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Whine. Loud, pitiful whining. Let’s start the driving report with “complaining”. Driving a car has become so expensive - and stop - because now is the ultimate driving report for people who want to save!
The base price of the Seat is already the lowest among the triplets from the VW group (VW up, Skoda diligently, Seat Mii). But if you still want to drop the daily fuel costs to a long-forgotten level, you should take a look at the Mii with natural gas drive. I did that and saw a small car that coped with everyday life in a more adult manner than some compact cars and called for a minimal budget in fuel costs.
It won't get cheaper anymore!
The Seat Mii Ecofuel in the driving report
Everyone has long understood how the system works with the same assemblies in automotive engineering. The Volkswagen up! owns two brothers. One from Skoda (Autophoria driving report) and one from the Spanish sister SEAT, the Mii. Marginal visual differences should help explain the differences between the variants to the buyer. This does not really work. The Mii is technically just an up !. But cheaper. During the VW up! As a "take up!" with the 60 PS engine starting at 9.750 € (3 door), the Spaniards only want 8.990 € for the same motorization. This is not a clear indication of a less pronounced quality in the Spanish brother. Only the brand image from the price list speaks here.
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- 2 weeks in the test
- 2.550 test kilometers
- Base price: € 13.510
- Test car price: € 16.660
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- Eco-Tour: 2.7 kg / 100 km
- Commuting: 3.0 kg / 100 km
- Field service mode: 3.3 kg / 100 km
- More information about the test consumption
Natural gas, so?
Less than 0.5% of all registered vehicles run on natural gas. This is despite the fact that natural gas as an "alternative fuel" is subject to government subsidies. But natural gas cars are also subject to the chicken / egg problem. Fewer registered vehicles also mean: fewer petrol stations. Not even 1.000 petrol stations in Germany run natural gas (CNG), and that with a petrol station network of more than 14.000 petrol stations that run petrol and diesel. If you choose a natural gas car, you still have to plan your route cleverly. On the other hand, the petrol stations will hardly increase the range of CNG charging stations as long as there are so few natural gas cars.
Natural gas as a fuel is pretty clever. And emits less pollutants. For example up to 70% less carbon monoxide and up to 25% less carbon dioxide. Natural gas vehicles are low-emission vehicles. In the CNG version, the Mii has a CO² emission of 79 grams per kilometer.
You can convert normal gasoline engines to use CNG - although you shouldn't confuse natural gas with LPG. Natural gas is carried in the vehicle under high pressure. Compressed to 200 bar, the gas is pumped into the vehicle's pressure accumulator via special petrol pumps. The consumption of natural gas vehicles is given in kg per kilometer.
Refueling with natural gas:
The Seat Mii should get by with 2.9 kg on 100 kilometers. In everyday testing, the consumption was between 2.7 and 3.3 kg per 100 kilometer. To explain the consumption more easily: 1 kilograms of natural gas roughly corresponds to 1.5 liters of super fuel.
The Mii’s natural gas tank holds just under 12 kg and limits the radius to around 300 kilometers. In addition to the natural gas tank, there is also a normal petrol tank with a volume of around 10 liters. As soon as the natural gas tank has been emptied, the Mii automatically switches to petrol drive and enables you to continue your journey to the next gas station. A version powered purely by natural gas unfortunately makes little sense due to the current gas station network.
With natural gas vehicles, a distinction is made between monovalent (optimized combustion, lower emissions, operated only with natural gas), bivalent (petrol engine with the possibility of using natural gas, tax classification according to emissions in petrol mode) and quasi-monovalent (optimized for natural gas, petrol only for the Emergency operation) models.
The Seat Mii (like its natural gas brothers from the VW Group, the VW Up! Eco and the Skoda CitiGo GreenTec) is a so-called "quasi-monovalent natural gas vehicle" - the small petrol tank therefore only offers an emergency ration of fuel until the next one Natural gas filling station to come.
Everyday life in Mii
Get in, start the engine, drive off. The natural gas Mii is as simple and easy to drive as its brothers with a normal drive. The driver's fine hearing may only hear that the engine is operated with a gas whose octane number is significantly higher than that of gasoline engines (natural gas ~ 130 to 95 for Super) if the engine has been optimized for the use of the gas. In the case of the natural gas gang from the VW group, the models with natural gas sound a little more metallic in the combustion noise. A fact that is quickly forgotten in everyday life. You look forward to the lively three-cylinder set off, turning easily through the gears and noticing anything about the cheap fuel.
