I’ve made up my mind that I want to buy a used (2001, 2002 or 2003) Subaru Outback, and I want it to have leather seats.
The dealer I said that they get a lot of Subaru Outback wagons in, but that they don’t often see ones with leather seats. He suggested that I just buy a used one with cloth seats and then have leather seats put in. He says that the whole thing costs around $1300, and that there is a warranty for the life of the car.
My first instinct when dealing with used car dealers, of course, is to assume they are full of crap. But on the other hand, maybe this is the right way to go.
I looked into getting some replacement leather seats for my 94 Accord. 1300 is about the right ballpark for aftermarket all replacement leather kits. I would up getting an entire (original equipment) leather back seat on Ebay (in great shape) for 300.
I guess my question is, are the aftermarket seats going to be as good as the original factory leather seats? My current car, a 93 honda accord which I bought used, has aftermarket leather seats. I thought they were cool, until I saw factory leather seats on another 93 honda accord. This experience made me kind of wary about aftermarket leather seats.
Also, if you buy them on ebay, what happens then? I mean, do I have to install them myself, or can I take them to an installer and have them install them?
I had after-factory seats installed in my 2004 Toyota Sienna because I wanted leather seats but didn’t want to upgrade to the upper tier model. (Who the hell needs automatic sliding doors? What’s next? A device that will feed my McFries to me?)
Seats look great and so far no problems. And since they have to order the leather from Toyota, they have the same warranty as if I had had them installed at the factory. I paid $1800 for 4 captains chairs and 1 bench seat.
