I HAD, ON consultation with the Motoring Editor, suggested that a review on Seat’s new Exeo would require two endings.
This would allow the reader to draw a line through the one which turns out to be irrelevant in a couple of weeks because, as there is no hint of a what it’s likely to cost, this may be nothing more than some musings on what is, effectively, a 2005 Audi A4, dressed as a Seat.
Seat, as a brand, is not new to re-branding someone else’s work. Early Seats bore more than a passing resemblance toFiat’s far-from-finest work but, once the brand became fully immersed in the church of VW, it swiftly converted to produce pretty, well-built cars.
It allowed VW to be a little bit creative and add emotion to some of their blander models. For every Polo, there was an Ibiza. The Leon is, arguably, better-looking than the Golf, although after that Seat wasn’t allowed to get too carried away. The Altea is a taller Leon and the Toledo was just a slightly bigger Altea.
One can imagine, with current motoring woes, that VW doesn’t know what to do with Seat. It’s a nice place to send executives on their way up but, with Skodas getting better-looking than ever and VW’s own products being produced more cheaply to meet market conditions, one might ask: What’s the point of Seat?
Well, now it would seem that it will be a place to gain access to some of the VW Group’s older products more cheaply and, on the surface, there’s nothing wrong with that. This time, Audi’s closet has been raided.
The previous A4 was hugely popular, but it was something of an interim model until the current car came along. The problem was that it was that little bit too small, something that has been addressed by the new, longer A4. With the blueprints of the old A4 shoved in a drawer somewhere in Russelheim, there was suddenly a solution available to fill the gaping hole that was Seat’s absence of what is known as a D-segment car.
You could walk into your local dealer and have a supermini and an exhaustive amount of MPV-like hatchbacks, but you needed to look elsewhere for a family saloon. Enter the Exeo – meaning “to go further”, a move away from their traditional nomenclature of Spanish cities.
Simply put, the Exeo is the old A4, redesigned. Side-on, you’d swear it’s the Audi, but some Spanish flair has been added, particularly giving the front grille a distinctive look.
Inside, the car again looks like an Audi, with parts left over from the Audi A4 Cabriolet forming the basis of its interior.
That all sounds pretty good, doesn’t it? The fact is, it is good.
Seat’s marketing and brand manager Diego Ramos proudly called it the “best Seat ever”; I nearly choked on my pen. It’s like when the hot girl at school copies the geeky girl’s homework and accepts an A. But we suppose being all part of the same stable makes it all okay.
To save you looking through the annals of Motors for an old A4 review, we drove the Exeo 2-litre TDi, what will be the sole engine variant in Ireland, with three different power outputs – initially 143bhp and 170bhp, to be followed in September by a 120bhp. Seat has not, however, been given access to Audi’s crown jewels, Quattro all-wheel drive, so the Exeo is front-wheel drive – but it feels great.
The A4 diesel with this specification (the kitchen sink and more) would probably have cost about €40,000 but this, packaged as a Seat with no palpable difference aside from branding, should be less.
The model we tested was the 170bhp diesel – a strong, urgent engine in a car with crisp, predictable handling.
Here is the issue. This car will take Seat into the D segment, meaning it can take on the likes of Ford’s Mondeo, the Toyota Avensis and Opel’s Insignia. They are all good cars but if someone dangled the new Exeo in front of us, with these engines and loaded with equipment (standard R model gets dual zone climate control, 16” alloys, cruise control, Bluetooth, six airbags and ESP but, bizarrely, a plastic steering wheel until you go up to the S model), I think we’d choose the Seat – but this depends entirely on pricing.
With a decent family car in this segment likely to cost between €25,000 and €30,000 for a high level of equipment, this really is the window that Seat has in Ireland with this car.
Once the price creeps above €30,000, it stops being clever and becomes a sinister exercise to prop up a brand with no obvious purpose.
In Germany, the 2-litre TDi costs €25,350, which is about right. At that price you could expect a flurry of activity at your local Seat dealer in March.
However, with things like VAT and VRT to deal with, the likelihood is that this car will cost more like €35,000, effectively making it a dead duck. When you can spend a little bit more for a new Audi A4 or BMW 3-Series, finding sense in the Exeo would be difficult. All it will become then is a very good second-hand buy, as its price will drop concomitant to its inevitably poor sales.
If this car can be offered for €30,000 or thereabouts, it will make sense, especially if you are tied to a company car scheme or have an upper ceiling to your spending on a new car. We will bring you news of pricing the moment we get it, but until then keep the Exeo in your thoughts, especially if you fancy a smart estate model – the ST (yes, an Audi A4 Avant with Seat pants on) will come to Ireland in September, along with the 120bhp diesel. We will get the Exeo saloon with a 143bhp or 170bhp 2-litre diesel some time next month; its fate lies in the hands of those negotiating its price.
Factfile Seat Exeo 2-litre TDi
Engine: 1,968cc 4-cylinder common rail diesel putting out 143bhp and 320Nm torque
Performance: max speed 214km/h
0-100km/h: 9.2 seconds
Fuel Economy: 5.5l/100km
CO2 emissions: 143g/km
Motor Tax: Band C (€302)
Price: TBC (we estimate around €35,000)
On Sale: March/April