40k mileage upholstery condition

[chetepongo22]

hello from spain...I need some help!! I`m just buying my new elan in this week,I got 3 available in spain... one owner tell me te car 's run just 40k miles...and the second I tried has 100mileage...the problem is that upholstery is exactly spoiled in the same way,so don`t know what the real look of a 40miles elan se seats??

could anyone of you show me a picture...???

thanks

[RayD]

Leather or cloth?

Ray

[chetepongo22]

leather ray

[RayD]

Pity - mine has done 40,000 miles but cloth seats.

[L.G.]

Mine is an S2 with leather, about 40k miles. Leather is a bit worn especially on the drivers side. I also have a problem with the fixing that holds the cover under the seat so it looks a bit untidy.

It could be the difference between a caring owner's 100k miles and a careless 40k miles but, you should investigate it further.

If you want I can take a pic.

And welcome to LEC.

L.G.

[TheBard]

Photograph more of roll-bar than seats, but this is how mine look at approximately 60,000miles, over 30,000 of which have been in the heat and blazing sun of Virginia.

Elan seats and rollbar

Some small scrapes and a tear from a previous owner, but I have since treated them with leather cleaners and kept them as dry as possible, and they hold up very well. I'd say mine look better now than when I bought the car at 27,000 miles. It probably depends on how the owner looks after them!

Welcome to LEC, and the joys of Elan ownership!

[tweetdriver63]

I got my car with 50K on it. Re-trimming the seats is one of the things planned. The leather is a little stiff, the bolster where driver's seats alway wear first (from being rubbed getting in and out) is well worn, not worn through yet though, and theres a split (not a seam) in the passenger seat about 3/4 inch long that drives me batty.

I agree with others that it all depends on how they're cared for. That bolster wears out from getting in and out of the car, so it could be an indicator. The surfaces probably get damaged more by environmental factors than anything else, barring accidents cutting or tearing the material, so time, instead of use, may be the biggest threat. That's where care comes into play. I don't think the seats in the 40K mile car being in the same condition as the 100K mile car tells you that much. They're both about the same age I would assume, so environmental effects would be about the same, unless one owner regularly used leather care products and the other didn't.