Why is leather such an important option to have in a car?

[ReaperCushions]

I'm struggling with this one really. We have 3 cars in our family, all of which have leather. But none of them are out of choice (1 20 year old mx5, 1 bought at 6k miles and one on delivery miles off the forecourt)

The mx 5's leather is all cracked, the seat bolster worn and generally has more shine that a greasy teenagers forehead.

The leather on my daily driver looked great on pick up, its now after 20k miles starting to go shiney and is ageing the car more than its years

The leather on the wifes new motor is currently pristine, but already showing signs of wearing in.

Conversely the fabric on my previous cars has look the same from new all the way to over 100k miles.

Pros for leather:
- Wipe clean for those messy kids / pets / heavy dogging sessions
- Can look nice on day 1 delivery of the motor

Cons:
- Its generally an expensive option
- You slide around on it depending on seat design
- Its colder in the winter (alas my daily does have heated ones)
- Its hotter in the summer
- It ages far quicker than fabric
- It has more of a tendancy to crack / break up if you dont look after it
- Its a ball ache to look after with various 'feeders' and 'restorers'

Other than the 'luxury' intimation of having half a dead cow in your car (imagine a RR sport with fabric seats) why is it so popular?


Edited to add:
When we went to buy the wifes new car, i wanted to place an order for one without the leather as i prefered the design of the non leather seat. The sales guy said that even though its an option on this model (Abarth 500) they dont actually have any coming out of the factory without due to popularity, and they would have to place a special build slot. Possibly a bit of salesman-ship going on but WTF?

Edited by ReaperCushions on Friday 20th January 11:57

[ED209]

Leather has the imagine

[AlexKing]

Don't underestimate the importance of "wipe clean". Plus, it smells nice.

[kambites]

If you look after it, it shouldn't crack. You need to "moisturise" it (probably not technically the correct term, but still).

The only real advantage that I can see is the fact it doesn't absorb stuff. I generally prefer cloth.

[SWoll]

It's a strange one. For me the only benefit of leather is it is far easier to keep clean (especially if you have kids) assuming you get a dark colour.

Our current 5 series is the first car we have bought in years without leather (got a great deal) and the upholstery is a pig to keep clean, but it is more comfortable, holds you in place better, doesn't get freezing cold in the winter and red hot in the summer and seems to wear better also.

I know it will have an affect on the value of the car when we come to sell but seeing as we saved so much upfront and plan on keeping it for a while I can't say that bothers me much.

[SWoll]

kambites said:

If you look after it, it shouldn't crack. You need to "moisturise" it (probably not technically the correct term, but still).

The only real advantage that I can see is the fact it doesn't absorb stuff. I generally prefer cloth.

Agree completely. Oh, and the term is "Feed" it apparently...

[Bisonhead]

In the old stage coaches etc. Leather was used by the driver as it was more weather proof than the upmarket velvet or cloth used in the passenger compartment.

Somewhere along the line this has swapped over. Maybe with finer, softer leathers being introduced elsewhere in fashion?

[Alfanatic]

Leather often feels softer and to my eyes nearly always looks better than cloth (when new). I always thought leather was more hard wearing too. I.e. it ages a lot, but cloth will wear through quicker?

It's the upmarket option on clothing and home furniture too, isn't it?

[Vocal Minority]

Alfanatic said:

It's the upmarket option on clothing and home furniture too, isn't it?

I dunno....ever seen a man in leather trousers and thought ... 'hmmm, must be successful'.

[Dave Hedgehog]

why is steak more expensive than a fast food burger, or gold more expensive than copper

[SWoll]

Dave Hedgehog said:

why is steak more expensive than a fast food burger, or gold more expensive than copper

Doesn't work for me as an analogy Dave.

[ReaperCushions]

Dave Hedgehog said:

why is steak more expensive than a fast food burger, or gold more expensive than copper

Um.... worst analogy ever?

