First impressions - New Exeo ST owner.

Hi Guys,

Well I finally picked up my 25k miler 62 plate Exeo ST 170 Sport Tech on Thursday and immediately put it to use on a 160+ mile trip from Swindon to Cornwall yesterday...



First impressions: Quiet, refined, smooth and comfortable (mostly*). The ride is good, firm, occasionally bouncy but never harsh, very composed through the bends and the diesel engine is flexible and unintrusive.

I averaged 44mpg on the mostly 70-80mph cruise which seems to be the car's comfort zone, which is "OK" if not great, I'd expect 48-50mpg ideally but I guess I'm also getting used to it so may be able to get more on the trip home.

The comfort is only spoiled a little for me by my left knee rubbing against the centre console (and I'm only 5'7"), the clutch pedal seems to have a lot of travel to fully depress but if I move the seat closer my right leg ends up cramped against the other pedals, I'm sure I'll either get used to it or settle on a compromise position - also you need to wear slim footwear to avoid getting caught up between the clutch and rest plate!

Everything is well put together and solid, the Bose stereo is good with a little tweaking and things like the folding mirrors that do so silently impress (a previous 2007 Civic I had made a lot of motor noise when the mirrors folded, it's the little things!), the single gas strut that holds the bonnet up, neat engine bay, lined storage cubbies, everything feels "premium".

The 170 diesel feels a little strange to me (coming from a 2.0 tsi Petrol Scirocco), kind of like a petrol/diesel cross. It lacks the low range torquey thump from the old PD diesels but is happier to rev, though it's smoothness hides its power somewhat. I may well get a remap as a 184bhp Fiat Grande Punto diesel I had felt immensely powerful with one! It sounds OK when you push it though and always feels refined, almost too refined as I still struggle to gauge where the power band is. Another thing I'll get used to with a little more time behind the wheel though! I'll get to test the power a little trying to climb out of the steep, narrow, leafy Road leading out of the cottage I'm staying in - coming down it was hard enough!

Overall I'm very impressed with it as a relatively compact and sporty estate, it feels built to last and cossets you away from the world outside rather nicely, it handles well and not too nose-heavy considering the longitudinal diesel lump. If I can get a little more economy out of it it'll be a near-ideal car.

I look forward to being part of the SEAT gang for a good while to come!


Jim.

luap64 said:

Nice looking ST Jim, Like me ST's Could do with some mud flaps thou to stop all that S I looked at a Se in white but it just didn't cut it, but yours look very impressive
Paul

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Haha, cheers Paul - I agree, white would not be my first choice but I'd been looking at a few cars for a while and it was the best that came up! There was a similar black one available which looked great but the extra 10k on the clock and 2 hour drive to view swayed me to the more local white one. Lower springs and nicer alloys help a lot with the look of the ST!

In fairness the dealer fixed up a few things I noted without complaint too (even though it took a couple of weeks) - the only fly in the ointment being they seem to have misplaced the book with service history etc now I've picked it up (they told me it was in the car). Leaves me with a little concern but with 25k on the clock and 5k showing on the indicator to the next service I presume it's had at least one! Resale value comes to mind if it doesn't turn up though. The tyre pressure light came on too but they were all fine, the dealer said hold the button down to reset it and it worked - just hope that isn't simply turning it off!

I'll give mudflaps a look!

Cheers for the feedback guys, I'll definitely take a look at the mudflaps!

I know the service book won't make a huge difference but as it was advertised as having full history I'll be a bit annoyed if they can't find it as frankly I'd not have paid as much for the car - I also don't now know if it's even got a current MOT (and as such valid insurance) as I'm just taking their word for it and can't check until the V5 comes through. Also - if it hasn't been serviced won't that invalidate the remaining year of manufacturer's warranty? Little things but could all work out to be problematic! I'll try to find out more tomorrow, just tricky as I'm on hols all week...

On the plus side the car is still driving wonderfully and I'm realising the power is there, just a little higher up the rev range than expected!

Thanks for the comments and info!

