[KiloAlpha]

Voted for fabric - in our climate, it appears to be the best choice. I am intrigued by cars like the Toyota Century - woollen interiors? I would like to try that in my car.
My wife has a problem with leather. Her motion sickness gets much worse if there is the leather smell. She hates it - but I love it! I deeply love genuine leather as well. If maintained properly, it feels so much better as it ages.

The one type of upholstery I cannot abide by is fake/art leather. That is an absolute no-no for my car.

[ashtrix]

Originally Posted by KiloAlpha

Voted for fabric - in our climate, it appears to be the best choice. I am intrigued by cars like the Toyota Century - woollen interiors? I would like to try that in my car.
My wife has a problem with leather. Her motion sickness gets much worse if there is the leather smell. She hates it - but I love it! I deeply love genuine leather as well. If maintained properly, it feels so much better as it ages.

The one type of upholstery I cannot abide by is fake/art leather. That is an absolute no-no for my car.

I agree. Leather, although feels premium, aggravates motion sickness due to its smell and its a big NO from my family.

[Sankar]

Genuine Leather would be my choice.


In 2018 I had the fabric seats in my Crysta re-done in "real" leather (touch part is perforated and other parts are non-perforated leather even seat backs) and I don't understand what the issue is regarding heat and sweaty backs. It is as comfortable as fabric in hot weather and easier to keep clean without being a dust magnet.

Toyota Genuine Accessory touch leather set covers are crap although they say the touch part is genuine leather it gets hot and back turns sweaty. I have had this before going full leather.

[landcruiser123]

As GTO says, fabric seats in a car can be very nice if made well. I don't prefer leather seats in a car or even furniture.

Reasons, in the order of priority:
1. Personally, leather seats are extremely uncomfortable in a hot or cold climate as I sweat a lot. I've experienced everything from +45 to -35 degree celsius and love the temperature neutral nature of fabric seats.
2. Not a big fan of leather for reasons related to PETA (I don't want to stir up a religious or moral debate here)
3. Easy to clean

[Miel]

Out of the 5 cars we use across 3 cities, two have Synthetic Leather and the rest have fabric seats. The leather ones are easy to clean and shine, while the fabric ones need immense patience to shampoo, de-smudge, and dry. But, all said, the fabric seats are supremely comfortable during the summer and in humid environments. They may not look as classy as the leather, but definitely are more comfy! My vote goes for fabric.

[Lowflyer23]

If it's leather, then it should only be genuine leather because it just looks really luxurious and also feels premium to sit on. But I would any day prefer the good old fabric over the supermaxpro ultralassan leather used in very much market favourite cars these days, due to reasons already stated above by BHPians.

Please don't use those Wooden balls pseudo seat covers on your car, they leave impressions on seats over the time. And I don't understand how people can be comfortable if Ferrero Rocher sized wooden beads are poking their buttocks.

[motorotor]

Voted for leather. It adds a certain ambience and environment (both touch and smell) to a car that cannot be matched by fabric nor synthetic material. There are disadvantages for sure but to me the "feel" more than compensates for it.

A good compromise would be Alcantara. It gives a suede-like feel with a similar ambience of leather and is really hard-wearing.

[vishwasvr]

Voted for genuine leather upholstery.

Have had a terrible time maintaining artificial leather and fabric seats in the past.

Especially beige colors.

I'd rather spend that extra cash and get good quality leather upholstery.

[condor]

One option I have been searching for is Jute fabric seat covers, but not finding these anywhere. Has any one come across these ? I would definitely try this option if I could find them

[C300]

Voted for good quality Fabric. Best suited for our climate.

[ron178]

My preference would depend on a lot of factors, including but not limited to the car in question. In general, my to-go choice would be fabric seats. They're durable and require practically no maintenance except regular cleaning. I'd prefer fabric seats on our Polo because that car is used pretty much as a beater to go to and from school, to transport luggage et cetera. That said, well-executed leather seats, whether real or faux, can be quite good. The leather on my parents' Octavia feels very premium and is hard-wearing at the same time. But I've seen on their Fortuner and 3-series that the leather cracks after a few years and looks pretty dull, especially with the beige on the Fortuner. Meanwhile, the black leather seats on the F30 still look and feel quite nice despite being old.

