Thanks for replying. I am looking forward to getting this car sometime toward the end of this month or the first part of next.
--
In the Country of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is King

Hi-

We have the same car (97 5spd no turbo velour). We looked at lots of cars when we bought it a year ago. We realized two things I had not expected -- 1) Turbo plus automatic is not as fun to drive as 5spd and no-turbo 2) Volvo leather does not hold up as well as Volvo velour. Ours was perfect when we got it and still in excellent shape after a year of abuse from two kid's muddy feet. I'd go with velour over leather.

-Eric

My 1994 850 has light grey velour interior and I love it. It looks brand new inside (bought the car used 2 years ago) and with 235,000 miles on it that seat has been sat in a lot!

I clean all carpet and upholstry with a Bissell steam carpet cleaner once or twice a year.

After 7 plus years and 156k plus miles my beige velour still looks "OK" excepting for the little hole that looks suspiciously like "somebody" sat down in the seat with a screwdriver in his back pocket.

Did I mention that my dealer would generally manage to break two things for every one they succsssfully fixed? I think this was one of them.

I agree, after 7 years, the Volvo leather will generally look like a cow that died about 8 years ago. That said, there are numerous aftermarket leather sources that are much less costly than Volvo's outrageous price for replacement leather. It can hardly be any worse than the material that Volvo provides.

eg. (NO endorsement!)

http://www.leatherseats.com/

http://www.autoleathers.com/HTML2/AL.MAIN.FS.html

http://www.classicsofttrim.com/

-BTC

'98 V70 T5 5-speed, 156k mi, front IPD stabilizer bar, rear factory HD bar, Bilstein HD, Volvo strut tower brace and skidplate, e-codes, V-1, Mobil-1 since new, Michelin Arctic Alpins