Seat’s Mii Electric is wonderfully affordable, fun to drive and will keep your kids will love it

I LOVE my daughter to bits – but she’s a freeloader. At 22, I thought she might want to leave the house in search of independence. But, no. Since I let her borrow an electric car, she’s staying for good. Whereas before she’d spend her hard-earned cash on petrol, she plugs in the electric car […]

I LOVE my daughter to bits – but she’s a freeloader. At 22, I thought she might want to leave the house in search of independence.

But, no. Since I let her borrow an electric car, she’s staying for good.

Whereas before she’d spend her hard-earned cash on petrol, she plugs in the electric car at night like her phone — sucking up enough juice for a weekend mucking about with her mates, via my electricity bill.

True, it only costs about £3 for a full charge but my 20p/50p jar isn’t getting any heavier and she’s up 30 quid a week.

To be fair, there are other reasons why she now appreciates electric cars — being mindful of the environment, obviously, but also because they’re nippy and fun to drive.

None more so than the Seat Mii Electric you see here. It’s a five-seat dodgem that’ll carve through city traffic and park on a sixpence. And it looks cool. And it’ll do 161 miles between charges.

Seat axed the petrol Mii in September and launches the £19,300 Mii Electric in February. That sticker price includes the £3,500 Government plug-in grant.

Or, in today’s money, it’ll cost you £199 a month on finance with £4,399 deposit, which is extremely attractive if mum and dad are paying for the fuel.

In Norway, where almost half of all cars are EVs, it gets even better. Seat has a monthly subscription deal including insurance and servicing and no entrance fee for £190.

What? That’s a no-brainer. Most young drivers pay that just for insurance in Britain. If Seat UK can make those numbers work here, they’ll shift them by the boatload.

Now I should perhaps spell out that Mii Electric is a triplet. The VW e-up! and Skoda CITIGOe iV are as near as damn it identical — just with different lights, badging and interior detailing.

We haven’t seen the other two yet but they’ll have to go some way to trump the Mii’s stylish interior.

Mii has just one trim level and it is high-spec with heated seats, 5in screen with DAB, tinted rear windows, leather steering wheel and handbrake (yes, manual handbrake, rejoice), as well as a bundle of tech including cruise control, rear parking sensors and lane assist.

No sat nav? No. But there’s a smartphone cradle with USB port to hook up your iPhone for Google Maps or Waze.

Now let’s talk a little more about what you can’t see. Or hear for that matter, because electric cars are quieter than a mouse fart in a cathedral.

The 36.8kWh battery drives an 82hp electric motor — enough to take this little ninja from 0-31mph in 3.9 seconds, and from 0-62 in 12.3.

Top speed is 81mph. But remember this is a city car, or a second family car, it is not really suited for regular motorway speeds that eat up range quickly.

There are four levels of brake energy recuperation with “B” mode — the strongest — allowing you to drive using only the throttle pedal if you’re good enough at anticipating traffic flow.

B mode is fun. It’s the new way of driving. And this VW Group system works better than Peugeot’s. Charging to 80 per cent takes four hours with a 7kW wall box at home.

Or the same level in an hour at a rapid public charger. As a sweetener, Seat UK will bung the first 300 customers a free home charger, as well as three years’ free servicing and roadside assistance. Get in quick, kids.

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