The motoring media has heaped more praise on the Mii, with glowing reviews from The Sun, Car magazine, Fifth Gear, Top Gear online, Parker’s, MSN Cars and Yahoo! Cars.
The Sun’s Ken Gibson looks forward to the new Toledo and SEAT’s first SUV in the centre spread of the newspaper’s motors section on Friday 9 December. But his main focus is on Mii.
“SEAT’s new city car has a chic styling that goes perfectly with a car from Spain… A fun car, a lot like a Spanish holiday that won’t cost you a fortune to enjoy.”
“The colour-coded dash in a smart metallic grey gives the Mii a surprisingly upmarket feel. The cabin makes you feel you are sitting in the motoring version of the iPhone.
“The interior has ample space for four adults, defying its compact exterior look, and on the road it drives with the same degree of fun as its direct rivals – the Škoda Citigo and VW up!.
“Having spent a day behind the wheel of the Mii on a sunny day in Spain, the car puts a smile on your face and with a starting price of £7,500 it makes a lot of sense.”
“The Mii is set to appeal to loyal SEAT customers and a younger crowd than its cousins,” said Car Enthusiast’s Graeme Lambert, who gave the Mii four stars out of five. “Continuing on from where the cheeky Arosa left off, it injects a real sense of quality and flair into the sector and offers a frugal but fun ownership experience.”
“The light steering, eager three-cylinder engine, large glazing and compact dimensions make it ideal for taking advantage of any gaps that appear in the traffic.
“Still, it’s a pleasure to make use of the light gear-shift and eager throttle response in a bid to get the most from the 60PS triple [cylinder engine]. Explore the rev range, and once past 3,000rpm the engine’s characterful warble encourages you to make the most of the rev-happy power delivery.”
“If I had to single out one aspect of the Mii’s dynamics that I thought worked best it would be the ride,” said Car magazine’s Tim Pollard. “Our car rode on 15-inch alloys (the largest diameter available) and although I kept aiming deliberately at Barcelona’s worst potholes, I just couldn’t deflect the Mii’s composure. It rides like a much bigger car should. Its pliancy and control felt like something wearing a Blue Oval.
“SEAT is gunning for a three per cent share of the UK city car market, which means it could end up flogging 6,000 Miis a year. Buyers who do will be on to a good thing.”
“It’s amazing how refined the Mii is”
“It’s amazing how refined the Mii is,” said Top Gear online’s review. “There’s a big car feel going on here, and both wind and road noise are far more muted than you’d expect.
“The Mii’s build quality is good – it’s not a soft-touch dash, but it looks OK and doesn’t feel tinny. And there’s loads of room, both in the front and the back. For a small city car, the packaging on this thing is brilliant because four adults will easily fit.”
MSN Cars has given the Mii a glowing five-star review, saying the new city car is “eager to please on the road and spacious inside.”
“It rides like a much bigger car should”
“With an engaging three-pot thrum that’s more bassy than tinny, and a tidy five-speed manual gearbox, the 75PS Mii makes such confident progress you rarely feel vulnerable mixing it among much larger vehicles.
“The steering is light for easy manoeuvring without totally erasing the feedback that makes punting this kind of car in and out of traffic such fun; the Mii is direct, keen to engage and happy to whip round slower-moving souls in a blink.
“It quickly convinces you that it will go where you point it with faithful determination, leaning through turns in a consistent motion that builds your confidence, and clinging on with everything it’s got, making fast direction changes a breeze.
“Obviously, it’s no sports car; but with limited width and perky enthusiasm it nips around town with the kind of abandon bigger cars can only dream of.”
“A cracking little car”
“The Mii is a cracking little car,” said Fifth Gear, which gave the Mii four gearsticks out of five.
“The interior is pretty roomy, there’s easily more space in the front footwells than a Ford Focus. In the back there’s plenty of space if your driver isn’t 9ft tall and the seats are pretty comfy as well.
“The room is complimented by incredible visibility – the side windows are huge and the rear window seems bigger than most bigger hatches.”
“Cheeky, cheerful fun within its modest limits”
“The 76PS three-cylinder 1.0 litre engine is an excellent engine. It’s no V8 powerhouse but the benchmark sprint is competitive for this size of car. You will get from zero to 62mph in 13.2 seconds and on to a top speed of 107mph, more than enough for nipping around city streets.
“The Mii should attract lots of attention from company car drivers who need small cars to zoom around town in,” said Parker’s review.
“With an expected P11D value of £7,500, company car tax is likely to cost you around £12.50 per month on the 20 per cent pay scale. That, we think you’ll agree, is absolutely incredible value for a well-engineered supermini. The Mii should attract lots of attention from company car drivers who need small cars to zoom around town in,” said Parker’s review.
“The Mii delivers a refined and easy to drive experience in a sharp-looking wrapper for buyers seeking affordable urban transport,” said Yahoo! Cars.
“In 60PS guise the car is no slouch in stop-start traffic and it’s surprising how little effort is required to maintain even a brisk pace. Engine refinement is top notch, with this clean-sheet design only vocal when you really push on – motorway slip roads and sprinting for that rapidly shrinking gap spring to mind. Even then it’s only a throaty, three-pot rasp that enters the cabin, which complements rather than spoils the overall experience.
“Factor in a remarkably supple and polished ride and it’s difficult not to be impressed by the Mii when in its natural habitat.
“A lot of car for not a lot of money”
“For a small car, SEAT’s Mii makes a big impression. Performance-wise it demonstrates a level of refinement and ability that’s way above its price point, while you sacrifice nothing in terms of creature comforts. It’s a lot of car for not a lot of money.”
“The Mii is a truly entertaining little car, though it’s pretty much identical to Volkswagen’s Up! and Škoda’s Citigo,” said The Gas Station’s Alex Goy. Listen to his full verdict online in this podisode.