Now it’s the SEAT Mii’s turn to get an auto ‘box

The SEAT Mii City car has followed in the footsteps of the VW Up! by adding an auto gearbox option, but only on the Mii 1.0 75PS SE.

The SEAT Mii is the Spanish version of the VW Up! and, just like VW has with the Up!, SEAT has launched an automatic version of the Mii to make city motoring that bit more bearable.

With auto ‘boxes now so good – and city traffic so bad – it’s more of a surprise that the auto ‘box isn’t the standard on nippy little city cars rather than an extra cost option.

SEAT has decided to make the Mii Auto a stand-alone model, so you can only have the auto ‘box if you have the Mii with the 1.0 PS engine and in SE trim. Which seems a bit odd.

Strictly speaking, the auto ‘box in the Mii isn’t a true auto ‘box but an automated manual. That means there is far less friction resulting in the Mii auto being even more economical than the manual; the Mii auto does 2.7 mpg more than the manual Mii Sport with the same engine.

Despite being more frugal, the Mii auto is a bit slower than the manual, with 62mph taking 13.9 seconds (13.2 seconds in the manual) although top speed remains the same at 106mph.

The SEAT Mii auto is now on sale with first customer cars due in November. As a push to get punters to part with their cash, SEAT are throwing in a free SEAT Portable System wich adds Infotainment with SatNav, Bluetooth and full stereo integration if you order the Mii Auto before the end of September.

The 3-door Mii auto costs £10,390 and the 5-door £10,740, a premium of £1,115 over the manual. Which does seem a bit steep for an automated manual. But if you spend most of your time stuck in city traffic it’s probably a price worth paying.

However, the extra cost of the VW Up! with an auto ‘box is just £595. So why does SEAT’s cost twice as much?

By Cars UK