Seat ExeoFebruary 2009

Andy_Q13 September 2011

I bought an Exeo ST 170 Sport tech in March whilst Seat were offering a "No Vat" deal. Basically this was about a 10% reduction in price and the £2000 "tech pack" thrown in for free. Initially I was seriously considering a Skoda Superb as they were also doing a no vat deal but only on petrol vehicles and I particularly wanted a diesel to keep down my fuel costs. With hindsight I chose wrongly. I'm not impressed with the car for several reasons. Firstly, handling, I disagree with the above, with the sports suspension the ride is horrendously spine crunchingly hard on poor road surfaces and bounces disconcertingly over undulations in road surface even on the motorway. I've just part-exed an Octavia Vrs, and prior to that had a lowered and stiffened Golf Gti, so I'm used to a firm ride, however a 350 mile round trip (over 300 of which was motorway) the other day in the Exeo left my lower back aching all night. Performance - the above states the diesels will achieve 50+mpg, in my experience this is only possible downhill with a tailing wind! Most of my travel is on A roads in relatively light traffic, so no high speed or very slow city centre driving, yet an average of 45mpg over a tankful is still only an aspiration, reality, is nearer to 40-42. Roominess - Again I disagree with the above, my previous Octavia was as good, and a Superb, for similar money has far more both for rear passengers and boot space. The rear seat is fiddly to drop to get a flat load space for large items and even when down the load area isn't great. Now the real main gripe; The DVD nav unit is useless; incredibly user-unfriendly and only works on a partial postcode so will only take you to a district rather than a specific address, a £99 cheap sat nav from Halfords does far better, and on a recent trip to Scotland we took the Garmin from my wife's car and were extremely glad we did so as the fitted unit was useless. The iPod connection is of no use what so ever, the display merely lists “Track 1, track 2 etc.” with no option to select artist, track or album. This makes it pointless to connect an iPod with 3000+ songs on it. The user manual freely admits the problem; yet the vehicle is sold as having "iPod connectivity", interestingly it doesn’t say “ iPod compatibility” The only good point is the "Bose" speaker system which is excellent. In summary, my wife and I have been pretty brand-loyal to VW group for 25yrs having had a collection of Golfs, Jettas, Ibizas,and Octavias,and would have another VW or Skoda but never another Seat.

mauler13m05 December 2011

Took delivery of my Exeo 2.0 tdi 141bhp july 2011, and i love it. Opted for the soft suspension and imo its very comfortable, unlike the review.Previously had a volvo v50 and this exeo far and away superior in every way. Averageing 52mpg, and is plenty quick enough for me. Has an after market (free upgrade) pioneer cd/dvd/sat nav/radio which is excellent.Only gripe i have is back seats dont fold flat, other than that brilliant car and excellent value for money.