THE race to make city cars fashionable has been gathering momentum almost inexorably in recent years.

As they bid to make their smallest models more youthful and attractive to trendy young things car makers have been coming up with endless personalisation options, eye-watering colour schemes and an array of accessories - some more useful than others.

Spanish marque SEAT have upped the ante even further by teaming up with a bona-fide fashion giant for the recently introduced flagship version of its diminutive Mii.

The Mii by MANGO is the first fruit of a collaboration between two of Spain's biggest brands, both based in Barcelona, and offers a fresh twist on the model which, in 2012, heralded SEAT's return to the city car market after an eight-year absence.

As you'd expect from a car aimed squarely at the fashion conscious, it features a range of cosmetic enhancements aimed at increasing its appeal.

The first visual cue to this catwalk-inspired theme is the Mii by MANGO badging on the tailgate and flanks and, naturally, there's also a choice of bespoke colour schemes.

This car came in the interestingly-named Nude hue, although I'd probably call it pale fawn, with contrasting dark grey wing mirrors and alloys, or you can have a Deep Black metallic paint job with silver contrast.

Rear privacy glass and chrome strips along the bottom of the doors complete a look which gives this special edition a more upmarket appearance than the rest of the Mii range which, by current SEAT standards, is quite plain.

Inside too there are a range of model-specific upgrades which offer a touch of luxury not often seen in a city car.

The leather and perforated alcantara upholstery feels impressively plush for a motor of this size and is set off nicely by contrast piping and stitching while the centre console and air vents are also picked out by contrasting surrounds and sit on a high-gloss fascia.

Branded door sills, floor mats and even the keyfob all add to the classy feel and make the abundance of hard scratchy plastic elsewhere largely forgivable.

In fact, add in the optional electric sunroof (£690) that my car featured and the cabin of the Mii by MANGO is a bright, airy and altogether pleasant place to be.

It's also spacious for a city car, with plenty of head and legroom for four adults and an abundance of personal storage spaces, while the five-door option I drove makes rear access easy.

The boot is impressively large, too, although this is partially achieved by having a low floor which, in turn, means a high lip to lift heavy items over. The split rear seats fold easily to create more space but do create a big step in the floor.

Power for this flagship edition comes exclusively from the higher-output version of the Volkswagen Group's 1.0-litre, three-cylinder petrol engine - and it's one of the best, offering some peppy performance while managing to avoid the annoyingly intrusive thrum of some other three-pots.

There's plenty of pace for driving around town and you won't get left behind on the open road either but, with just 75bhp at your disposal, don't expect rapid acceleration - and you will be reaching for lower gears to negotiate steep or lengthy climbs.

That, said the light but responsive steering, snappy gearshift and a supple ride with good body control still make the Mii a highly enjoyable little car to drive, especially in the urban environment for which it is built.

And befitting its range-topping status the by MANGO version also gets a generous list of equipment including remote central locking, electric windows, air conditioning and SEAT's nifty Portable System Live, which clips onto the dash and adds a touch screen media interface, satnav and Bluetooth.

This is also one of the safest city cars on the roads, boasting the top five-star rating in the Euro-NCAP crash tests thanks to safety aids such as stability control, hill-hold assist, a tyre pressure monitoring system and four airbags.