It does boil down to town vs city living.
Exeter seems to be a lovely place, I don’t know it that well, but have always enjoyed my visits. However, I’ve never seen a house I’d consider buying, or even an area where I’d start my search. Being a bigger place it’s hard to be close to everything.
Due to work I’ve ended up living in Taunton. It’s definitely not the centre of the universe, but it has most things I need. I’m 5min drive from the motorway, 5min walk from the station (which has 1.5hr services to London), 10min amble from town. There are green spaces close to the town centre, and the quantocks are a 15min drive. Sidmouth 45min drive, watchet 30min drive, berrow sands 25min drive etc.
The nightlife, or even drinking and eating out options are pretty poor. I prefer Exeter and Bristol, however at least being in Taunton gives me the choice of going to the other two.