Freelander 1 Driver seat bolsters

Hi. new to the forum today! I am looking to buy a Freelander for low cost as a functional set of wheels; looking at the older end of the used market many Freelanders seem to still look in good condition (no rust in the sills and bodywork clean, plus good looking interiors).

However, I noticed a trend for the driver seat base outer bolster being ruined on almost all of them. Is this your experience too? Is there some failing in the design that causes this or have I just hit unlucky with the ones I have seen? Or is it symptomatic of general abuse of those vehicles that suggests I should avoid them?

If you have come across this as owners, is there a cheap form of repair or replacement seat base that you’d recommend? Resolving that one aspect could net me a bargain as these seem mechanically and generally OK and make them a lot of car for the money.

Wiganlander said:

I noticed a trend for the driver seat base outer bolster being ruined on almost all of them. Is this your experience too? Is there some failing in the design that causes this or have I just hit unlucky with the ones I have seen?

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Pretty much all cars suffer with worn driver's seats. The wear is caused by bums and backs dragging across the bluster and base every time the driver gets in and out.

Rectification normally requires a replacement seat or seat cover.

Wiganlander said:

is there a cheap form of repair

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With a bit of ingenuity, a less worn passenger side cover can be fitted to the driver's side seat frame.

Yes you can swap the driver and passenger seat bases (foam and cover) over - but that leaves the inside edge of the passenger seat damaged. You probably won't find a decent drivers side seat in a breakers, but can get a passenger one to replace the drivers.

They aren't exactly the same, the clips are slightly different, but more than similar enough to make a good job. The only thing that will be noticeable will be 2 small holes on the left hand side of the drivers seat, but they are not that noticeable. There is some info on how I did mine, using the passenger seat base from my parts car here....

https://www.landyzone.co.uk/land-ro...freelander-today.199594/page-340#post-3827775

The actual seat covers have part numbers, so in theory you could replace with new, but I don't know if they are still available and at what price!

When I looked to see the cost of a replacement LR cover it was about £100.