SEAT Mii Electric Review 2023

The SEAT Mii Electric is blissfully easy to drive, and its low noise and easy performance are well-matched by the quick steering and comfortable ride to make it a brilliant car for zipping in and out of the city. Low running costs are a big plus too, once you get past the initial cost. Anyone seeking a top-drawer city car should consider the SEAT Mii Electric, and depending on how often you need to go out of town it may well be handy enough to perform that job too.

SEAT has tried to keep the list price of the Mii Electric as low as possible by cutting out the trims and options. There’s just a single model in the range - the Mii Electric - and outside of the colour of the exterior paint there are just three options: the mode 2 charging cable, the Easy Flex pack which adds the double boot floor, a glovebox hook and a height-adjustable passenger seat for £70 and a contrast roof, which is available on all body colour bar black (of course).

That makes for an easy decision when buying new or used, although you may want to compare prices and deals with the Skoda and Volkswagen equivalents.

No cars are more similar to the SEAT Mii Electric than the Volkswagen e-Up and Skoda Citigo-e iV, so you should definitely consider both options before making a choice. The Citigo-e is available in two trim levels, one significantly cheaper than the Mii Electric with less equipment and the other almost identical in price and spec. The e-Up is also a one-model range, and true to form is the most expensive of the three.

The other main rival to the SEAT Mii Electric is the Renault Zoe. Although it is a slightly bigger car and a more expensive with it, it comes in a choice of two power outputs, two charging modes and three trim levels, so it’s easier to pick the car you need. Also consider the retro Honda e.

It may be one of the older contenders in this segment but the SEAT Mii Electric stands up relatively well in this department. Its humble origins as a city car do make themselves felt though, as the cabin feels quite stripped back compared to the Renault Zoe in particular. Some of the plastics may be hard but they feel tough rather than cheap, and you still get a reassuring click when operating the controls, giving off strong vibes that this is a quality product.

The fact that the Mii Electric comes in a single trim is a big help here, as SEAT have not skimped on equipment and visual garnish on the inside, a big plus given this is not as cheap as its petrol-powered predecessors. You get heated front sports seats up front that make it feel more grown up, and there’s a black rooflining, chrome trim and leather on the steering wheel and gearlever. There’s nothing left on the options shelf, so this is a nice as a Mii can be - which should be plenty for most people.

This is another area where the Mii Electric improves on the provision of the old Mii. As standard you get everything on the menu - there’s a DAB radio (with FM and AM) which is button-operated rather than touchscreen, and a smartphone cradle which connects up to give you Bluetooth for phone and audio streaming as well as a host of other features through the Drive Mii app.

The Drive Mii app is carried over from the outgoing Mii, but its latest update adds a few more features. You still get satellite navigation, a trip computer, phone operation and music streaming, but it also now includes an Eco Trainer that monitors your driving to help you get the most out of your battery charge. As this is an electric car you also get the SEAT connect app, which allows you to control certain car functions remotely. 

You can operate the climate control remotely (if the SEAT Mii Electric is on charge), control the charging process, check where the vehicle is parked and check the vehicle status - all of which can be very useful if you’re using the occasionally flaky public charging network.

The SEAT Mii Electric hasn’t changed its shape in its transformation to electric power, so it is still boxy and square in an appealing way, which helps maximise the interior space. The SEAT Mii Electric's dimensions are just over 3.5m long and 1.6m wide. It’s also worth noting that junking the engine for a load of batteries hasn’t impacted the space a great deal either. The batteries are under the rear seat which is 5 cm higher than before, which is a small price to pay in terms of headroom.

You might well be surprised to discover how spacious SEAT Mii Electric is in the front - tall drivers need not fear looking like they’ve climbed into a child’s pedal car. Any size of driver can get comfortable behind the wheel, even though the steering only adjusts for reach, with plenty of head and legroom. Shoulder room is decent too, despite this being a relatively narrow car. The feeling of space is helped by the relatively stripped-back interior and the large glazed area, all of which maximises the amount of light coming into the cabin.

Rear seat space is less generous in the SEAT Mii Electric, but it’s more than acceptable given the exterior dimensions. The rear seats are mounted a fraction higher than those in the front, so there’s a little less headroom, while legroom is understandably less plentiful. Still, there’s enough space here to accommodate willing adults for shorter journeys, and for most sizes of child you shouldn’t have any problems. SEAT Mii Electric models are five-doors only, unlike the three-door option of the petrol models, but it is also a strict four-seater, with a rear bench designed for two and a pair of seatbelts rather than three, unlike the Renault Zoe.

Boot space for the SEAT Mii Electric is also impressive and exactly the same as the petrol version with 251 litres on offer, impressive given that there’s more mechanical hardware to accommodate. Fold the rear seats and this can be expanded to a handy 959 litres, and there’s an adjustable boot floor too so you can stash more valuable items out of site.

There’s a useful amount of storage space in the cabin of the SEAT Mii Electric too, including decently-sized door bins that can hold a 1-litre bottle, a cubby in front of the gearlever - with an insert designed to hold a smartphone if you wish - plus a larger than average glovebox all make it easier to live with.

A tyre repair kit as standard, and a spare wheel of any variety is not available as an option.

