Leather Seats?

[Crazy Dazz]

Curious on this.

Maybe I'm just showing my age, but I have always liked leather seats.

So, is it just my perception, or have they become LESS common (in new cars) of late?

When looking/browsing on car sales, I often filter by features. I've noticed that even when filtered by all the latest features, only a fraction of the cars selected will have leather seats.

Is this a case of changing tastes?
Perhaps a reflection of more Vegan/Vegetarian tastes?

Or has leather become so comparatively expensive, that's it reserved for only the top-level trim, on high-end models or luxury brands?

Also, Heated Seats? Even 20 years ago these were becoming common on many imported brands, especially European, American, and Japanese.
But now I find they're less common than all the latest tech wizardry.

[rare ss]

I'd rather cloth seats myself (1981 model) never understood the attraction for heated seats particularly in Perth but I must admit driving the work car around in the winter they do get cranked up when it's cold, vented seats would be a much better option for Oz IMO

[Giant Cranium]

I reckon more new cars have ‘leather’ than ever before. But very few would be leather. Which is probably what is causing the search function issue

[lra]

Leather comes from dead animals. It is cruel to kill and eat animals, but people do it. What is left over is their skin, which is disgusting in its raw state.
So, you want to dry it and sit on it in your atmosphere polluting machine. Double disgusting.
Not only that, you want to put electric wires in that ex-skin so you can warm your bum on a less than naturally heated sunshine day.

Please excuse what I have written above, I had a greenie, woke, PETA moment.

Most leather now is just pleather, a split with a simulated grain and seal. Compare an old Jag upholstery with a Falcon / Territory / Holden. And it is expensive to produce now, which is what Australia doesn't do anymore, it is cheaper to dump the skins and import leather from NZ.
As for heated seats and steering wheels, who needs these in Australia.

[FASTXR]

Originally Posted by lra

As for heated seats and steering wheels, who needs these in Australia.

Clearly you've never experienced a Canberra winter; when its -6 in the morning I'll take all the heat I can get

[b0son]

Originally Posted by lra

As for heated seats and steering wheels, who needs these in Australia.

When I was taking my daughter to work before 6am through winter, I did.

[Tonz]

PETA
P eople
E ating
T asty
A nimals

[Citroënbender]

Imagine if seats were upholstered with bacon.

[Franco Cozzo]

I'm pro cloth seats, because you don't have to maintain them like you do with 'leather' seats or they go all brittle and crack.

Not huge on heated seats, feels like you shat your dacks.

I've got enough *** there to be well insulated from the cold, it's like wearing 6 jackets.

[Giant Cranium]

Originally Posted by Franco Cozzo

I'm pro cloth seats, because you don't have to maintain them like you do with 'leather' seats or they go all brittle and crack.

Not huge on heated seats, feels like you shat your dacks.

I've got enough *** there to be well insulated from the cold, it's like wearing 6 jackets.

They need more maintenance to make them not putrid. Cloth seats are harder to clean which means they never get cleaned.

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by Giant Cranium

They need more maintenance to make them not putrid. Cloth seats are harder to clean which means they never get cleaned.

I've never cleaned my car seats and I don't intend on starting, just don't wear white clothes in my cars

Should have seen 30 years of fat truck driver *** sweat that come out the seats of my ACCO when I hit them with the upholstery cleaner

[Work Horse]

Originally Posted by Citroënbender

Imagine if seats were upholstered with bacon.

Mmmmm bacon!

[Tonz]

would'nt get much driving done

[rare ss]

+2 for the wear and maintenance also

Big fan of velour, the VK has a plush wool insert, god I love the 80's



The FG F6 is running clotch trim which still good good for 11 years of daily use

[MFL]

Originally Posted by rare ss

+2 for the wear and maintenance also

Big fan of velour, the VK has a plush wool insert, god I love the 80's

image

I miss my old Brock (VK SS), and the interior was nice.

[Crazy Dazz]

Leather is 100% easier to keep clean and looking new. Especially compared to any premium cloth.

Heated Seats, that put the heat in the right spot, are awesome when you're old and have a crook lower back.

[Rastas]

Heated/cooled and even massage nappa leather seats are very common in 2024 China cars or in Alcantara if you don't like leather.
And since China now makes over 1/3 of all new cars these days I guess that is where all the leather has gone.

