IN this day and age we are always being encouraged to recycle wherever possible.

Breathing new life into things deemed surplus to requirements is regarded as a noble pursuit in the disposable world in which we live.

Now it seems car manufacturers are getting in on the act too.

If you get a sense of deja vu when casting your eye over the Seat Exeo that's understandable.

After all you will have seen it before, albeit badged as its alter ego.

You see the Exeo - which apparently translates roughly as 'to go beyond' - is to all intents and purposes a previous generation Audi A4.

Don't let people tell you that Seat have pulled off some kind of con trick.

No, to me, what they have done makes perfect sense.

The A4, or Avant in our case, still has a few miles to go before it completes its trip around the block so why consign it to the scrapheap when you can give it a makeover and flog it as a flagship premium addition to your burgeoning range?

No R and D required, no consumer clinic needed, just polish them up and ship them out.

OK, so the process is almost certainly not that simple, but what Seat has done has allowed them to establish themselves in a segment of the marketplace far sooner than might otherwise have been possible.

But has the idea paid off?

Well, for starters, the A4 is a good looking machine, so Seat, rather than bringing in wholesale changes, have just done a few nip and tucks here and there to freshen it up.

So the Exeo has a new front end that gives it the family identity and the headlight arrangement has been tweaked, but apart from a couple of other minor aspects the original design has been left untouched.

The same is true of the interior which has been taken wholesale from the A4 cabriolet. So there is a big Seat badge on the steering wheel, but again almost everything else is as nature, or Audi, intended.

That is maybe doing Seat a disservice as I have always found their interiors rather pleasing on the eye, but this is clearly a cut above the norm.

Comfort is a key factor in the Exeo's appeal and as a man of average size I found there was more than enough room to accommodate my frame.

Statistics may show that it is not as big as some of its rivals, but I think you would be arguing over a few centimetres at the end of the day.

The seats don't fold completely flat, which is a drawback, but that said I still managed to get a couple of bikes in without much hassle and with little fear of damaging the upholstery.

Theres plenty of power from the two litre engine and it is far more refined that I first expected.

For a decent-sized car, it also handles itself well on the twists and turns, but there is a degree of bounce over uneven road surfaces.

As an aspiring executive car the Exeo certainly has what it takes and is proof that you can teach an old dog new tricks.