Leather or cloth interior? What is your preference

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Cloth.

The upholstery in my 31 year old Olds Calais is immaculate [nice soft velour], as it was on my 99 Cavalier. Cloth is easily cleaned as well. Periodic interior detailing will bring it back if it's stained or soiled.Worked very well on an 8 year old Saturn SL I bought with 116,000 miles and had been chain smoked in.

In the ION, whose seats I have kept covered since year two, my Sister In Law dripped spaghetti sauce from a doggie box that seeped through to the seat and never told me. Easily removed with upholstery cleaner.

That being said, I am amazed at the number of used car dealerships that will sell a car with a cloth interior that hasn't had the seats and carpets shampooed.

I may do something crazy and put clear plastic seat covers over the seats in the Saturn. Just like 50s folk used to do.

Miss the lush fabrics of the 60s, 70s and 80s. Modern automotive cloth looks like polyester no press pants. And for me, leather has become so common it's no longer special or an "upgrade".

Furniture "pleather" is junk as well. Peels, cracks and starts getting piebald in a few years.
 
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I have leather in my Altima and cloth in my Tacoma. I prefer cloth. The "only" reason that I have leather in the Altima was due to my wife's disability. I had to slide her in and out of the car which was a little difficult on cloth seats
 
I've had several of each. I prefer cloth, though I mean good cloth.

Cooler in summer, warmer in winter.

BMW and Mercedes used to have very tough, high quality cloth. The LRT in Edmonton used to have cloth seats made of the same material as older Mercedes. It still looked good after 30 and more years of very hard use.
 
We have cloth in our MOPARS and Synthetic Leather in the BMW. I prefer the cloth for comfort in any weather. Wife likes her "leather" which I will admit is hard to hurt after seeing how well it held up for 6 years in our 2011 BMW. I have had cars with Alcantara seats. Could not stand the look. Much prefer conventional cloth.
 
Cloth.

I have owned both. I live in the Low Deserts of California, Summers can get 120F+ Nothing like leather seats burning you for an hour till the A/C cools the car off.

Even with the seats that ventilate, the material themselves is still SO HOT in the summer when wearing shorts it will burn you.

CLOTH is a MUST where I live.


Jeff
 
Originally Posted By: Jeffs2006EvoIX
Cloth.

I have owned both. I live in the Low Deserts of California, Summers can get 120F+ Nothing like leather seats burning you for an hour till the A/C cools the car off.


Pretty much the opposite here with the cold. Leather feels like sitting on an ice rink in the winter. Cloth is much better since I don't warm up the vehicles by idling them unlike some neighbors. Warms up pretty quick by driving it.
 
Everything in signature has leather … but gone to lighter leather in the new SUV and with the pearl paint … big difference in heat ~ I don’t wear shorts in that black and black GMC
 
Leather for me. If you asked me 30 years ago I would have said cloth. As long as it was the plush velour that was very common in the 70s 80s and into the 90s. I loved my GM cars with that oh so comfortable velour cloth.

Don
 
The last truly high quality leather seating surfaces went away when Connolly Leather went down the tubes.

That said, I prefer what passes for leather today, over cloth. I can't imagine having kids and cloth seats.
 
The Matrix has cloth seats but has a leather wrapped steering wheel and shifter. So have to clean and condition those to keep them looking decent. Otherwise they start to get all hard and shiny.
 
One way to mitigate the super hot leather seat phenomenon is put a small blanket on the seat. It also greatly help in the winter time with the super cold seat phenomenon as well. My car has leather seats so I have learned to keep my blanket around for severe cold or high heat days and nights.
 
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