I had leather in my Peugeot, and it was very hardwearing indeed. I loved it. I only noticed the driver's seat had split at one side about a week before I picked up the Golf. That was 120,000 miles by the way. And all I ever did was brush the crumbs off it.
I originally wanted leather in the Golf, for sure, but somehow the appearance of the leather in the demo car didn't exude luxury the way I'd have expected for that price. And people here started saying stuff like the above. And the second dealer I went to (the one I bought from) was a cloth fan, and explained about the nod to the MkI, and I liked what I saw.
Decided I really couldn't see that the leather was worth £1700 more than the cloth, to me.
Spent the budget on the DSG instead.
Don't regret a thing.
However, only time will tell how well the seats wear. I suppose if they do get tired, a car valet with a steam cleaner will bring them up. I had that done to my old Fiesta when the cat had been sick on it and the driver's seat was covered in pony hair and scurf, and I was amazed at how good they looked.
Rolfe.