Discussion
What's your general expectations when buying a 2/3 year old used car in terms of interior condition?
Went to view an Enyaq yesterday- really liked the car. Only concern was the driver seat bolster was getting worn / creased.
Am I being too picky? I really liked the car - it just stood out as a flaw that I wasn't expecting to see on a 2 year £20k car
Went to view an Enyaq yesterday- really liked the car. Only concern was the driver seat bolster was getting worn / creased.
Am I being too picky? I really liked the car - it just stood out as a flaw that I wasn't expecting to see on a 2 year £20k car
Not necessarily
The edge of the bolster on my current car was worn through the coating on the leather when I bought it. It was a three year old 330i on 16,000 miles
I did consider if it may have been clocked but stuff like the tyres being about half worn with a date code about three months older than the registration date of the car, it still having BMW logo’d pads fitted and the general condition of the car otherwise made me think not
I think it was just a clumsy or less able (perhaps elderly) driver
At 60,000 miles now and with a bit of leather repair kit action it looks ok
The edge of the bolster on my current car was worn through the coating on the leather when I bought it. It was a three year old 330i on 16,000 miles
I did consider if it may have been clocked but stuff like the tyres being about half worn with a date code about three months older than the registration date of the car, it still having BMW logo’d pads fitted and the general condition of the car otherwise made me think not
I think it was just a clumsy or less able (perhaps elderly) driver
At 60,000 miles now and with a bit of leather repair kit action it looks ok
Stevengude said:
vikingaero said:
Look for another car. If it bothers you now, it's nor going to magically improve in x years time.
Problem is all the leather enyaqs seem to have the same.. It's possibly a symptom of a shorter person getting in and out of a taller car, and the resulting contact point taking more wear and tear.
In my experience it's really difficult to find a used car in an acceptable condition. It took me two months to find a suitable used replacement for it's predecessor which I'd owned from new.
If the creasing isn't terrible but the rest of the car is acceptable, I'd probably buy it and I'm particularly picky.
In my experience it's really difficult to find a used car in an acceptable condition. It took me two months to find a suitable used replacement for it's predecessor which I'd owned from new.
If the creasing isn't terrible but the rest of the car is acceptable, I'd probably buy it and I'm particularly picky.
In my head it should be like new, maybe a bit of creasing on a 'leather' seat but shouldn't really be showing signs of wear.
My V6 Saab has 131k on it and is 14 years old but the drivers seat looks barely sat in. If I said it had 40k on the clock it wouldn't be hard to believe so 2-3 years old, should be not far off mint.
That said, I've heard many a tale of people buying fairly new Mercs and having bolsters wear or split surprisingly early on.
My V6 Saab has 131k on it and is 14 years old but the drivers seat looks barely sat in. If I said it had 40k on the clock it wouldn't be hard to believe so 2-3 years old, should be not far off mint.
That said, I've heard many a tale of people buying fairly new Mercs and having bolsters wear or split surprisingly early on.
Bolster wear happens when getting in and out rather than through normal use. That's why it's only ever the outer ones that wear. Higher mileage cars can often be immaculate as the driver might be sat in the same place for hours on end. Conversely you can see low mileages cars that are used frequently with very high wear. I think it's also a lot to with the user and even what they're wearing. Rougher fabrics with exposed seams etc are bound to abrade more than smoother seamless stuff. I'd imagine jeans are particular bad. And then you have to factor that some people take care with things and some don't. I'm always very careful not to slide over the bolster and try to just drop into the seat instead but I'm sure many don't even thing about it.
But in simple terms, I would not accept significant bolster on anything remotely new. It's one of those things that I absolutely hate on a used car of any age. Not always easy to fix either, especially on fabric seats.
But in simple terms, I would not accept significant bolster on anything remotely new. It's one of those things that I absolutely hate on a used car of any age. Not always easy to fix either, especially on fabric seats.
A lot of 2-3 year old cars are ex-lease/ex-company cars and people generally don’t give a s
t about them.
There are loads of cars around at 3-years old that are in a terrible state cosmetically because the first “owner” just used it as a tool.
Takes some digging to find the good stuff.
t about them. There are loads of cars around at 3-years old that are in a terrible state cosmetically because the first “owner” just used it as a tool.
Takes some digging to find the good stuff.
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