Leather vs Cloth Seats

[DaBaws]

Hi,

About to order a 7.5 GTI PP 5 Dr in Indium Grey.

Was initially inclined to leather mainly because I've never had leather before and it looks great and I feel it completes the interior on the GTI's perfectly, especially with the colour I'm getting. However I changed my mind to the Art Velour Cloth due to reading the VW leather isn't any good. Starts to stretch and sag quickly (i've seen some pics of 2018 models with 3k miles on auto trader and this seems to be the case).

Also other benefits of cloth over leather is the seats heat up quicker and don't get too hot in summer, or too cold in winter.

What have peoples experiences been like with either? Any pics of the condition of their leather/cloth seats?

[Dunc245]

I have the Art Velours and really like it. Basially it's fake Alcantara. It's also half the price of the leather I think....and with leather only the bits you sit on / against are real leather; the rest is plastic leather (pleather) i.e. fake leather. Maybe the money saved could almost pay for something like DCC?

With the Art Velours, the arm rest and the door cards are the pleather too, so basically the same as if you'd ordered leather. I like this because dust etc simply wipes off them rather than having to hoover them. I put bikes in back of my car, and find mud scrapes etc simply wipe of the seat backs rather than dry as dust into fabric as it did on my Mk 6.

I wouldn't order VW leather personally, but do recommend the AV.

I'll get flamed for this no doubt.......but I also think it looks nicer than the tartan. 

[andy28]

The arm rest and the door cards are the pleather too, so basically the same as if you'd ordered leather. I like this because dust etc simply wipes off them rather than having to hoover them.

I agree with this. I loved the tartan in my mk 7.5 but even after just a year the fabric bit on the door did start to look a bit tired.

The art velour equivalent in my Clubsport standard seats has the pleather there and I do think it will wear better.

[Guzzle]

The leather on the GTi does look good when new, but it looks tired after a short while and at £1700 it's hard to justify when it contains so much artificial leather.

I do like the standard fabric, but that said the fabric on the bolsters does feel quite cheap. A sensibly priced half leather option like I had on my Octavia would have been nice, so maybe art velours would be a decent compromise? 

[Watts]

26k miles in and my tartan seats still look pretty much as new. I was a bit sceptical at the likely longevity prospects of the bolsters but they are doing very well. I do like the look of the Art Velours, very smart but I wouldn't pay the extra when the tartan is so good

[Ryan90GTI]

No problems with the leather on my MK7 and it's almost 3 years old.

[Exonian]

I’m not sure what I’d do if it were my choice.

The GTI tartan is pretty iconic and suits the car. It’s “free”, it is sort of moulded into the GTI “heritage” (even though it’s not been a feature of all the GTI’s over the years, briefly in the mk1, a very toned down version in the mk2 and then nothing until the re-birth of 2004).

But having had an R and Clubsport with alcantara bolsters, plus been in a few Sciroccos with all alcantara interiors, I do like the grippiness of the seats. Plus the Art Velour adds something different. It’s quite a lot of money for what it is but looks nice and will hold you in place well.

I’ve never been a fan of leather. To me it’s a luxury car thing not a sports hatch interior. However when I saw the seats in a friend of mine’s facelift GTI I was really impressed with them. The red perforations really suited the sporty nature of the car giving the interior an almost Italian feel.
I’d have actually considered paying the extra for that myself, and that’s saying something as I’m normally against loading a car with superfluous extras.

[JB GTI]

I have had both Jacara Tartan cloth and Race Cloth/Alcantara and now have Pleather in my latest GTi. So far, but I have only done just over 3K the pleather looks like the day I picked it up in early January. I had feared they would be cold in winter and almost unbearable in summer and both extremes have now been tested and happy to report my fears were unfounded 👍 Also, mine heat up really quickly and I have to turn them down.
They are expensive but I like them. I went a bit mad with the extras on this one but managed to negotiate a very good deal which wiped out the cost of the extras.
Here’s a few of photos of the interior and one of the exterior as mine is Indium too 

[Badlands]

I never understood the clamour for leather, I have had it in a few BM's and Audi's and it's hot in the summer and cold in the winter.
If you do spec it make sure you have heated seats, a must with leather IMHO.
That's why I stuck with the standard tartan on my my GTI plus as Exonian says it's iconic now.

[Booth11]

I’d go the leather, as I think one of the best things to come out of the facelift was the introduction of the perforated leather on the sears, which elevates it from plain dull leather to something befitting of a performance Golf.  With the red showing through the perforations on the GTI, it perfectly balances the cabin and gives just the right hint of ‘performance’ or ‘sportiness’. 

I’ve had leather in last few Golfs (with heated seats which I’d never give up), and have simply never experienced the extremes of it being really hot in summer and freezing in winter.  Maybe that’s true of some leather interiors but I’ve yet to experience it in a Golf with a leather interior, and we’ve just had a pretty hot summer and at no point were the leather seats boiling, and that’s with a car parked all day in direct sunlight in works car park.  The leather steering wheel gets hot but the seats seem to escape it.  And if you’re driving around the aircon is your friend anyway.   Similarly, been through many winters with leather and seats have never been really cold at all. 

As JB’s pics show, it’s a beautiful interior.