Love for Alcantara - Cold Morning

[Ares]

First sub 5-degree morning and finally seen the greatest benefit of Alcantara seats....no freezing leather seats to climb into waiting for seat heaters to kick in.

[Nickp82]

Agreed, never really understood the general liking for leather in cars - Alcantara is nicer in all weather types although admittedly harder to keep clean.

[jonwm]

totally agree, always choose over leather

[Leins]

I'm not really a fan of either TBH, give me cloth seats any day

[AC43]

Love the Alcantara-like seats in E Class Sports (the 212's) although when I was looking for one for some reason most people paid to "upgrade" to leather.

I though the Alcantara was classier. And grippier of course.

[2Btoo]

In days of yore, leather was the hard-wearing seat covering reserved for the chauffeur and other such menials. The seats in the back for the owner and his wife would have been trimmed in wool; a more comfortable material much better befitting his status.

I don't know when leather became all the rage and desirable for the proles to rest their backsides on but note that the rear seats of the Bentley State Limousine have covers woven from lambswool.

[Streetrod]

Alcantara does feel nice but it is a very cheap material that OEM's try to push as the profit margin on it is huge compared to leather. So they market it as a high end product but its anything but.

Nick Murray puts it nicely in this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aebUNgMhQV4

[hondansx]

OEM's don't try to 'push' it though, do they? It's recognised as a 'performance' orientated option because it's grippier, hence why it is the GTS and other GT models. Porsche will still happily sell you full leather everything if you so wish.

I agree that leather is rubbish - sweaty in summer and cold in the winter. I specced alcantara over full leather in my RS6 because of this, and it was a no cost option. No surprises that after a year, the leather part of my driver's seat is starting to look like a mini cab.

[anonymous-user]

I test drove a McLaren 570 Spider and 720 this week - both had full alcantara interiors and it's now turned me away from leather in whatever my next car is.

Was also told that the leather seats end up with a bum shaped dip in the leather seats after a lot of use whereas the alcantara seats stay as new.

[Cold]

If the leather in your car is cold in the morning it's probably worth getting the central heating in the garage serviced.

[austinsmirk]

I can't resist saying this, after all the talk of electric cars.

one advantage of them is you can entirely pre-heat your car, via you phone.

heater, heated seats, steering wheel. Lovely stuff !

[RobM77]

austinsmirk said:

I can't resist saying this, after all the talk of electric cars.

one advantage of them is you can entirely pre-heat your car, via you phone.

heater, heated seats, steering wheel. Lovely stuff !

That's been an option on a few ordinary ICE cars now for years. Volvo and BMW for example.

[hondansx]

Previous model Range Rover had this as well. So 15 years ago.

[Targarama]

garyhun said:

I test drove a McLaren 570 Spider and 720 this week - both had full alcantara interiors and it's now turned me away from leather in whatever my next car is.

Was also told that the leather seats end up with a bum shaped dip in the leather seats after a lot of use whereas the alcantara seats stay as new.

That's because its posh nappa leather, mine have those 'butt marks' after 4,500 miles. I had a loaner with Alcantara and I loved it too, the wife hated the smell though.

[DaveCWK]

The problem i've always found with alcantara is you can't easily shuffle about in the seat like you can with leather. I find it desperately uncomfortable to sit in & find myself forever fidgeting.

[anonymous-user]

Targarama said:

garyhun said:

I test drove a McLaren 570 Spider and 720 this week - both had full alcantara interiors and it's now turned me away from leather in whatever my next car is.

Was also told that the leather seats end up with a bum shaped dip in the leather seats after a lot of use whereas the alcantara seats stay as new.

That's because its posh nappa leather, mine have those 'butt marks' after 4,500 miles. I had a loaner with Alcantara and I loved it too, the wife hated the smell though.

Blooming posh leather

[davidc1]

whats the best way to clean it , a gentle hoover and a wipe over with a damp cloth?

[anonymous-user]

davidc1 said:

whats the best way to clean it , a gentle hoover and a wipe over with a damp cloth?

Spray with cleaner and use a soft brush. Then wipe with microfibre cloth. Then if needed use a hoover to bring the fibres up.

[Pica-Pica]

RobM77 said:

austinsmirk said:

I can't resist saying this, after all the talk of electric cars.

one advantage of them is you can entirely pre-heat your car, via you phone.

heater, heated seats, steering wheel. Lovely stuff !

That's been an option on a few ordinary ICE cars now for years. Volvo and BMW for example.

Indeed. Not tried it. No problem with leather seats, either.

[Ares]

Cold said:

If the leather in your car is cold in the morning it's probably worth getting the central heating in the garage serviced.

Central Heating works fine in their, but Mrs Ares' car and my bikes often take precedence.