Leather is luxury. Not.

[Hokiefyd]

Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Originally Posted By: Hokiefyd
Cloth isn't comfortable to me.

Do you wear leather pants and shirts also?

No. And that's why I prefer leather seats. Cloth usually sticks to cloth. I have cloth clothes on and if I sit in a cloth seat, especially a softer cloth like a velour material, the cloth seating surface sticks to your clothes and makes adjusting in the seat an unpleasant experience.

NOW...if I wore leather clothes, then yes, I would demand cloth seats.

 

[Hokiefyd]

Originally Posted By: Jarlaxle
I'd rather have vinyl.


I'd rather have vinyl as well. Unfortunately, most automakers don't offer real vinyl anymore.

 

[Win]

The queen can plant her derriere on whatever she wants, but for my family, it's leather, period. Not cloth, not pleather, naugahyde, or whatever the faux leather of the day is, but real leather.

I won't say I would never own a car without leather, but I doubt that I would ever own a car without leather.

 

[eagle23]

In the early 1970's or so, Volvo had a one-page magazine ad reading something like:

"At Volvo, we have a miracle material that is warm in winter, cool in summer, and easy to clean.
We call this miracle material "cloth"

I have leather now on my Accord but have been tempted to replace it with cloth. I did just that maybe a dozen years ago on a mid-90's, low-mile Camry that came with leather. At the time, ebay was selling the cloth seat covers the dealers removed when a customer wanted to "upgrade" to leather.

Like was said before, the noise reflection reduction was amazing, and the seats were more comfortable as cloth has more "give" than leather. And cloth is both warmer in winter and cooler in summer. Leather's too much like sitting on vinyl.

 

[G-MAN]

Originally Posted By: Win
The queen can plant her derriere on whatever she wants, but for my family, it's leather, period. Not cloth, not pleather, naugahyde, or whatever the faux leather of the day is, but real leather.


Whatever makes you happy. It's your car.

 

[G-MAN]

Originally Posted By: eagle23
In the early 1970's or so, Volvo had a one-page magazine ad reading something like:

"At Volvo, we have a miracle material that is warm in winter, cool in summer, and easy to clean.
We call this miracle material "cloth"


I bought a new Volvo 240 (yellow with black interior) back in 1981 that had cloth seats. I don't know what that knit fabric was that Volvo used back then, but it was tough as iron yet still supple and comfortable.

 

[morepwr]

I feel better hearing I am not the only one who thinks leather isnt all that great. Some of "leatherette" that some car companies are putting in cars now and still charging big bucks for it really sounds like fancy vinyl to me!

 

[G-MAN]

Take a look at this video review of a 1960 Phantom with coachwork by James Young. Note where the leather is and where the (wool) cloth is.

 

[mpvue]

Originally Posted By: Spazdog
Leather. More proof that one of my brothers in law is insane.

He had to special order his E-350 4Matic with leather and without seat heaters.

Yes, you read that correctly.


MY brother special ordered a '86 Dodge Daytona Turbo Z w/ the Shelby handling kit, T-tops and A/C DELETE! black leather interior was standard IIRC.
fast, harsh driving car, SO unpleasant for passengers w/ the massive turbulence from the open T-top roof, to say nothing of how scorching those seats were from baking in the summer sun!

 

[mechanicx]

Originally Posted By: Spazdog
Leather. More proof that one of my brothers in law is insane.

He had to special order his E-350 4Matic with leather and without seat heaters.

Yes, you read that correctly.

He did not want MB Tex. Specifically did not want MB Tex because he would know that it was not leather.

I'm still not entirely certain of the reason for not wanting seat heaters. I don't get it either.

He probably could have selected from dealer stock and gotten the color he wanted with the Harmon Kardon stereo and nav for the same amount of money as he spent special ordering a base stereo with leather and no seat heaters. Pretend that the MB Tex is leather and ignore the seat heater switches. 90% of the women he dates would not know that it is not leather. 5% would be PETA impressed that no cows were sacrificed to cover the interior and the remaining 5%?.... stuck up gold digging [ explicit derogatory to females word]


Why is your brother-in-law dating women lol? Do you mean ex brother-in-law?

 

[PandaBear]

It really depends on the leather quality.

I love the leather on the IS250, but I hate the one on Camry and Buick Regal that feels like plastic, what a waste.

On the other hand I love the cloth seat of Corolla but hate the one on Escort.

It really depends on how they make it, kind of hard to generalize.

 

[exranger06]

Originally Posted By: mechanicx
Originally Posted By: Spazdog
Leather. More proof that one of my brothers in law is insane.

He had to special order his E-350 4Matic with leather and without seat heaters.

Yes, you read that correctly.

He did not want MB Tex. Specifically did not want MB Tex because he would know that it was not leather.

I'm still not entirely certain of the reason for not wanting seat heaters. I don't get it either.

He probably could have selected from dealer stock and gotten the color he wanted with the Harmon Kardon stereo and nav for the same amount of money as he spent special ordering a base stereo with leather and no seat heaters. Pretend that the MB Tex is leather and ignore the seat heater switches. 90% of the women he dates would not know that it is not leather. 5% would be PETA impressed that no cows were sacrificed to cover the interior and the remaining 5%?.... stuck up gold digging [ explicit derogatory to females word]


Why is your brother-in-law dating women lol? Do you mean ex brother-in-law?


