I’m now two weeks into custodianship of our Exeo estate and already I can foresee an enjoyable future together. The build quality is excellent and testament to its Audi A4 underpinnings and the Seat has not yet failed to impress any of my passengers. On the outside the 18inch wheels give the car an aggressive and well proportioned stance which is also helped by the bright white bodywork, a great colour choice for the Exeo and very ‘on trend’

But it’s the interior that really impresses, The materials used look and feel top quality, black leather and silver Alcantara seats, high gloss black inlays on the dash and doors and spot lit footwells add a high end feel, even the door shut has an expensive sounding clunk. On top of that the built in sat-nav, Bose sound system and paddle shift gear change are sure to keep any image conscious young executive happy although in reality the multitronic auto box is so good there really is no point in a manual gear change at all either on the stick or the wheel. Rear leg room is ample but not generous and the retractable load cover which also has a built in vertical blind is both big and heavy, mounted to the back of smaller part of the rear seat which limits the split fold operation of the seats without its complete removal.

However the boot floor, which is removable, reveals a plastic load liner underneath and is a neat and practical touch which has already come in handy for a trip to the recycling centre.

The only real downsides so far are that the Exeo only has one cup holder, the power steering is overly noisy at low speeds (something that I will be asking SEAT to have a look at) and so far the economy is disappointing, my 12mile trip to work has seen 41mpg at best, a trip that usually sees 50mpg in my wife’s Volkswagen Touran.

By Luke Neal