[Dr Smith]

I'm never buying a car without heated seats, fitted them to our Territory and my Vito ...it's that early morning heat that is only bettered by a real massage...

[.:4:.]

Leather has its downsides, especially black leather like my car, in summer. The main positive is if you have young children. Child seats you can remove the covers and shove those in the washing machine to rid the spew or poosplosion. Cant do that with cloth seats so leather or pleather/vynal its much easier to spray and wipe. Yes you can clean cloth seats but if you dont air the car out and let it dry you can end up with a car that smells like a wet dog.

[Itsme]

Originally Posted by Crazy Dazz

Curious on this.

Maybe I'm just showing my age, but I have always liked leather seats.

So, is it just my perception, or have they become LESS common (in new cars) of late?

When looking/browsing on car sales, I often filter by features. I've noticed that even when filtered by all the latest features, only a fraction of the cars selected will have leather seats.

Is this a case of changing tastes?
Perhaps a reflection of more Vegan/Vegetarian tastes?

Or has leather become so comparatively expensive, that's it reserved for only the top-level trim, on high-end models or luxury brands?

Also, Heated Seats? Even 20 years ago these were becoming common on many imported brands, especially European, American, and Japanese.
But now I find they're less common than all the latest tech wizardry.

I don't think anything has changed in regard to leather seats in high end models, I've decided to go leather this time with my recent purchase, heated & aircon seats, heated steering wheel and all the tech you can think of.
PS: I don't have any qualms sitting on animal hides, the vegans/greens can sit on whatever they like.
Cheers.

[.:4:.]

How about opinions of best leather and best cloth trims?
For leather, everything about my dads jag sucked except the leather on the seats. Seats themselves sucked but compared to bmw, benz's and the like, the leather was a few steps above.
Cloth, just my personal opinion once again, eb or ed fairmont.

[OneMadMan]

Originally Posted by .:4:.

How about opinions of best leather and best cloth trims?For leather, everything about my dads jag sucked except the leather on the seats. Seats themselves sucked but compared to bmw, benz's and the like, the leather was a few steps above. Cloth, just my personal opinion once again, eb or ed fairmont.

For me it would have to be the NA / NC Fairlane Ghia seats. They are super plush and comfy. Used to hire these when they were new back in the day. Amazing cars. Sweet 5.0 V8, super awesome 4sp auto trans.



One Man

[ford71V8]

Yep, I do miss the interior of my EB Fairmont.
Comfy all year round and looked schmick.

[DFB FGXR6]

Originally Posted by onemanempire

For me it would have to be the NA / NC Fairlane Ghia seats. They are super plush and comfy. Used to hire these when they were new back in the day. Amazing cars. Sweet 5.0 V8, super awesome 4sp auto trans.

image

One Man

Did you drive them with the POWER mode selected, which lit up with a green POWER lettering on the dash? More POWER!

[Sprintey]

With great POWER comes great responsibility

Use that button wisely

[Sprintey]

Most leathers, or pleathers over the last 20 years in mainstream cars age appallingly. Grandad's Jag they 'aint.

My 2c is that well maintained cloth is more comfortable and easier to keep in a 'new car' state over time.

What Mazda did with the MX-30 interior recently harked back to those 80s cloths, was a nice design.

[.:4:.]

Originally Posted by Sprintey

With great POWER comes great responsibility

Use that button wisely

Early 90s fairmonts/fairlanes were true comfy fat guy cars. I mean that in the best way. Yes they were boats, but thats comfort when doing long trips. My grandpa had a 5L eb fairmont. That thing was a lounge on wheels. My brother still has an ed fairmont wagon. Its been sidelined for a long time, same interior as my grandpas eb except grandpas had done under 100k, my brothers is just a 6 but has over 900 on it so needless to say many more farts in the seats and the foams, well they are a thing of legend. As in dont really exist.

[portokatsiki]

I prefer the velour seats in my T1 TE50 than the leather ones on my T3

[OneMadMan]

Originally Posted by DFB FGXR6

Did you drive them with the POWER mode selected, which lit up with a green POWER lettering on the dash? More POWER!

Maaaate.. I did a LOT of things that only rental cars can do...

Where do I start? Hope you have a few minutes, as this will be a L-O-N-G read.

