Aron9000

Just curious, as IMO they feel nicer in most conditions. I'm talking about that 1970's/80's/90's type of velour. That seat material looks great IMO, wears like iron, feels great to the touch, doesn't get hot or cold like leather, doesn't crease/wear out like leather(cheap leather wears out fast, good leather wears a lot nicer). I'm not saying we go full baroque like this purple Cadillac interior


But honestly can we not have a more modern interpretation of something like this, a 1990 Toyota Crown Royal G saloon. Nothing tacky about this car, the seats just feels/looks the business.

rxonmymind

The Toyota Sienna I had was a great example of durability. Eight years and 330k later it didn't look worn at all. Freaking great seat like what you have pictured. Loved it.

Fizzboy7

I'v'e never seen an older cloth seat that did not look dirty or worn. I do not think they wear as well as leather. They'd require shampooing, or some sort of soapy wet cleaner, which most people do not bother with. At least with leather, one clean damp cloth will remove the dirt and some conditioner will preserve it. Think about what one afternoon of sweat will do to each. With cloth, it soaks in, becoming part of the cloth. Add up days, weeks, and years of that, and you have one nasty, dirty cloth seat. With leather, it stays on the surface, but can be wiped off later on. I've weighed the two side by side for years, but always come back to the ease and cleanliness of leather.

Johnhav430

There's actually nothing wrong with them. When I drove the Porsche 991 GTS, the seats were not leather. I've usually found "leather" to be of low quality in almost all cars, there' not even the equivalent of a $800 Natuzzi chair, or even a Rawlings baseball. Go back to 1998 when I bought my first car, a Nissan, most cars did not have leather seats.

Hoppean

I wouldn't mind. Leather is an outdated approach to luxury and too organic for a modern car. Alcantara is okay but it's a racing meme, similar to carbon fibre trims. I have seen Audis, even Citroens with very nice cloth options. 911's and GTI's with tartan pattern seats are a classic anyway. With all the modern types of fabric available, the possibilities are endless.

Sulu

I much prefer cloth seats myself, for 2 particular reasons: warmer in the Canadian winter, without need for heated seats; and cooler under the summer sun. My leather seats are not old enough yet to show much wear but I have seen terribly worn leather seats at the autoshow; it just looked absolutely terrible with creases and clothing dye rubbing off on it, on a new car!

I never had problem (with 1 exception) with the velour seats I had in my Toyota Camrys; I had them Scotchgard protected when new and never had a problem with wear or staining. The only problem I had was this: When getting out of the car, I would get an electrical shock from rubbing on the cloth seat material; it was a problem with the particular seat covering in use on that model of Camry and I never had that problem on any other model.

JDR76

While I do find cloth to be comfortable, I prefer leather for a couple of reasons.

The first is that the leather seats don't soak in the water like cloth. If I'm getting in the car after a run or after a downpour and I'm wet, I like with leather that I don't have to put a towel down on the seat and can just wipe it dry afterward.

The other reason is that I find leather to be pretty kid friendly. When a kid gets sick in the car, it's much easier to clean up the leather. It's hard to get that smell out of cloth.

Was that a first gen Camry? My folks had a 1986 Camry that they bought new, with velour seats. We used to spray the seats with anti-static spray because you'd always get shocked after sliding out of them. We didn't have that issue on their 2nd or 3rd gen Camrys.

Sulu

If I remember correctly, it was a 4th-generation (1998) Camry.

S2000toIS350

A friend had an early Cressida with tufted velour, loved it

arentz07

I'm not opposed to seeing cloth seats as an option on higher-end cars, but so far I think I've preferred having leather or faux leather, just for the ease of maintenance. Cloth is sometimes more comfortable, but it's always ended up being a little grody in my experience. I think faux leather is kind of the sweet spot.

pman6

pick your poison.

cloth seats get nasty and smelly, difficult to clean

leather gets creased to hell and cracks, but is much easier to clean

wasjr

Ahh, the classic Naugahyde from the 60s & 70s!

Sulu

Maybe we need another discussion thread: So who wants really nice vinyl seats (like we had in the 1960s and 1970s) to come back in style? I think mmarshall would really enjoy that thread.

Toys4RJill

I have two cars with cloth and two SUVs with leather. I don't mind either. But if spending a lot of moeny, it's nice to have leather. There are different types of leather and grades. Lexus leather is really good sometimes. My favorite leather was the nuance leather from the 1998 Escalade.

I higjly doubt anyone would pay for cloth in the upper MSRP ranges of these current prices.

FatherTo1

Sometimes I do find cloth seats more comfortable than leather, but I always go back to leather for the cleanliness that others pointed out above. That said, leather has sort of lost some luxury appeal to me. It doesn't feel as special anymore and even Lexus leather has become noticeably thinner and less durable. I was against NuLuxe initially but have been very impressed by its suppleness on new Lexus vehicles. Plus, the synthetic NuLuxe will last longer with less wrinkling. Millenials may also shy away from leather, in addition to cars altogether. Once our 6-year-old daughter found out what leather comes from, she felt bad sitting on cowhide. Just seeing her reaction has warmed me up to NuLuxe and similar products -- the appearance and desirable qualities of leather without the guilt, and also more durable.