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New Cars with No Leather?
I'm looking for a new car, and I want some performance, but I don't want anything in it that has been chopped off the butt of a cow basically. It looks like there isn't much selection in that area on sporty cars; almost all of them have at least a leather wraped steering wheel. Best things I've found so far are the Mazda MX-5 SV (which doesn't even come with air conditioning) and the Scion tC Spec. The tC sound like it could be good. It comes with power windows, power remote doors, and AC, and you can also get the factory supercharger on it. Is there anything else out there?
Certainly a lot of what manufacturers describe as leather is probably fake leather material, right? Is there a good way to tell if it's real of fake?
Certainly a lot of what manufacturers describe as leather is probably fake leather material, right? Is there a good way to tell if it's real of fake?
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Comments
Rocky
Easy...if they call it anything else but simply "leather", it's not. Leatherette, no. Tex, no. Leather-something, no.
I think Mustangs can still be had with a cloth interior, though I think the leather-wrapped steering wheel is standard. Still, you can just have them cut it off if you don't like it...
Sometimes vinyls can be deceptively plush and expensive looking, and I've seen some leathers that look so low-rent you'd swear that you were sitting on a Hefty bag. However, I think one way to tell leather apart from vinyl is the way it wrinkles and creases when you sit on it or poke a finger at it. Leather seems to stretch a bit more than vinyl. And with a bit of age, leather will usually get cracks and creases here and there, whereas vinyl will just tear.
Most cars with leather interiors just have the leather on the actual seating surfaces. The sides of the seat, and the backs, and that little part under the front of the seat, are usually vinyl. And any accenting that they put on the door panels is usually vinyl as well. Also, any pull-down armrests that the car has is usually just vinyl on the sides.
Now on some of the really expensive luxury cars, I'm sure that the whole seat is leather.
The leathette on my '98 A4 was better-looking and lasted better than the cheap optional leather in my '86 Mustang GT.
2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93
Leatherette me likey. Not half as much as the real thing done right, but it's a great product.
Another you may find out there is Alcantara, which is a man-made seating fabric resembling suede. It's a great option, IMO. Grippy as all get-out and easy to care for.
For me, just the thought of pissing off PETA members keeps me buying dead cow on wheels...
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Rocky
I miss the days when Porsches could be had with cloth interiors. I loved the Teutonic stubborness of Porsche's worldview: "you're paying for years of racetrack-tuned performance knowledge first and foremost, not frivolous luxury!"
As far as I know, Porsche still refuses to offer cupholders...at least on its real vehicles. I wouldn't be surprised if that Porsche Toureg has 'em though...
Looks like the Civic coupe can be had all the way up to EX without any leather, and the Mazda 3i is also devoid of leather. Not much performance, but I can't complain much, having put myself into a small selection.
"Still, you can just have them cut it off if you don't like it..."
I'd still be buying the leather though. I don't think you can have it left off from the factory; it may be worth asking about though.
Looks like I spoke too soon. Sigh.
Cloth interior, plastic steering wheel. :shades:
what ever happened to delete options? There used to be a whole list of standard equipment but there were items you could get the car without which essentially made the car below the base model. Some had automatic trannys standard with a manual as a delete option.
I'd think leather should play right into that, but naturally the market feels otherwise.
The new Mustangs have a spoiler delete option, and the old, first-gen Dodge Neon R/T coupes came with Le Mans body striping that could be deleted if desired.
I 'spect it's possible to replace leather covered shiters in most of the cars that offer them as standard.
2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93
I'm especially fond of them on things like Acura TLs, which derive so much benefit from the added downforce supplied by the aerodynamically designed attachment...
I like leather surrogates, to put it in Aldous Huxley terms. Really, even as a leather fan, I wouldn't mind moving to a mix of Leatherette and Alcantara for all the appropriate surfaces. I can see that as very functional, from both wear and performance stances, as well as comfortable.
I do think that since they are manufactured from completely non-renewable sources, though, and that the processes themselves are fairly dirty, and that they emit gasses for years after manufacture, that the real thing may be a much greener product all around.
Regrowing cows is easy. Regrowing compressed dinosaurs not so very much...
I can solve that problem for you. Buy only cars with heated seats for when it's cold and ventialated seats for when it's warm.
I do like the smell of a good quality leather.
Not really a better scent is their ? The only one that I can think of that rivals it is a handful of crisp $100 dollar bills.
What would we do with all the cow hides if not use the leather in our cars? That seems environmentally wasteful to me.
I must have a little bit on Indian, in my blood because I feel the same as you do. :P
Rocky
Still, perfed leather is pretty darn good as a surface. I haven't found mine to be particularly slippery at all, and it's plenty breathable as well. Darn durable too. The aroma? OMG, OMG, OMG, OMG! Can't get enough!
I 100% agree with both of your points sir.
Rocky
You can get cloth in an Impala, even for credit in the SS.