Who makes the best cabin interiors?

[xRIEx]

Willy Nilly said:

Leather is a material used for shoes, belts, wallets, saddles and PPE such as bike leathers and welders gloves.

Have you leather sheets on your bed? No, thought not. Leather trousers? Nope. Leather shirts? doubt it. Why? Because it's a horrible material.

What about sofas? You know, those things you sit on for long periods of time that you conveniently ignored to pretend there was an objective logical reason to enable you to claim your subjective preference is, in some way, the only right way.

Or office chairs for that matter.

[kambites]

Actual leather sofas and officer chairs are pretty rate. The huge majority are bi-cast.

Personally, my preference is for half leather - leather bolsters tend to wear better than fabric but fabric centres are more grippy and don't feel as hot in the sun.

[Willy Nilly]

xRIEx said:

Willy Nilly said:

Leather is a material used for shoes, belts, wallets, saddles and PPE such as bike leathers and welders gloves.

Have you leather sheets on your bed? No, thought not. Leather trousers? Nope. Leather shirts? doubt it. Why? Because it's a horrible material.

What about sofas? You know, those things you sit on for long periods of time that you conveniently ignored to pretend there was an objective logical reason to enable you to claim your subjective preference is, in some way, the only right way.

Or office chairs for that matter.

Mum and dad bought a leather 3 piece suite and the same applies, fortunately I don't go up there often enough to have to sit on it for long. I spend up to 14 hours a day driving and would be peeved if I got a leather seat in that. Grammer do upholster their top spec Evolution seats in leather, I think I'd go for the model down from that. Just had a look and it seems the top spec seat is covered in fabric. Nice http://www.grammer.co.uk/Maximo-Evolution-Active.h...

I genuinely can't understand the attraction, it seems to me to be a triumph of marketing over common sense. Who would pay extra to sit on something less comfortable?

[David A]

Panamera interiors are quite a nice place to be.

[kambites]

David A said:

Panamera interiors are quite a nice place to be.

Because it's the one place you can't see the exterior from?

[alock]

Willy Nilly said:

I genuinely can't understand the attraction, it seems to me to be a triumph of marketing over common sense. Who would pay extra to sit on something less comfortable?

I sort of agree with you. The funniest aspect I find is people who insist on leather seats and then choose to pay hundreds of pounds to have them heated. Some are even now cooled! All because it's a poor choice of material for a car seat.

[Trabi601]

alock said:

I sort of agree with you. The funniest aspect I find is people who insist on leather seats and then choose to pay hundreds of pounds to have them heated. Some are even now cooled! All because it's a poor choice of material for a car seat.

Rubbish. I had heated alcantara in my old Golf. It was the best thing ever.

Heating and cooling is completely unrelated to the fabric.

[gizlaroc]

Leather is far easier to keep clean vs 'most' of the clothes found in cars.

If the cloth is a very good one then it is better from a comfort point of view, but the fact is most cloths mark easily, and are hard to clean too. Mec clothes are still very good, Audi for example is pretty st.

But order a nice nappa leather and not some corrected grain that has been spray painted and then top coated and leather can be really nice too, but they are few and far between as well.

[Gad-Westy]

Willy Nilly said:

Have you leather sheets on your bed?

I'll plead the 5th on that if I may.

Agree though. Leather looks nice (other than black which is utterly tedious), smells nice and is easy enough to maintain but is totally compromised in terms of comfort. Half leather can work well but I wish manufacturers had offered some interesting alternatives by now.

[berlintaxi]

alock said:

Willy Nilly said:

I genuinely can't understand the attraction, it seems to me to be a triumph of marketing over common sense. Who would pay extra to sit on something less comfortable?

I sort of agree with you. The funniest aspect I find is people who insist on leather seats and then choose to pay hundreds of pounds to have them heated. Some are even now cooled! All because it's a poor choice of material for a car seat.

Completely disagree, heated/ventilated seats make the whole driving experience more comfortable.

[swisstoni]

David A said:

.... quite a nice place to be.

Sorry mate.

[iphonedyou]

Willy Nilly said:

Have you leather sheets on your bed? No, thought not. Leather trousers? Nope. Leather shirts? doubt it. Why? Because it's a horrible material.

I sleep in my bed, so it's not leather. I wear trousers, so they're not leather. I wear shirts, so they're not leather.

I sit on car seats, so they're leather. Like, say a leather sofa. Or leather chair.

The irony is it's you that's using the word spaz to describe others.

[mon the fish]

The E39/E46 era of BMW dashes I liked - curved to the driver, nice and simple and not over-styled, like a lot of stuff today

[anonymous-user]

gizlaroc said:

order a nice nappa leather and not some corrected grain that has been spray painted and then top coated and leather can be really nice too, but they are few and far between as well.

I think a lot of people who think leather is a horrible seating material in a car are basing that on experience of the "woolworths shower bag" leather used in run of the mill cars, which is indeed more akin to plastic to sit on as the surface is totally sealed. Pretty much the only advantage that sort of leather has over cloth is indeed the ability to clean it more easily!

[David A]

swisstoni said:

Sorry mate.

Have you been in one? Mine is bloody lovely. Very nice in the back too with the electric seats, blinds up and double glazing.

[kambites]

David A said:

swisstoni said:

Sorry mate.

Have you been in one? Mine is bloody lovely. Very nice in the back too with the electric seats, blinds up and double glazing.

I suspect he was referring to the fact that the phrase "a nice place to be" to describe a car interior was one of the more commonly mentioned phrases in the "annoying things PHers say" thread over in the Lounge.

[Fittster]

gizlaroc said:

Leather is far easier to keep clean vs 'most' of the clothes found in cars.

If the cloth is a very good one then it is better from a comfort point of view, but the fact is most cloths mark easily, and are hard to clean too. Mec clothes are still very good, Audi for example is pretty st.

But order a nice nappa leather and not some corrected grain that has been spray painted and then top coated and leather can be really nice too, but they are few and far between as well.

Which cars have nappa which isn't corrected?

[SuperchargedVR6]

ziggy328 said:

I quite like this....getting a bit dated on the dash but looks the part

The centre console dates it. It looks like a cheap 80s Midi system.

[ziggy328]

SuperchargedVR6 said:

ziggy328 said:

I quite like this....getting a bit dated on the dash but looks the part

The centre console dates it. It looks like a cheap 80s Midi system.

I don't disagree with you. I still like it though, and, rather oddly, I prefer it over the brand new space age dash in the new e class saloon. In fact I liked it so much I ordered one

[cindychops]

As the OP mentioned the citroen c5 is a nice place to be and nearly all functions can be accessed from the steering wheel and as the centre portion is fixed all the buttons fall easy to hand (even when going round corners)
Does seem well screwed together with no squeaks or rattles.