I had vinyl bench seats in my 77 Buick. Couldn't safely wear shorts in the summer. Those seats got hot in the sun! I remember coating the seats with Armor All and it made the seats so slippery. LOL. Cloth is my favorite. I find it very comfortable. Warm in the winter and not too hot in the summer.
Why are vinyl seats no longer an option?
- Thread starter Brons2
- Start date
Whats even more irritating is that in 1976 or so a number of Chevy models had no fewer than 14 colors and 6 or so interior colors and maybe a couple of different fabric options. In 2025 you'd think with so much automation that it would be easier/cheaper to get custom colors or fabrics.
my 65 GTO has dark aqua vinyl seats, they burn your leg hair off if you leave it out in the sun!!!
Our 5th gen 4Runner has Softex. It's not like the vinyl that was in my parents cars growing up. That old vinyl was always uncomfortable, and a genuine hazard if parked in the Sun on a hot summer day.
From being on the 4Runner forums, the Softex is generally well liked. As you mention it's very durable, easy to clean, and we find it comfortable. People who have had their 4Runners for in some cases over 300k miles of hard use, have stated it still looks great, even when they've been subjected to dogs all that time.
I've had genuine factory leather in an older 3rd gen 4Runner, and FZJ80 Landcruiser. The real leather by comparison required lots of continuous care to keep it looking and feeling good, and it still wasn't as durable.
Now I do have some nice leather interiors in some of our current vehicles. But those vehicles were more expensive to begin with, and require constant conditioning, etc., to keep the leather in nice shape.
I like the fake leather and half leather etc. they put in vehicles now. My 05 Corvette had seats that were leather and some type of vinyl or imitation and they were great. Vehicles in today's world marked as leather are often times made of other materials. Real leather isn't what it's cracked up to be. Katskins sells seat covers that are really nice but I am not sure what it's actually made out of.
Agree. For what it is its a great seating surface!
On our Odyssey, the side panels of the leather seats were fake and after many years, the top layer peeled off the substrate, and then they looked awful.
Keep in mind, cloths differ.
There are varying degrees of grip, length and stiffness of knap .
There are also differing weaves.
Sis' '99 Jeep had a woven material -more of monofilament thread than fiber- with vinyl edges.
Those seats wore like iron.
There are varying degrees of grip, length and stiffness of knap .
There are also differing weaves.
Sis' '99 Jeep had a woven material -more of monofilament thread than fiber- with vinyl edges.
Those seats wore like iron.
Our VW has light grey leatherette. So easily cleanable and looks new after 7 years/192k miles.
Still an option between cloth in base models and real leather
.
Still an option between cloth in base models and real leather
.
Maybe, but the Mercedes and BMW offerings are vastly superior to natural leather, especially after two or three years.
I'll throw this in; if anybody remembers the Saab cars.
Out west in the hot climate pretty much by the mid 80s just about every one of those Saab cars on the road had disintegrating dashboards and the seats cracked with Foam basically disintegrating under your arse!
Out west in the hot climate pretty much by the mid 80s just about every one of those Saab cars on the road had disintegrating dashboards and the seats cracked with Foam basically disintegrating under your arse!
OVERKILL
$100 Site Donor 2021
It greatly depends on the leather being compared to. There's a huge range in quality, and thickness, which impacts how it wears and breaks-in. I've owned BMW's with both leather and non-leather and the leather was considerably nicer than the non-leather, but it was in a much more expensive car (M5).
Most automotive "leather" is relatively thin, and heavily coated, to provide strength, prevent abrasive wear and provide an easy to clean surface. Leathers with thinner coatings feel more natural, but are prone to staining and require treatment (like the "Laguna leather" in my Jeep, that comes with a leather care kit).
A quality leather seat is like a good ball glove: it's a heavier leather that breaks in and becomes more supple. It's not slippery like vinyl or pleathers, but you won't find this in most cars advertised as having "leather" interiors or seating surfaces. The optional leather in my Jeep was a $7,000 option and it's nice, but it's not as nice as the leather in the M5.
JTK
$100 Site Donor 2025
You were able to get vinyl seats and a "rubber" floor on Ram 1500 classic pickups right up to ~2024 as far I know. Not sure if this carried through on the 5th gen Ram 1500s or other light trucks.
I too have had all of the above, and agree that there are some great "super premium" leathers in the BMW mix. There are also some coated leathers (Acura, Honda and others) that are essentially bury the leather in a coating of vinyl. Vat dyed leather is more the norm for the German brands. My point is that Sensatec from BMW and MBTex from Mercedes look great day one, and still look great decades down the road. They can be wiped off with a damp cloth, and have a great, uniform look and feel. The better the leather is, the sooner it wears. While there might be a period where the patina is perfect, leather essentially degrades over time and eventually disintegrates.
Back before Armor All we would use lemon Pledge....
OVERKILL
$100 Site Donor 2021
Yes, that's unfortunately the norm for most non-premium leathers, they are effectively vinyl, the coating is so thick.
Yes, no argument that the vinyl is easier to clean. I've never had a vinyl interior vehicle come with a vinyl care kit.
Vinyl of course also wears and can be vulnerable to UV degradation. My M5 was a 2001, we also bought a high mileage 2000 328i (I will add that my sister's 2003 330i has aged better inside than the 328i did). The M5's seats held up significantly better than the material BMW used on the 328i, which, on the driver-side, got hard and cracked:
Passenger side for comparison:
M5 seats:
The M5 seats are still my benchmark for quality and comfort.
Our old Expedition Eddie Bauer also had leather seats. They were the more typical lower quality leather and the bolster on the driver side split once it got over about 150,000 miles. Seating surface held up fine however.
Will be interesting to see how the "Laguna Leather" seats in the SRT hold up compared to the BMW ones.
2024 Kia Forte ... 100% "vinyl". Synthetic seating used to get scorching hot in the sun. The new stuff behaves much like high-end leather and doesn't burn flesh, nor does it get hard in the cold.
It does still firm up in actual cold, but not as bad as natural leather.
I find most automotive leather is finished to resemble vinyl.
Agree, leather like a ball glove or a saddle would be nice. Like a Ford King Ranch. Otherwise I rather like the fake leather Tesla uses. The MBTEX in my 2009 too closely resembled leather trying to be vinyl.
