Sorry to bring this old chestnut up again, but I'm not worried about engines or mechanicals, but seats. (Of all things).
In VAG group cars, how well do the seats stand up to high miles?
I guess if they are worn out you can just buy a new one - how much do they normally cost?
Any real shortfalls in buying a high miler? (Say 80,000-100,000 miles)
I always said my next car would be a 100k'er, but when it's your money you can't help think "That's an awful lot of miles..."
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Seat should last ok,unless you are a fat git,cover might wear a bit,and the cheapest place to buy a seat is from a breaker.
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You can get seats from breakers for reasonable prices. Brand new from the car manufacturer they will cost many hundreds of pounds each (four figures each in some cases).
The leather seats in my MkIII Golf VR6 are holding up pretty well after ten years of use. Those in my Audi 100 were equally good when I sold it ten years from new.
Check out the Car-by-Car breakdown for problems. Do a forum search too. Home in on the model you want and then Google it and you'll find plenty of clubs and forums detailing problems encountered.
As HJ will tell you, high mileage is better for cars than low mileage. The crucial thing is the service history and the frequency of oil changes.
I bought an MB W126 at 130k last year. It drives as if it had done 50k. I have spent quite a bit on it, but most of it could have been postponed for some thousands of miles; I've done it because I intend to keep it for years.
(At the Cheshire Classic Benz site there are some salutary words about low-mileage cars: click on The Great Mileage Debate.)
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That's a good link! (Here it is for other members removed - as per the mentioning further down this thread )
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I took an Octavia up to 110,000 plus miles. The seat was holed on the side where my jean rivets caught it, and i've seen it in other Octavias. If your seat's set out different, you may not get the problem, and i'm sure that it's not unique to Octavias.
As for replacement seats, my Octavia had side airbags in the seat itself, so i imagine there's something to look out for there. Maybe it's just wires, i really wouldn't know.
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mss1tw
I deliberately didn't put a hotlink in because HJ removed it last time I tried on another thread, as he deems it to be advertising. So don't be surprised if it's zapped shortly.
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I had a 1998 Passat TDI as a company car and the seats in that were brilliant. It was a high-miler when we bought it and an even higher high-miler when we sold it. The seats in it were fine, very hard wearing cloth and extremely comfortable. If it hadn't cost a fortune to keep it on the road I'd love to still have it now.
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'Sports' type seats (i.e. with high bolsters at the side) can wear quite badly and I've seen them with ripped fabric at about 50k miles. This is because the driver rubs against the bolster every time he gets in/out of the seat.
Flatter type seat tend to be better - although even on Mercs I've had seats that have gone hard and sunk a bit in the middle by 100k. I know a guy who will re-spring a seat for about £30, so I take them to him.
Ex-police cars tend to have wrecked seats because the coppers are heavy and wear a lot of tackle on their belts.
I keep hearing about the low-vs-high mileage debate, but there are no hard and fast rules. Its silly to say that a high mileage car is a better buy than one with low mileage. You need to look at the particular car and make a judgement. I've known people who have a pampered car and keep it in a heated garage during the week but take it out for a long run every weekend. I'd buy one of those!
I once had my hands on a fairly new BMW 735 - it had been owned by the chief of Ulster TV in Northern Ireland. I would have thought it would have been well driven, but with only 99k on the clock and FSH it felt knackered (worn steering and lower suspension bushes shot, plus an engine management fault). Must be rough roads in NI?
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I love high mileage cars - bought properly (ie, you dont want an abused heap thats done 100,000 miles around town with a fare in the back) they are a seriously good way of getting a much better car for your money.
The way I see it, if you can find a car that's done 100,000 miles mostly on the Motorway it will be in better condition than one which has done 50,000 miles around town - less clutch use, less gear changes, less getting in and out, less time spent in supermarket carparks and similar.
The difficulty comes in sorting the wheat from the chaff and identifying those Motorway mileage cars. With my last car I did it by the fact that the guy I bought it from had it as his company car and his office was some 200 miles from his house.
With my next car it will be even easier - the BMW's use variable servicing so you can instantly tell a Motorway cruiser from a town-miler simply by seeing how far the car allowed itself to go between services. Under 10k, it's had a life in town. Approaching 20k, it's not really left the outside lane of the M5.
a 2001 Y reg BMW 530i Sport with just 40,000 miles on it costs about £11,000. Why would I want to spend that when the same car with 100,000 miles on it will cost me just £8000 and likely be in similar condition? Ok, so resale is a concern but the price difference, whilst it will always remain, will never be as big as £3000 again!
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back to the original Q, I have had two A4's one up to 140K (an SE) the other is my wifes current car and has 125K on it at the moment (quattro sport with sport seats). In both cases the seats are fine. You might find that you have to replace the plastic strip in the runners because they do wear (you will notice on a test drive if you move the seat back and forward the catch isnt all it should be) but that might not be a problem if the car has only had one driver and not been constantly adjusted.
For me the sport seats on vag cars are much much better than the standard seats. (my brother has had a few passats and they seem similar, the sport seat is the only one to have - imo).
I agree totally with the buy high mile/low wear cars at better prices. Although the difference in price isnt as good these days as it used to be.
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I still miss my 251K atmo Pug 405 1.9 with the wonderful XUD.
Bought at 88K with noticable stone damage to the bonnet leading edge suggesting sustained high speed.
Scrapped at 251K due to a (probably fixable) gearbox bearing problem and a beckoning Citroen XM 2.5 estate.
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I don't know about newer VAG group cars, but my 13 year old (and 111,500 mile) Polo seats are as good as new. No fading (despite not being garaged) no rips or tears neither. VERY hard wearing, and seem to stand up well to the test of time when compared to others.
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