There’s just one motor and battery pack option for the Mii Electric - a single motor driving the front wheels that offers a continuous output of 55PS (for cruising), with a maximum output of 83PS for short bursts of acceleration. More important is the 212Nm of torque available with the SEAT Mii Electric, which contributes to the surprisingly strong acceleration. 

The SEAT Mii Electric is still a relatively lightweight car - 1235kg - and with maximum torque from standstill the Mii Electric can blast away from rest with hilarious ease. If you’re not careful you’ll feel the wheels spin before the traction control kicks in, and particularly in the city this boundless thrust at lower speeds makes it huge fun to drive.

Out of the city the Mii Electric is a little less comfortable. It can manage motorway speeds and top out at 81mph, but acceleration at these speeds is much slower, and the battery is depleted far more quickly at these speeds too. Better to go a little slower and save the range for later. To help you with that, the Mii Electric comes with three drive modes - Normal, Eco and Eco+. The latter two modes restrict the amount of power delivered to the wheels to improve the range, with Eco+ also switching off the air con.

The gearbox is a simple automatic on the SEAT Mii Electric with Park, Drive and Neutral, although you also have the option to adjust the strength of the regenerative braking that feeds energy back into the battery. Using this instead of the actual brakes helps to improve the range, and with it set to the highest level you can almost drive everywhere without touching the brakes.

The quoted range for the SEAT Mii Electric under the latest WLTP criteria is 160 miles, which is less than rivals like the Renault Zoe but more than some older electric cars that are still on the market. 

The reality is that for many drivers considering an electric vehicle this will be enough - 130 miles or more should be easily achievable on a full charge, so even a commute of 50 miles or more each way every day would still be possible without having to charge during the day.

The regular Mii is a relatively refined car given its cost and city car status, but the switch to electric power has improved its performance still further. The SEAT Mii Electric is a solidly-built car, and you feel that from the way the doors slam and the way it behaves out on the road. It shrugs off lumps and bumps in the road comfortably, which is reassuring in a car this size.

Better yet, the near-silence of the electric powertrain means that a low speeds at least, the Mii Electric is comfortably quieter than cars costing thousands more. Below 20mph all you can hear is a distant whine from the motor - far quieter than any combustion engine - and it enhances the driving experience a great deal.

At higher speeds wind and tyre noise begin to make themselves known, but this is partly because they are thrown into sharper relief as there is no petrol engine to drown them out. The reality is that, at out of town and motorway speeds the noises all blend into each other, so you get general white noise accompaniment which is still preferable to the drone of an exhaust pipe.

Ignoring the SEAT Mii’s test result from 2011 when it was tested as a petrol-only car, the SEAT Mii Electric was tested as a separate vehicle in 2019 - although it is also worth noting that it was actually the Volkswagen e-Up that underwent the test program, as it was deemed sufficiently identical to be representative of the Mii’s performance.

Overall the Mii Electric scored three stars from Euro NCAP, with strong scores of 81 per cent rating for adult protection, 83 per cent for child protection. Less impressive were the scores for pedestrians at 46 per cent and 55 per cent for safety assist. 

Standard equipment includes driver and passenger front airbags, side airbags covering front and rear seats, seat belt pretensioners and load limiters front and rear and ISOFIX child seat mounting points. The Mii Electric also comes with ESC, hill hold assist and lane assist all as standard, with tyre pressure monitoring and traffic sign recognition also included.

A big part of the SEAT Mii Electric’s lower score in the Euro NCAP test compared to the original Mii is that Automatic Emergency Braking is not available as standard or even as an option, as that was far less common back in 2011. Another feature that is not available on the SEAT Mii Electric is an automatic sound generator, a system which emits a faint noise to warn pedestrians that the vehicle is in motion, something which may be desirable if you spend a lot of time in the city.

The SEAT Mii Electric is still a little too new at the moment to gauge how its reliability is going to fair, but SEAT as a whole came in 20th in the 2020 HonestJohn.co.uk Satisfaction Index, with a satisfaction score of 85.9%. Interestingly, that's just ahead of Volkswagen, with scored 85.7%, but behind Skoda, which was ranked second behind Lexus and scored 88.9%. 

Compared to the regular Mii, the SEAT Mii Electric unfortunately comes in at a significantly higher insurance bracket. The single model falls into group 12E, ten groups higher than some versions of the Mii, but not untypical for an electric car. It’s also a few groups lower than the comparable Renault Zoe too. Given the purchase price, insurance premiums are relatively high for a city car, but not for an electric car - with a decent few years of no-claims bonus the Mii Electric compares favourably with small cars like the Fiesta or Polo. Check out our guide to the cheapest electric cars to insure for more info. 

After fuel the biggest saving you’ll enjoy by choosing the SEAT Mii Electric is the zero rate VED. Even if the government decides to tear up the rule book again, the zero rate is likely to stay for some years to come as it tries to encourage people to make zero emission choices. It costs more to buy in the first place, but you’ll save £150 a year on VED alone compared to the most recent regular Mii. It’s also important to remember that you’ll pay £55 in the first year of registration.

The SEAT Mii Electric is only available as a single model, with a high standard specification and very limited optional extras. As standard the Mii Electric is fitted with 16-inch alloy wheels, heated front sports seats, cruise control, the SEAT Connect system, fast charging facility, DAB radio, rear parking sensors and Lane Assist amongst other features. The only options are a contrast roof, the mode 2 charging cable and the Easy Flex storage system.