Sound system: Excellent. Alpine 8 speaker jobbie from memory. I was amazed at how reliable the cd's played. (My girlfriends new 1994 323 Astina would skip running over a pothole). I tried to make the Fairlane 6 stacker skip by getting it air born over a pair of train lines at 80 kays an hour. Nope, as hard as I tried, it would not skip a beat. It also came with a demo audio cassette tape. That in itself was gold. It explained how to use certain features of the car on side A. Side B featured lots of different music for you to get accustomed to the sound system, and it's various settings. I felt like I was a rich man driving one of these.

Transmission: I have not used a better one, auto that is. The best feature was the power button. When used in the economy mode, it allowed 99% throttle upshifts, so you could use the torque of the sweet EFI 5 litre. Gear changes happened at around 3500rpm at near full throttle. Wonderful sound and feel.
I remember selecting 1st gear at 80 kays an hour at 0% throttle... and watching the tacho slowly climb from 1200 to 5500rpm so smoothly. Meaning, if you had an open can of drink on the centre console arm rest, it would not fall over or spill. It just eased into 1st gear ever so graciously, as smooth as. No other renter came close. And trust me, I was a MAJOR hire car junkie... for years. Loved learning about the new things manufacturers invented.

Handling:
My favorite hoon roads (back then) were - Delamere, and Gorge roads.

Delamere: South road to Victor Harbour was a blast. Most corners were sign posted at 95 kmp/h, but the "fairy" would easily do them at 180.
My only complaint being that I used to run out of car... not road. Fairlanes are factory speed limited to 183kmp/h... I did manage to see 190kmp/h down Willunga hill in neutral once, that's when I discovered how they speed limited them. The engine stalled at 184.. so I figured it was an electronic fuel cut.

Found out many years later from a Ford mechanic that: the reason they speed limited them was because they were throwing tail shafts in the Northern Territory, at 200 kays an hour, where there was no speed limit in some parts. So instead of fixing them problem, they put a band aid solution on it and restricted it to 183. Cheaper fix I guess.

Handling continued - Gorge rd:

Well, the quickest way I can sum that up is: it's like taking your lounge chair for a flog. No body roll, outstanding grip... for a luxo barge. Really inspired confidence when on the limit. Not a bad word to be said really. The self leveling suspension worked flawlessly.

Noise Vibration and Handling: smoooooth, quiet, super comfortable. Nothing more to say.

Cooling system: I used to take them down to Aldinga beach at midnight / 2am, on a low tide. Airport runway smooth beach to play on. The first thing I used to do was to hold it flat on full lock doing donuts to see if it would over heat. Nope. No issues there. Winner.

Yeah sure, it ran hotter than normal, but never went past a tad over half on the temp gauge.. the same can't be said for the 6 cylinder versions, as they did over heat with the same punishment.
The next thing I enjoyed doing was high speed drifts. The most memorable one was, when I did a full lock drift at 100 kays an hour facing the water, flat in 2nd gear going perpendicular to the water for like 5 seconds... then losing it. What a thrill. Worst part was all the sand that used to accumulate inside the wheels, and put them out of balance.. Supermarkets are a great resource when it comes to fire hoses..

Engine: the only issue I had with one of the many I "used" was it had a few noisey lifters on returning it. I picked it up with 350 odd kilometres on the clock (not 350,000 kms) and returned it with approx. 2300Kms of very hard kays. Daylight savings night. You get 25 hours for the price of 24. Didn't sleep much, to busy enjoying myself.

When I returned it they asked me the kilometres travelled. I expected a raised eyebrow... but nothing was said, as it was unlimited kilometers. Winner!

So summing up: to this day, one of, if not, THE best standard car I have had the pleasure of driving. Many times.

I wish - even now - that I could have purchased one new. Such a great thing.

One Man

[Big_Daz]

Heated seats I can take or leave, my wife loves them though, as well as the heated steering wheel in the Sorento. What I am a fan of is the seat cooling on a summers day....

As for leather, last car without it was our Jeep Grand Cherokee (2015 WK2 Laredo) and even though they where cloth, damn they where comfy. Since then all the cars have been leather (The Nline Tuscon I had for a year was black suede which looked good but was a bugger to maintain). The Nappa leather in the Kia has stood up well after 105k km and is still perfect but the surprising thing is how well the Leather in my 2017 Redline is going after 7 years.