OVER the years, SEAT has had a tendency to opt for exotic place names such as Ibiza, Cordoba, Toledo and Alhambra with which to label its cars.

So it was a slight shock to the system when the Spanish car maker switched to an odd collection of letters for its latest model.

The SEAT Mii is a stylish city slicker taking a place in the ever burgeoning urban car line-up occupied, up to 2004, by the then very popular family favourite, the SEAT Arosa.

The new Mii made its debut at this year's Geneva Motor Show and sales began in June.

Now well into the most extensive new model offensive in its 26-year history in the UK, SEAT is showing the way with the Mii and the three-door model in which I recently took to the road, showed that not only was it a pretty handsome but also comes with plenty of style, practicality and affordability.

Every element of the Mii's creation is geared towards maximising interior space and this new SEAT has already successfully defined what it is possible to create on such a compact platform to help bring comfort to its occupants - just like the Mii's sister models from within the Volkswagen Group, the Skoda Citigo and VW up!.

Four trim levels are available and the one here is the Mii SE powered by the 1.0-litre three cylinder 60ps (MPI--Multi Point Injection) petrol engine paired with a five-speed manual gearbox.

While it was quite at home in an urban environment should you wish to get the best out of the 1.0-litre engine  then the 75bhp derivative would perhaps be the one to adopt for swallowing up those motorway miles.

The SE level of trim comes with style conscious items inside and out, including the likes of 14-inch alloys, leather clad steering wheel, electric and heated door mirrors along with some pretty chic interior styling details including a gloss white dashboard panel.

In addition there is an MP3-compatible CD player with AUX-in port while comfort and safety have been well addressed with the likes of speed-variable power steering, a height adjustable steering wheel and a full complement of airbags.

A square side profile and almost vertical tailgate help rear passengers enjoy joint best-in-class headroom while boot space proved surprisingly accommodating.

Stylish and clever detail abounds with SEAT's trademark Arrow Design clearly evident up front in the Mii while the elongated doors provide some quite easy access for rear seat passengers.

SEAT's compact, lightweight engine delivers some very competitive CO2 emissions which can drop as low as 105g/km while factor in the use of a stop/start system and energy recovery, as used in the Ecomotive Mii derivative, and emissions drop to just 96g/km while over 60mpg can be achieved on the combined driving cycle.

As one would expect from a member of the Audi/VW league, SEAT's new Mii is a very well put together, decidedly functional runabout which proved quite nippy while delivering a lot of motor for less than £10,000.