Still on hols in Cornwall so only had a limited chance to get used to the car on unfamiliar roads - I did manage to get up to 46mpg on the run from Plymouth to Bude but it was largely 40-50mph behind lorries. I was also thinking about comments I'd read about the ECU learning your driving style over a couple of hundred miles which might mean I can squeeze a couple more mpg out on the trip home tomorrow as I felt I'd driven pretty carefully on the way down here to achieve a pretty mediocre 44mpg. Especially given that this face-lifted model was supposed to feature a revised final drive ratio for economy!

I'm definitely edging towards a remap when funds allow as I'm still getting a little caught out by the slightly gutless feel at low revs - the car is very smooth on the move, very nice to drive too but I'm used to PD diesels and the turbo petrol Scirocco that always felt torquey. I've managed to stall twice going over slow speed bumps in 2nd, something that historically I'd never noticed a problem with even in lower powered diesels (I'd had a 90bhp Passat and 120bhp Laguna as company cars some time back), though some of this could be down to coming from the DSG back to a manual of course! The gear change indicator seems overly optimistic for the engine though, occasionally indicating changes that drop me as low as 1000-1100 revs, barely over tick-over and seemingly putting some strain on the engine, especially if even mild acceleration or an incline comes up!

While I'm sounding negative these are very minor points and adjustments, im loving the car overall!

I did realise about the MOT thing as I spoke to the garage, also they said they'd get me a print-out of the history. I still miss having the "book" though and not confined that it's all "just kept on computer" nowadays. There are odd things I miss having a manual for such as the tyre pressure sensor button, I don't really know if I just leave it to warn me if anything goes wrong, if I have to reset it when I've inflated the tyres or if the car can actually inform me of the pressures??

I'll check the window tints when I venture outside next! The parking sensors have behaved so far and I'll give the footrest a look. I think it's the base white but I'll see what the V5 says when I get it back!


Thanks all for keeping the discussion alive while I've been offline!

Oh a PDF would be great if you can gletts, no worries at all if not though!

I feel I've been a little negative overall, there are many positives about the Exeo I'm finding though - the overall feel is very similar to my '2000 5-Series which is quite a compliment, that was a fantastic car (530i SE), the weight and smoothness, the planted feel are very alike, the Exeo a touch harder over the speed bumps but overall very close.

The Sat Nav is very effective and accurate, a good system (postcode limitation aside) and the sound-proofing top notch. I checked and the acoustic screen is still in place, a chip repair was done by the garage and I was hoping they didn't have to replace the screen! All-round visibility is excellent too, something newer designs struggle with due to various reasons. The steering is great, nice and light when manoeuvring, heavy enough on the move. Even the gearbox and gear-change a match for any I've used - "the missus" commented that she thought it was smoother than the DSG in the Scirocco which is praise indeed, especially since I'm the one driving.

It's a comfy and classy place to be overall, the seats good and leather a notch above the quality of many standard offerings. I like the slightly aged design in many ways - some cars I'd looked at had all the toys that inevitably go wrong like keyless entry, stop-start buttons, electric handbrake etc (the Exeo handbrake has proved excellent in hilly Cornwall!), you have just the right amount of convenience and no unnecessary gimmicks.

It's a very nice car indeed.

Devoured1 said:

I've stalled mine quite a few times in the 6 weeks I've had it, the Altea I had previously would pull away fine in 2nd gear but the Exeo won't....something I'll have to keep remembering.

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Tonyuk74 said:

I was same had mine 2 month now and still do it. Defo not the same torque at bottom end as the 2.0 pd engine

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Yeah, I'd be interested to hear from anyone who'd remapped a 170 as to to what effect it had, it made my old Punto just a more extreme version of what it was so it may not change the character much, it could still feel a bit lacking off-turbo and then kick in with a vengeance once it spools up! I don't want to ruin the smoothness but merely get more low-down grunt which should help economy too.

I found this readout from Celtic Tuning, Remap seems to give a broad boost across the range - interesting to see the standard version differences from manufacturers figures though, max torque and bhp coming fairly high in the rev range which would explain the slightly peaky nature. Similar to an old 8V Golf GTi vs 16V, the torquier but lower powered 8V being the nicer drive.

Doesn't look like much impact until 2.5k revs though so probably not much difference to the basic character.