Road Test
Seat Exeo 2.0 TDI Sport
Test date 29 April 2009
Price as tested £21,225
For Solid construction, keen pricing and equipment, flexible, refined engine
AgainstFirm low-speed ride, unprogressive brake feel, dated cabin design
When is a new car not new? When it comes as the result of a piece of platform recycling. The Exeo might be Seat’s first foray into the mid-size D-segment, but it has had more than a helping hand in the process from German in-law Audi. Under the Seat badges and Ibiza-esque nose, the Exeo is a reworking of the previous A4.
Given this, you may well question our decision to give it a full road test, but there is more to the Exeo than a simple change of name, partly in the technical alterations, but also because as a Seat the Exeo has a different role to play than in its A4 days. With prices starting at £17,735 and going no further than £21,335, the Exeo represents refreshingly good value. And given the current economic climate, this could well be its most persuasive asset. Seat is keeping the Exeo line-up simple at launch, with a diesel engine in two states of tune and one petrol. The saloon variant tested here arrives first, with an estate (badged ST) arriving later this year. On test here is the 2.0 TDI 143 (with 141bhp) in Sport trim.
Your Say
Comments: 34 Join the discussion