[anonymous-user]

Dave Hedgehog said:

why is steak more expensive than a fast food burger, or gold more expensive than copper

Random. The OP's question wasn't related to leather being more expensive than cloth. Or are these genuine questions and you couldn't be bothered starting your own thread?

[greathorwood]

Bisonhead said:

In the old stage coaches etc. Leather was used by the driver as it was more weather proof than the upmarket velvet or cloth used in the passenger compartment.

Somewhere along the line this has swapped over. Maybe with finer, softer leathers being introduced elsewhere in fashion?

IIRC the Queen still specs her cars with leather for the front seats but West of England cloth for the royal backside. That monstrous thing that Bentley built for her a couple of years ago was like that.

[J4CKO]

I think its mainly perception and marketing led, i.e. the car manufacturers over time have pushed it to being an upmarket option andwe now perceive it as being luxurious, as has been mentioned it used to be the other way around. Lets face it the leather in most market cars is not the finest Connolly hide selected and checked for defects, its dead cow with a plastic coating on it left over from when McDonalds make burgers, most of it isnt that duarable compared to decent leather like you would get in older cars and looks like a cheap leather jacket.

I cant imagine for run of the mill leather seats, like you get in say mid size saloon frome the major manufacturers that it costs that much more to make a leather covered seat to a cloth covered one, the clother still has to be wovent and of a quality that remains durable, sure it costs bit more but most of it is part of the marketing, two grand for a leather option is typical on some cars, its just a cash cow that they sell to us based on our insecurities about how our shiny new car will be perceived, leather says success in the three series, cloth says loser.

It can look nice, it doesnt generally suffer from stains if dark but it does look raggy very quickly on some cars and some older cars look grim with light coloured leather thats gone all skanky.

[Devil2575]

I suspect the real reason is that it's simply more expensive so it gives the impression to both the owner and others of luxury. We do live in very 'money is status' orientated times.

I actually prefer leather but I do agree that cloth is harder wearing generally.

[vxr8mate]

I have often debated this thinking:
Pros for leather: Looks good, smells nice (for a time), easy to clean, better resale value
Cons for leather: Can be too cold or hot, cracks, expensive to repair

Pros for cloth: Warmer or colder than leather, more durable, easier to repair
Cons for cloth: Garish colour schemes can look cheap, harder to clean

Truth is I usually conform and go for leather!

[jagnet]

I much prefer leather over fabric for the feel of it and the smell of it. It's easier to keep clean and far more hygienic than cloth as well, which when you're buying second hand is worth considering.

I think it's unfair to criticise leather for letting you slide around on the seat - that's just down to poor seat design.

Maintenance of leather is an area where there's much misunderstanding. Modern leather doesn't need feeding - there's no point trying since the conditioners can't penetrate the surface (the exception being perforated leather to a degree). Acrylic and polyurethane resin binders are used in the finish, so oil based conditioners will remain on the surface and just attract more dirt. A simple wipe over will suffice, and imho the best leather wipes for this purpose are made by Dr Leather. Hoover out any dirt from the seams and a wipe over; hardly taxing. Avoid the use of solvent based cleaners at all costs.

Leather in older cars can be conditioned, but even then most maintenance involves just a clean, leaving conditioning as an annual event, or six monthly at most. For the seats in the XJS, being much older and without the surface treatments in modern cars, I prefer to use the Gliptone twins.

Look after the leather and there's no reason why it won't outlast fabric and suede seats.

[Megaflow]

It beats me too... Current S40 T5 has leather as standard and it's hateful, even with the aircon in summer you still get a hot back.

The new car, Mondeo Titanium X, has half leather with alcantara... Much better IMO.

[jagnet]

Hot leather seats in the summer aren't such an issue with lighter coloured leathers, but the popularity of black leather to go with the inspiring grey interiors in German cars really doesn't help the cause.

Even on the sunniest summer days I never had a problems with the light magnolia leather in the XJS feeling too hot; warm certainly, but never what I'd call hot.