The Exeo ST is not only attractively priced new, but for a car of this size, is cheap to run. Buyers of the diesel can look forward to fuel economy in excess of 50mpg, while relative low CO2 levels make for affordable road tax and company car tax rates. SEAT dealers generally offer good value servicing and insurance should be reasonable.

The CO2 emissions across the range are impressively low for this type of car and if it wasn’t for the 200bhp 2.0-litre petrol, the average for the range would be very low indeed. Average fuel economy is good and every car has an indicator that shows when to change gear, so you keep the engine revs low and save fuel. Unlike other SEAT models, it is unlikely that there will be an ultra-efficient Ecomotive version.

The old Audi A4 Avant– on which the Exeo ST is heavily based – had a good reliability record. SEAT says that it has partially re-engineered the original car, so that build quality is ‘even better’. Whether that’s true or not will become apparent over time. What’s clear is that the Exeo benefits from all the teething problems being sorted out on the A4 many years ago.