Leather seats - not

[100K+]

Originally Posted by PJordan

Volvo advertise it as leather faced so sides and back are other leather looking materials, as you say - vinyl.


I have never been under any illusions that it was all leather as all the information I have read online and in brochures states it is only leather faced.

Hope this helps.

I can't believe what I'm reading in this thread....absolutely unbelievable...A leather faced seat to me ( and forgive me for apparently being sooooo gullible) is leather faced - ALL the outer FACES I expect are leather; the sides, the back, the bits I sit on should all of them should be dead cow! I hate cloth. Now I read not only was I conned in to paying more for my none cloth interior.... but ITS NOT LEATHER !!!!
How economical and miss leading can car dealers/manufactures be??. I bet even Jeffery Archer would suggest they were being dodgy on this matter...
To say all manufactures do this, is not a justification for it being done.

I always thought my 2004 V70 had better, more comfortable seats than my 2015 V70, now I know why. My dads 1962 Hillman Minx had vinyl seats - they were rubbish too. The clocks been turned back 50 years....

Gobsmacked........

Cheers
Bob

[Clan]

Originally Posted by 100K+

I can't believe what I'm reading in this thread....absolutely unbelievable...A leather faced seat to me ( and forgive me for apparently being sooooo gullible) is leather faced - ALL the outer FACES I expect are leather; the sides, the back, the bits I sit on should all of them should be dead cow! I hate cloth. Now I read not only was I conned in to paying more for my none cloth interior.... but ITS NOT LEATHER !!!!
How economical and miss leading can car dealers/manufactures be??. I bet even Jeffery Archer would suggest they were being dodgy on this matter...
To say all manufactures do this, is not a justification for it being done.

I always thought my 2004 V70 had better, more comfortable seats than my 2015 V70, now I know why. My dads 1962 Hillman Minx had vinyl seats - they were rubbish too. The clocks been turned back 50 years....

Gobsmacked........

Cheers
Bob

But this is nothing new , the Volvo 440 turbo had half leather seats nearly 30 years ago . The Morris Minor had full leather seats though and Austin A35 , as did most cars before about 1965 … That Minx must been very basic , although that is when vinyl came in so everyone thought it was better than leather of course .. Not much is new in motor cars these days it all comes around again .

[Waynedance]

When I was looking for my current S80 I went to look at an SE Sport, an SE and ended up with the current SE LUX.

I did no not know until after buying the car that the SE and Sport were only leather faced and the Lux was full leather, i thought the cooled seats in the sport were the pricier option but it's the Lux seats by a grand.

Seen lots of car makes for sale where the side of the seat is cracked due to being plastic etc.

[100K+]

Originally Posted by Clan

But this is nothing new , the Volvo 440 turbo had half leather seats nearly 30 years ago . The Morris Minor had full leather seats though and Austin A35 , as did most cars before about 1965 … That Minx must been very basic , although that is when vinyl came in so everyone thought it was better than leather of course .. Not much is new in motor cars these days it all comes around again .

Yes, I accept some cars are/were fitted with 1/2 leather seats. The 2.5T V70 in P2 guise had leather "inserts" in the seats, being another car in point, but the non leather bits of the seats were cloth; and was not trying to visually deceive us into believing they are all leather.
This deception is sold to the unsuspecting customer by the use of the term "leather faced" which we, (sorry I ) believe means full leather, but by which the manufacturer means something very different.
I'll be looking for hidden meanings to every statement car makers make in the future..

Still gobsmacked....

BTW I remember the heater was an option on the Minx

Cheers

Bob

[Whyman]

As others have said leather was standard on all cars before vinyl was introduced.

When MB introduced Velour seats in the S class many years ago it was a £1000 option over the standard leather seats.

They have also got a fake leather called Artico I think that is almost impossible to tell from the real thing apart from the lack of a "leather smell"

Even Volvo have fitted leather look vinyl rear seats in Police cars to make them easier to clean. Virtually impossible to spot unless you look very closely.

[Whyman]

Originally Posted by 100K+

BTW I remember the heater was an option on the Minx

Cheers

Bob

First job I did on my first car a 14 year old A30 was fit a heater. Previous owners had somehow managed through 14 winters.

Even when I went to the scapyard to find a heater very few had one fitted.

Even when fitted you could either have warm feet or a demisted screen but not both.

It had leather seats though.

Good old days!!

[FIBAMAN]

Originally Posted by Whyman

First job I did on my first car a 14 year old A30 was fit a heater. Previous owners had somehow managed through 14 winters.

Even when I went to the scapyard to find a heater very few had one fitted.

Even when fitted you could either have warm feet or a demisted screen but not both.

It had leather seats though.

Good old days!!

Thank you to all who replied.
I bought this car (SE LUX -with plastic) second hand from the main dealer as VOLVO SELEKT vehicle. I did not stop to delve into the seat materials at the time, I was more concerned with what I was getting overall and that it fitted my needs.
The car is still under Selekt warranty until September, so I shall be testing it out soon.
I have already had expensive work done on tailgate - £600+ for new motor, which had to be approved by Volvo engineer, so overall they had my car for a week.
Other than that it has been fine.

[Waynedance]

The specs I find strange on Volvo, in the brochure for the S80 2007 SE Lux it says Sovereign soft full leather but some of the cars on auto trader I see for sale have leather faced seats only.

[Steff79]

Hi Fibaman,

Let us know how you get on with the warranty/seats as I'm taking mine to the dealer for exactly the same issue and I'm concerned they will just claim it's wear and tear.

I've attached 2 photos just to see how it compares to yours. I fully expect people to say that's nothing, and I would agree if it was on a 125k miles car... but its under 3 yrs old and 25k miles so got to be worth seeing if Volvo will sort it now

[Tatsfield]

Although the underlying problem might well be deterioration of the plastic, the two damaged areas do look like cuts and gouges rather than embrittling of the plastic and consequent cracking. I would hold your breath on this one!