which comes with LED daytime running lights and trim upgrades, while the sporty Mii FR has graphics and a sat-nav to go with its special alloy wheels and uprated suspension.

The range-topper is as special edition called the Mii Cosmopolitan, named after the magazine of the same name. You can have it in Violetto or Candy White, and as well as various style upgrades it comes with the bigger 74bhp engine only.

For an alternative review of the latest SEAT Mii Hatchback visit our sister site carbuyer.co.uk