Seat Exeo Sport Tourer | Shed of the Week

Shed is a firm believer in the ‘ostrich’s head in the sand’ principle. If something tiresome isn’t visible to him then he’s not bothered by it. That is why, whenever he’s at home with Mrs Shed, he likes to put his WW2 leather flying helmet on back to front.

To be fair Mrs S has been trying to boost her allure lately, having decided she’s going to try to bring Shed in line by the carrot rather than the stick. Instead of clobbering Shed with her frying pan whenever she catches him glancing at the postmistress she has booked herself in with Sharon at the village salon for a facial. In Shed’s view, this is akin to sellotaping a pansy onto the main gun of a Panzer tank but he’s decided to go along with it. He’s been practising his best ‘surprise and delight’ expressions in the mirror in readiness for the big day and memorising a short speech which he hopes will bang that visual message home. 

Shed’s puzzled reaction to Mrs Shed’s attempt to glamourise herself is reminiscent of the public reaction to Seat’s 2009 launch of the Exeo, whose unusual name came from a Latin word meaning ‘to go beyond’. To some, it appeared that Seat hadn’t gone beyond the parts warehouse for the old-gen Audi A4, on account of how the Exeo looked just like a rehashed B7. That was perceptive of them because that is more or less exactly what it was. 

Even though Audi had already gone on to the B8, Seat reckoned the B7 was worthy of further commercial exploitation. The USP would be value. The Exeo in either hatch or Sport Tourer estate format was at least £6k cheaper than the B8 A4 that had leapfrogged it. It came with a good range of trims and engines, three of which were variations of the familiar 2.0 diesel but there was one petrol and it was a good one too, the 197hp/207lb ft direct-injection TSI that you see here. Well, you don’t see it here but you know what we mean. 

The 2.0-litre turbo four made the Exeo good for 146mph and a 0-62mph time in the mid-sevens, with a decent average fuel consumption of 40mpg. Shed did a story on a Mk 5 Golf GTI a couple of weeks ago (now sold, by the way) so rather than repeat all the techy/fault stuff from that, here’s a link. 

Our shed is a Sport Sport Tourer, which meant 20 percent firmer suspension, 20mm more nearness to the ground, looks that were at least 20 percent better than the hatch’s, and of course two portions of Sport, always a good thing. This May 2011 example wasn’t in time for the LED headlights and DRLs that became standard on the facelift Exeo shown at the Frankfurt show in September of that year, but it does have a manual gearbox, five-spoke 18in wheels and sports seats which as you can see have stood up really well to the mileage. The interiors generally were well put together and well specced too with dual-zone climate, cruise and heated/folding mirrors even in the base cars, plus Bose audio in the SE Tech models. Shed thinks those roof rails might be stainless steel and we won’t doubt him on that because he often comes forensically close to kitchen utensils made from the same stuff. 

Exeo handling was solid rather than spirited but motorway journeys were handled with aplomb, whatever that is. In terms of cargo space the Sport Tourer estates were well down on cars like the Mondeo but 1,350 litres was more than enough for tip runs and general hackaboutery. 

There was another Exeo TSI on PH Classifieds at the moment for the same money (OK, £3 more) and with 34,000 fewer miles on it but the MOT on that one expired just as Shed was putting the last full stop on his review. He’s not too angry about it though because he actually prefers this leggier car for its one-owner history and just-done service.  

There seems to be some light damage to the nearside rear three-quarter region but it’s practically under the car where Shed can’t see it so he doesn’t give a fig about it. Nothing structural is mentioned on the MOT cert, which runs to January. The last test showed light oil misting on one front damper and a minor leak of exhaust gas, a problem Shed gets around by putting a charcoal filter in his underpants. This serves a dual purpose by helping to cushion the impact of Mrs Shed’s right boot when he’s got his head buried in an engine bay or some sand.