Why can't his wife's brother be single and date people?

 

[tommygunn]

Leather is a bad luxury. Its the kinda thing the Romans would do. Coat everything in dead cow so you get that nice [censored] noise everytime you sit down and stick to it in the sun like you're a naked sweating pig wrapped in your car.

Leather used to be expensive...thats the only reason I figure it was ever considered a luxury.

luxury (plural luxuries)

very wealthy and comfortable surroundings.
something desirable but expensive.
something very pleasant but not really needed in life.

No idea what the major benefits of leather are anymore personally but it definitely costs more.

 

[mechanicx]

Originally Posted By: exranger06
Originally Posted By: mechanicx
Originally Posted By: Spazdog
Leather. More proof that one of my brothers in law is insane.

He had to special order his E-350 4Matic with leather and without seat heaters.

Yes, you read that correctly.

He did not want MB Tex. Specifically did not want MB Tex because he would know that it was not leather.

I'm still not entirely certain of the reason for not wanting seat heaters. I don't get it either.

He probably could have selected from dealer stock and gotten the color he wanted with the Harmon Kardon stereo and nav for the same amount of money as he spent special ordering a base stereo with leather and no seat heaters. Pretend that the MB Tex is leather and ignore the seat heater switches. 90% of the women he dates would not know that it is not leather. 5% would be PETA impressed that no cows were sacrificed to cover the interior and the remaining 5%?.... stuck up gold digging [ explicit derogatory to females word]


Why is your brother-in-law dating women lol? Do you mean ex brother-in-law?


Why can't his wife's brother be single and date people?


Oh yeah, that's what I overlooked

.

 

[07Wolfie]

Originally Posted By: SaturnIonVue
So G-MAN, is that the interior of your new 300 or is that the Queen's State Limo?

Haha, I spent a few seconds looking at that pic and trying to figure out when they'd changed the 300 so much and how he got the front seats pushed so far forward to take the picture! No wonder SRTSteve is always going on about that car...

 

[G-MAN]

Originally Posted By: 07Wolfie
Originally Posted By: SaturnIonVue
So G-MAN, is that the interior of your new 300 or is that the Queen's State Limo?

Haha, I spent a few seconds looking at that pic and trying to figure out when they'd changed the 300 so much and how he got the front seats pushed so far forward to take the picture! No wonder SRTSteve is always going on about that car...

I didn't think anyone would actually think that was a pic of the backseat of my 300.

 

[Spazdog]

Originally Posted By: mpvue
Originally Posted By: Spazdog
Leather. More proof that one of my brothers in law is insane.

He had to special order his E-350 4Matic with leather and without seat heaters.

Yes, you read that correctly.


MY brother special ordered a '86 Dodge Daytona Turbo Z w/ the Shelby handling kit, T-tops and A/C DELETE! black leather interior was standard IIRC.
fast, harsh driving car, SO unpleasant for passengers w/ the massive turbulence from the open T-top roof, to say nothing of how scorching those seats were from baking in the summer sun!


I had that exact car! So they built at least two of them like that

Black on black leather 1986 Dodge Daytona Turbo Z C/S. T-Tops/ no A/C. It had every option except A/C and automatic. It had the inflation bulb that you could inflate the lumbar support or the side bolsters. It had the top of the line Chrysler stereo with digital display (that appeared to be sourced from Fujitsu Ten) It even had "C/S" embroidered into the headrests. I bought it in February and just assumed it had air conditioning. Never occured to me while I was ogling the underhood area that the compressor was conspicuously absent

Still one of my favorite cars. But terribly hot in summer.

 

[eagle23]

Originally Posted By: G-MAN
Originally Posted By: eagle23
In the early 1970's or so, Volvo had a one-page magazine ad reading something like:

"At Volvo, we have a miracle material that is warm in winter, cool in summer, and easy to clean.
We call this miracle material "cloth"


I bought a new Volvo 240 (yellow with black interior) back in 1981 that had cloth seats. I don't know what that knit fabric was that Volvo used back then, but it was tough as iron yet still supple and comfortable.


That's the stuff. It was cloth but durable as all get out compared to other cloth upholstery of the day. And the seats were way comfortable, too.

 

[spasm3]

Originally Posted By: Corvette Owner
I do NOT like leather seats either. I covered my Corvette Seats with neoprene (wet suit material), cooler in summer and warmer in winter.

My Impala and Van both have cloth seats. Wife wanted leather in Murano, it's HOT !


I have though about neoprene covers for my avalanche, for at the beach. Do you like them a lot! Anyone else try these covers?

 

[asiancivicmaniac]

Leather doesn't absorb odors over time like cloth does. And cleaning cloth requires using a machine to get stains out. Even then there's still the foam underneath that isn't as clean as it could be. Whereas with leather all I have to do is wipe it down with a bucket of water with some soap. And it's water resistant enough that most stuff don't penetrate it and soak into the foam.

And like someone else said, clothing clings to cloth seats. I find that you don't slide around in leather seats if they are properly bolstered.