Exeo rear folding seats questions and a few others

[JohnMcL7]

I've been to have a test drive of a 60 plate Exeo ST Sport Tech 170 which I am considering replacing my current pre-FL Octavia PD TDI VRS but have a few questions I'd be grateful if anyone can answer or clarify.

Am I correct in thinking the bottom of the rear seats do not fold forward and instead the seats just fold forward and sit at an angle? On the Octavia the bottom of the seats fold forward and then the back of the seats fold flat down to give a flat load space. My main concern is getting a bike in the back, I think it's going to be a bit awkward if the seats don't fold flat and I'm not sure if the space is long enough, looking at the figures the Exeo ST is apparently quite a bit down on capacity compared to the Octavia but it's not obvious where exactly.

When the luggage cover is retracted, I take it you just have to leave the end dangling? I tried folding it over the back of the seats but it didn't really seemed to be designed for that. I use the estate to carry the dog in the back and not too keen on having that section swinging around beside him.

Are there any other noticeable differences on the newer cars with the LED lights? I've seen references to an improved rear bench but can't find any more detail than that.

For the same price as the car I'm looking at I've seen another 170 Sport Tech Exeo ST that is six months newer but has done a lot more miles at 36K vs 21K on the other one. This newer higher miles one doesn't have the LED lights and it's 300 miles away so I can't see it right now to compare, I guess it's really going to come down to condition as to which is the better buy as the higher miles one may have had a gentle life on motorway or hammered round town.

Thanks for any advice that would help make a decision as I'm in a difficult dilemma, I'm a bit surprised at the reviews as many of them don't seem that positive while the car seemed to me pretty good although I guess at the full price it's not so great.

John

 

[MasterKey]

Yes, it's a bit of an angle but it's pretty much flat (I've had a bike in there a few times without issue). I suspect the space difference may be down to the sloping rear window.

The load cover does, in my experience, fold over the top. However I use a travel cage (soft mesh sided) as ours is likely to bounce all over the place and scratch the living heck out of the boot area (and windows).

The newer model have some minor changes to the seat backs and other areas to give slightly more leg space in the boot. From other posts there the difference can be worth it (I've got a pre-face lift model - the leg space is ok, but not amazing).

IMO if you do any night driving go looking for one with HIDs - they're so much better than standard bulbs. I've also found having the Winter Pack a godsend over the last couple of months, having heated seats makes getting going much more pleasant.

 

[JohnMcL7]

Thanks for the reply, did you fit the bike in rear wheel first ok? I don't carry a bike that often in the back but it's one of these things that's quite handy to be able to do rather than mount it on a rack on the back.

I've found a couple of 12 plate cars that look pretty good value for money as one is £16K for a 12 plate Wine Red Sport Tech 170 with 7K miles and the other is a 62 plate White Sport Tech 170 with 5K miles for £17,500 which has the optional sunroof. Although there may be errors in their listing as the red one says it's a saloon with a sunroof but its clearly an estate and I can't see a sunroof, I can't check the engine rating. Either way it doesn't seem much more for a newer car although I guess it gets too easy to forget how much money it actually is until I stop and think what I could do with a few thousand pounds. Also I doubt I will get as good a trade in as the first garage either.

John

 

[MasterKey]

Folding the back seats is a little complicated due to the fact that the bar with the cover is attached to the wider half. You will need to read the manual the first time if you've never tried it before (or at least I did).

However the bike does fit in (rear wheel first) with either both seats folded down or, with a little effort, just the smaller half folded down.

I have to admit I miss not having a sunroof, and I personally think that it looks better in white than red

 

[JohnMcL7]

I did managed to get the seat folded down although as you say it takes a bit of effort to do so with the weight of the luggage cover. How easily does the luggage cover come off? It seems fairly well attached to the seat.

I agree with you on the sunroof, I had one in my little Metro and liked the light it brought into the cabin but on my last few cars (Octavia mk 1, Octavia mk 2, Toledo mk 2) I could barely find any cars available with a sunroof so gave up on it. The other difficulty is I'm heading up home tomorrow (400 miles north) so this is really the only convenient chance I have to get one of these cars, just sitting here toying with whether to go see these other two cars or not, 40 minutes or so according to Google maps but 3.5K is still a decent chunk of money particularly as it could be more if they don't offer a good tradein.

I definitely agree with you on the white, I think the Seats suit primary colours so the metallic wine red doesn't look right. I thought I had found a white Sport Tech 170 estate for 16K at the garage that's much closer only to realise when I looked at it from the back it was a saloon

John

 

[Troll]

John,

Have you looked at ebay, there does seem to be some cheap late model ones on there. I know my local dealer in Swindon has a brand new 143 ST sport Tech auto for under 20k !

They also had a red 170 ST sport pre face lift for sale but I can't remember how much it is.

Good luck.
Mark

 

[JohnMcL7]

Yes, I had a look thanks but didn't see anything that caught my eye although there's not many 170 estates around which means I'm very much limiting my choice.

John

 

[MasterKey]

Getting the cover off is pretty easy - though I did have to read the manual first. It basically slides off of the "wide" side, towards the "narrow" side. A good hard push once the seats are folded down does it.