The Mii is like that already previously driven Citigo, a surprisingly adult looking small car. Thanks to an extensive seat adjustment, a decent seating position can also be found for tall people. Yes, the doors have a painted but unclad area. Metal shimmers in the interior. But all of this seems practical, not cheap. If you want to get from A to B and don't want to blast the environment with a swanky car, you'll find a good friend in the little Spaniard.
The first few meters in the Mii were like a trip back to the time when cars were still gadget-free zones. Radio on board, an electric window on the left, manual adjustment options for the seat and otherwise pure focus on the core task of a car. It doesn't really need more.
So he drives
Of course, with a 1 liter 68 cylinder engine and 3 PS engine, the desire for sprint duels and long-distance journeys does not move into the Mii, but hey, our parents drove over the Alps into the summer vacation with half the engine power. You should think a little bit about it, enjoy the tiny car's unquestionable driving fun and let your concentration return to the essence of the automobile. It takes us from A to B. And the Mii does this economically and safely.
The fact that it springs properly and is completely free of rattling or crackling noises gives an unexpected impression of solidity and sovereignty. So small and yet so grown up.
Positive list:
[One_third]+++ costsTravel 10 kilometers for 300 € fuel? When was the last time I had this? Natural gas is a clever alternative to diesel engines. Thanks to the manageable base price, short-haul drivers also save with the Mii EcoFuel.
[/one_third] [one_third]++ driving fun68 HP sounds like getting frustrated swing on the mountain. Thanks to the empty weight of less than 1 ton, the little Mii drives like his brothers, fast enough. Of course, more could always go - but actually the performance is completely sufficient.
[/one_third] [one_third last=last]+ ProcessingWho would have thought that a small car for less than 10.000 € base price could be processed so well? Of course, in the most favorable case, you have hard plastic and otherwise a lot of bare metal, but hey, everything is processed clean and rattle-free!
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So he saves himself in the driver's heart
Anyone interested in the natural gas version of the Mii should plan with the following budget:
The base price of the Mii Ecofuel is €13.510 in the Mii Style version. The plain colors include yellow and red at no extra charge. Seat charges €400 for the metallic paint in “Reflex Silver”. 14 inch steel wheels are standard and are completely sufficient. The optional 15-inch light alloy wheels with 185/55-15 tires cost an additional €550. The €375 navigation system is recommended. It works with the Mii's radio system and also serves as an on-board computer. When planning longer routes, the navigation system warns when the gas range is exceeded and offers to include a CNG filling station in the route planning. It doesn't work incredibly fast, but it works.
If you equip the Mii well with parking aid, winter package and cruise control, you will end up with a final price of € 16.660 - just like the test car you drove. A lot of money for a small car. But the result is right. (Test car configuration)
And the saving fun only begins when you drive off. In everyday life, 300 kilometers can be covered with 9 kilograms of natural gas (CNG). Then you can fill up again for 8-10 €. The price of natural gas at filling stations fluctuates significantly more than the price of petrol. During the test, the range went from 99 ct per kilo to 1.69 €.
The car tax for the Mii is € 20 and even insurance companies have special discounts for natural gas vehicles in the program. So it's worth it! And the environment is happy about a meager 79 grams of CO2 per kilometer!
Conclusion
It won't get cheaper anymore. We can take off our make-up, howling in the dance around the golden calf. In the long term, fuel prices in our hemispheres will never be cheaper again. Alternative mobility solutions are exciting and a question for our future - but not having your own car can only be an emergency solution. In the case of the Mii, you should think twice about buying the car-sharing customer card. Because as a natural gas car, the Mii is easy on your wallet with unbeatable cost efficiency. No money for your own car? You should recalculate again.
n2d has tested the Mii EcoFuel against the petrol engine - click here for the video
Click here for the SEAT Mii configurator ...
| Technical data: | Consumption and emissions: |
|---|---|
Power: 68 PS Power: 95 Nm Acceleration 0-100 km / h: 16.3 seconds Top speed: 164 km / h |
Efficiency class: A Emissions standard: EU 5 plus standard consumption combined: 2.9kg / 100km CO² emissions combined: 79 g / km |
Data according to manufacturer. Note: The test car was provided to me free of charge by SEAT Germany.
