Our business cars: SEAT Exeo ST 2.0 TDI 143ps

By Nick Ratcliffe

If I’ve been driving for a living in July, I’ve certainly been driving for pleasure recently.

To the Alps in France to be precise for a family break in the Chartreuse mountains region.

I packed up the SEAT’s estate load area with all the family clutter for a stay close to some long-standing family friends, to bring a bit of SEAT Spanish sunshine to this beautiful part of France. (You can see it pinging off the Exeo’s chromework in a picture to rival editor Ralph’s photographic skills.)

Packing up also included the extras you now need for France.

This means a breathlyser kit – a new regulation that came into force from 01 July (see our driving advice piece New rules for driving in France) – and a reflective jacket, among plenty of others.

Following a P&O Ferry crossing, we stayed  at Reims for an overnight break before continuing on our way: I might have a tolerance for long distance travel – business or otherwise – but my children do not!

But the Exeo ST is simply brilliant at piling through the miles, its 143PS turbo diesel engine humming quietly away at 1800rpm as kilometre after kilometre passed underneath its Bridgestone-shod tyres.

As you can imagine, it’s done wonders for the average fuel economy (and French diesel is so much less eyewatering on the pocket), averaging 54mpg on the journey down.

And I’m sorry if it’s still been a bit wet in the UK, but it’s been wonderfully hot in France – so the air conditioning system has been in a constant state of cool air provision.

So while some of us are getting a break from the business of driving, some – like the SEAT – are not. Which is just as well for our holiday mobility!

You can read more about the SEAT Exeo ST business car in the Our Business Cars section.

Click here to read Driving for a living, or driving to make a living?