I have to admit that I don't feel I missed much by not buying the Tech model. While the built in sat-nav might be slightly useful, having a more up to date one built into my phone is better.

 

[JohnMcL7]

There's very few non-tech sports models so that's an easier decision, I probably wouldn't use the onboard sat nav but I do like that the car feels like it has most of the options as my current Octavia is not that specced up and newer Octavias don't seem great for options either.

The luggage cover doesn't sound much of an issue then as I can just chuck it in the back seat when the dog is in the boot. The garage just phoned offering a further £200 off but I think I'm pretty much out of time as I'm planning head back up home tomorrow, I did ask how quickly they could get the car ready to go and they didn't think it would take long but still not much time now.

John

 

[stevea1234]

Getting the cover off is pretty easy - though I did have to read the manual first. It basically slides off of the "wide" side, towards the "narrow" side. A good hard push once the seats are folded down does it.

I have to admit that I don't feel I missed much by not buying the Tech model. While the built in sat-nav might be slightly useful, having a more up to date one built into my phone is better.

Thanks! I tried everything other than reading the manual.

I had given up assuming you couldn't remove it.

 

[Dark Andrew]

The seat and b-pillar revisions were introduced before the most recent face lift. From what I remember from buying mine, the revisions came in on cars built from week 4 of 2011.

 

[Legohead]

With regard to putting bikes in the boot, mine regularly carries mine. I've had a full sus plus hardtail together with just front wheels removed, riding gear, food, tools etc in there too. You WILL bang your head if you climb in though as load space isn't very high at all!
I also picked up a small fidge freezer the other day in packaging, so its not too bad.

The load cover will flip up against the head rests and stay there if you wish. It cuts rear visibility down fractionally. Or as you've seen already you can take the whole thing off. It does have a built in cargo net too that clips into the roof with the rear seats up or down. Pretty cool feature!

I'd love a car with a sunroof and think I'd pay a premium if one came up

 

[M7R]

They don't fold flat and the arm rest will get a dent from the middle buckle no matter what you do, it's worse with leather... However I have had my bike in the boot with te wheels off fine, but now I normally just put it on the Towbar carrier I have, far easier and keeps the interior cleaner!

 

[JohnMcL7]

I don't carry the bike in the back very often but it's just one of those handy things the Octavia can do that I wouldn't want to lose, it tends to be I just chuck the hybrid in the back when the car is off to get serviced or similar so I can just cycle back up to work and then pop back and get it later. Given the mountain bike gets mucky and it's used on more planned outings it will be staying on the outside.

As the weather as terrible yesterday I headed off early to get up home thinking if I really want the car I can drive back down to Manchester as at least I know what it's like having driven it. I'm pleased to see for a change there's other people that agree with me on the sunroof as usually I'm told you don't need them on modern cars but it's something I've always missed from the Metro I used to have as it made for a brighter cabin. I've a few days off next week so will see if it's worth going to visit the 11 plate Exeo with 35K on the clock and if I decide I really want an Exeo head back down to Manchester although I wouldn't be surprised if the 17,500 pound 62 plate Sport Tech ST 170 with the sunroof is an error somewhere.

John

 

[mcdonald]

They don't fold flat and the arm rest will get a dent from the middle buckle no matter what you do, it's worse with leather...

I experienced the same issue. Now I always have the rear left seatbelt locked in the buckle. This just pulls the buckle away from the arm rest.

 

[JohnMcL7]

To make the decision easier, the 11 plate Exeo that was a bit nearer has gone so that's one down.

A couple of other questions I meant to ask, is it normal there's no parking sensor display? I noticed the LCD display between the dials on the dashboard, is this the same as Maxidot(Skoda)/DIS?(VW?) where you can configure some basic parameters like how many doors open when you press unlock o nthe keyfob?

John

 

[M7R]

The exeo is based on the b7 Audi a4, which I turn was based on the b6 a4, which went on sale in 2001... So was designed mid to late 90s... It was updated and things tweaked for the b7 updated and the exeo update, but the main control ecu's are still pretty old and basic by today's standards.. Hence the rnse system not being touch screen, and the colour dis is still pretty basic... No parking sensor display etc..

The latest Vw audis etc can all tweak the comfort settings via the steerings wheel controls or the main control and dash screen in audis.. The exeo can be set to unlock just one door, then all the others, however it has to be done old school by accessing the ecu soft coding via the dealer ecu machine or vag com /vcds if you have a copy of that or some one local to you does.. (It's worth having as you can then play with basic settings like how loud the parking sensors are, the sensitivity of the auto lights, what doors open when you unlock the car or drive away locking etc..(most stuff that the new cars can do via the driver controls..)

 

[JohnMcL7]

Thanks for the detailed reply, it's VCDS I need to use on my current car as it doesn't have Maxidot but when I'd tried the system on another Skoda I'd found it quite handy so would have liked to have it if possible. I guess it's not that big a deal as it's still a decent display unlike the Octavia which has an odd half LCD display. It is a shame there's no parking display though as I do find it frequently handy being able to tell which parking sensor is going nuts.

John