Our Fleet: Seat Exeo 2.0 TDI Sport Tech Multitronic - July 2012

I’m a high mileage driver – or at least it seems so from my first six weeks in the Exeo.

It’s currently averaging around 100 miles a day, and given that my commute is a 40-mile round trip, it’s spending its fair share of miles pounding the motorways.

So I’m already more than 4,000 miles into custodianship of the car and one of the features I chose as an option is beginning to prove its worth.

At £995 the solar sunroof is the most expensive factory option on the Exeo, but there is a real benefit from a comfort perspective if not one that will be returned in cost of ownership.

The sunroof uses daylight to power the ventilation while the car is parked. It means if the car has been sat for hours in the baking hot sun, occupants will be spared the traditional ordeal of recoiling as heat pours out of the open doors before getting in.

Here, the fans remain in action during daylight, whirring away as the sun’s rays beat down, and while not necessarily cooling the interior, keeping the air recirculating so as to avoid the intense heat during the day so that it’s never unpleasant returning to the vehicle when the weather’s hot.

And although the sunroof is relatively expensive at £995, it’s a less significant premium of £380 over the optional glass sunroof priced at £615.

Surely the reduced interior temperature during warm weather would also bode well for the longevity of the materials, too.

So as I work out how to avoid becoming a 40,000-mile-a-year driver over the next 11 months at least the Exeo will be a relatively chilled companion for the summer.