Another factor I'd consider is the colour of the seats. Beige fabric is a big no-no because it looks soiled pretty quickly. The beige leatherette on my aunt's Vento, on the other hand, seems much better to maintain and use. However, with black seats, fabric does the job pretty well, at least on C-segment and lower cars where luxury is the least of my concern. It'll be easier to maintain too. In higher-end cars (at least those without sporty pretensions) I'd prefer leather seats, at least with beige interiors. In long-distance cruisers where there is a tendency for food and drink spills, beige interiors are the go-to choice. With black interiors, leather seats have a significant disadvantage, that is, they become extremely hot with the car parked in the Sun for even a short while and are nearly impossible to sit on. Some leather/leatherette seats are just not well-executed (like the pre-facelift Ford Aspire, from what I read), but one can't normally go wrong with fabric seats.

One exception to the cheap-feeling factor of fabric seats is the previous-generation Honda Civic. I've sat in an S variant with fabric seats a few times and those seats are extremely well-executed and have a rich, plush fabric that doesn't feel just like a single layer of cloth.

Overall, if I had to absolutely pick one, it'd be fabric seats for me, so I'll vote accordingly.

[Gaur]

A decade and a half back we had installed leather seat covers in our Honda city Vtec, definitely made the car look good, don't remember anything about change in comfort though.

However while doing research on leather seat covers had came across an article which said having Leather seat upholstery/cover improves the fuel efficiency of the vehicle.

The logic being, leather cools faster/easier compared to fabric and apparently having a large surface area inside the vehicle covered with leather reduces load on A.C compressor thereby improving fuel efficiency.

Now I read the same logic with ventilated/cooled seats.

not sure if just a marketing gimmick or true.

[MSC]

Voted for fabric. Going by the Indian context, fabric with minor inserts of leather/ leatherette here and there is the correct combination.
One among the better original covers comes in Hyundai Venue. I have the six airbags model and hence the seat covers have been specifically prohibited. Earlier I was quite wary regarding the long term effects of not having seat covers installed. I had even contemplated installing airbag friendly seat covers. Only thing I was worried was that any sharp nick or cut will render the seat damaged. However the rear portion of the seat is having a zipper which should indicate that only the change of seat fabric should be possible with similar original cover from Hyundai.

P.S. I am not aware what is the exact use of this zipper. This is my personal wild guess only . I shall ask the Service Advisor about the exact use of this zipper or specifically availability of spare seat fabric in case it's damaged on next visit to service center.

[veedub89]

Fabric all the way!

Fabric when done right can feel luxurious. Not to mention fabric is easier to maintain unlike leather which over time loses its initial look and feel. Of course cars costing upwards of a crore have brilliant leather quality and feel but cars lower down the range can't match up to that.

Most importantly, fabric stays cool in summers and warm in the winters.
I'd take that any day over perceived quality or image of having a leather upholstery.

I would have specced all my cars with fabric seats if I had the option. Unfortunately, most luxury brands won't even offer a fabric seat option. They might actually scoff at you, if you ask for one. To most people, leather is upmarket and fabric is cheap.

[RJK]

Fabric seats are my choice, considering Mumbai's climate. Back in 2002, we had got ourselves fantastic seat covers for our Type-2 Honda City, from a place Sabharwal Motors in Opera house. Generally now I've seen that the covers being offered in Opera House are quite rubbish. However, we had installed new Leather seats for our Civic in 2009 when it was brand new. The seats are holding on pretty well but the use of that car is very very low,(45k in 11yrs!) so it may not be a true measure of durability.

Someone posted about Elegant seat covers few replies before, had a look at their website & they seem to have a good range that I quite like. Does anyone know where these can be picked up from in Bombay? Especially considering they don't have a direct dealer or distributor for Mumbai region at all! Looking to change the covers on our Innova

Cheers