Are leather seats overrated?

Nathaniel_Essex

I don't drive anything fancy and probably never will. My car has your standard cushion material seats and aside from the odd water stain here or there, nothing is really wrong. The car is 5 years old.

When going into my dad's car and his leather seats, the first thing you notice is just how damn cold the thing is when the weather is low. Also, it can get ridiculously hot in warm weather. I remember us driving for less than and my whole back was sweaty. It also makes me feel much warmer than I would be in another car.

I also think after a short amount of time the leather begins to sag and look noticeably warn. I would prefer having your standard seats compared instead of leather.

gardner1

Not when they are heated..........toasty warm in winter

Begsey

Used the cooling function on my last Mondeo when it was warm, that was full leather. Current one's half leather, think it's only got the heated seat.
Throw in the air con, and there's no issues.

facade

A lot of the "leather" you get in modern cars comes from Lego cows.


For some reason they can still call it leather......

Arklight

It mostly appears to be something called “genuine leather” in non luxury cars, which is about as close to being a plastic as something can get while still mostly originating from a cow.

It’s easy to clean, which is its main advantage.

DoaM

facade wrote: »

A lot of the "leather" you get in modern cars comes from Lego cows.

Huh ? :think:

alan_d

I've had many cars with both leather and cloth.
For me, the main advantage is that it's easy to wipe clean, especially if you have younger kids.
I have 3 cars over 10 years old, with leather. Seats still look good. Unlikely any cloth seats would be at this age.

AdrianC

DoaM wrote: »

Huh ? :think:

If "leather" is a plank of wood, then the leather in most cars (and on most furniture) is a sheet of OSB or even MDF.


It's what's usually called "bonded leather" - and, like OSB or MDF, it's basically mince and glue. It's shreds of real leather, the trimmings off hides used "properly", bonded with an adhesive onto a backing. And, over time, it delaminates and falls apart.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonded_leather

CardinalWolsey

Personally hate leather seats. Most recent car I bought went for a lower-spec than I really wanted as that was the only way to not have the leather. Vastly overrated, and I fear that most cars "leather" seats won't look much better than cloth after a few years anyway.

facade

DoaM wrote: »

Huh ? :think:

As in plastic cows


Mercedes call it man made Leather I believe.



The closest the "half leather" seats in my Nissan have ever been to a real live cow is when I put a Macky-D on the seat once.:D

oldagetraveller

I've only ever driven a car with "leather" covered seats. A rental Volvo, years ago.
That made my decision to always have cloth covered seats.
Why? I was constantly having to shuffle my backside to the rear of the cushion because it gradually slid forwards! Therefore, too slippy for me.