MKVI GTI Cloth trim v Leather

[Corey_R]

The Lexus IS250, and i'm sure many other cars, has leather seats that have tiny holes in allowing them to breath like cloth. They are fantastic... and allow warm or cooled air to be blown through them. If VW ever option them I would pick them in a heartbeat.

Yeah - they have them in the Passat. They've also got fans inside the seats which push air through those little holes. Plus the have the usual seat heaters as well. VW calls them "Active Climate Control Front Seats"

[pologti18t]

Who is naive enough to think that the leather doesn't soak up the sweat - lol.

[elisiX]

Leather will absorb sweat.. but not on the same scale as cloth.

And I agree with the earlier statement that the cloth Jacky seats in the GTI are some of the best i've ever seen, sat in and felt.

[GTi Crow]

A hole? ****.. how many KM?

Sure a warranty might only be 3 years but if I had a whole in my seat within reasonable KM (under 200k) I would be pissed.

39,246 when I got rid of the GTi end of October after 4 years. Was not happy about the hole - VW would do nothing except give me the name of a repairer. With that and a lady in a ford who parked next to me in my carpark and left 30 plus paint scratches on my door and continually claimed she had not done them are two of the reasons I got rid of it and am now just about to sign up for my Mk6 GTi - as I said; trying leather this time and no longer park at that carpark.

[elisiX]

At only 10k KM a year i'd have pushed the issue to be honest. That is completely unacceptable.

[GTI2708]

Hi,
I've had the Mk6 GTI for a little while now...it's still early days for me but the cloth is beautiful...it's very comfortable with the bucket seat design and i love the look of it. I had the option of goijg leather but chose the fabrice purely because i loved the look of it so much...no wear and tear as of yet..but i guess we'll see soon enough.

[GTI2708]

Too be honest....if i had the extra cash i would spend it on the 18" detroit rims that are available..they looks soo nice.

[anarchycamp]

Its a GTI not a luxury crusier!!! Its gotta be cloth!

Ive had my MkV for getting on for 5 years now and im amazed by how well the cloth has held up even with a young child and my wifes drunk friend throwing up in the back

[G-rig]

Personal preference but i think leather is better and most people would want it (come time to sell and resale). Nothing wrong with cloth either if you're not big on too many options, but if you get a bigger overall discount on the car the leather seats would be less than the option price.

Yeah - they have them in the Passat. They've also got fans inside the seats which push air through those little holes. Plus the have the usual seat heaters as well. VW calls them "Active Climate Control Front Seats"

Always wondered how clean/condition them without clogging up the holes..

Leather will absorb sweat.. but not on the same scale as cloth.

Leather looks and smells great too, especially after some Zaino treatment . Would be hard to clean cloth as well to get it smelling new again.

[Corey_R]

Always wondered how clean/condition them without clogging up the holes..

It depends how 'open' the holes are. I found that the Supreme Shine Microfibre Cloth removes most of the cream from the holes on the steering wheel of the MKV GTI that I had, even though they were not 'open' holes like the Active Climate seats. I then just used the tip of a large-ish sewing pin to remove any cream that remained in the last few holes. I would say though that seats would be much easier than the steering wheel. Maybe a new Passat or a Lexus owner can tell us

[pologti18t]

Cloth seats are very easy to clean - steam cleaning

[Corey_R]

lol, steam cleaning has never helped get stains out of cloth seats... if your scotchgard (or whatever) protective coating on the cloth seats has worn out and you get a sweat or food stain on them, that's basically it! Plus, most people can't even do the steam cleaning themselves, they've gotta get a pro to do it, and it money etc.

[team_v]

lol, steam cleaning has never helped get stains out of cloth seats... if your scotchgard (or whatever) protective coating on the cloth seats has worn out and you get a sweat or food stain on them, that's basically it! Plus, most people can't even do the steam cleaning themselves, they've gotta get a pro to do it, and it money etc.

See here:

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=mightycarmods#p/u/26/dNMAmhGrxR8

[LiFers]

Just add another repetition to this thread from someone who has leather and does lots of driving:

Leather:
+ Looks, feels and smells great
+ As easy to clean as it is to steam clean cloth, but you need to leather condition more often than you would normally steam clean.
- Wears more and easier than cloth
- Slippery
- Harder to use as a working car as you need to protect the seats anytime anything but a bum is going to make contact with them.
--- Very sweaty. As no air can reach your back, it can be uncomfortable on warm to hot days

Cloth:
+ Breathes so you don't get a sweaty back. This doesn't mean the sweat goes into the chair, it means that air can reach your skin, so your skin doesn't form an oven with a plastic like coating and it doesn't sweat in the first place.
+ Lasts longer and wears better, but you will need to steam clean at some point in time

If all your car ever does is look good in the garage, and do weekend trips, or the 20 minutes to work and back, you might like the luxury of leather.

Having a leather embossed car in which I often spend all day at work, I'd personally save the money and get cloth. You miss out on the looks and the feel of luxury, but it's a better comprimise for the realities of every day life.

P.S. Electric seats? Put two drivers seats in the wrong position, electric and manual. I'll take the manual and race the electric into a comfortable driving position any day. Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr-rrrrr-rrrr-rrrr-rrrrr 'Are we there yet?'

[twotribez]

I say get the cloth seats. The way they made the front seats causes the leather to crease and look terrible after a few years. I am talking about the side bolsters on the right side of the bum. Had a look at many second hand golfs with leather and it really looks worn in that area because of the way it was constructed.