Presently, leather is the undisputed preference of “premium” upholstery used in cars today. But in the years of the Great Brougham Epoch, velour often proved just as popular, if not more so.
Although not the first example of a velour interior, the 1972 Oldsmobile famously introduced button-tufted loose-pillow velour seats in its 1972 Ninety-Eight Regency, bringing both velour and loose-pillow seating to the masses. Other brands would hastily follow, taking part in a trend that would last the next two decades.
As the years went on, velour simply fell out of favor. The increasing popularity of German and Japanese luxury cars played a large part in this, as their less-adorned and business-like interiors generally favored leather in top models. Velour or any other cloth, if offered, was usually reserved for lower-spec models, leading to its image of inferiority. Today it’s a virtually obsolete material in cars, except in some Asian markets where it is still preferred.
Personally, I’ve never been a fan of velour. I don’t find it particularly comfortable, and like leather, it still gets hot. Also, in comparison to velour, leather is easier to clean and does not absorb odors as easily. But what do you think? Should velour make a comeback? Or do you think leather is the only choice when it comes to premium auto upholstery?
Cloth or velour no contest, leather is the cheap alternative.
Could well be.. a by product of the meat industry. Cloth looks crap in luxury cars
brought by a cheep skate new who thought he could not afford the extra $1000
or so for the leather and found it dam near made the car unsaleable when it was time to change. Ever seen a Rolls with velour ah….!.
What ever happened to Brushed Nylon ?. Dad had a Avenger GLS that had brushed nylon inserts.
In the 1970s, the velour and leather options in the Lincoln Continental were seen as equal, and both were upgrades from the base seats.
Velour is all about comfort and its better than dam sticky slick sweaty wanna be lea5ther seats …holly wood don’t exist here bro
In the royal limousine the Queen of England rides on cloth (probably a lot better than velour), the chauffeur is relegated to leather. That should tell you something.
Personally, I think velour, especially crushed velour, is kind of nasty and I hope it stays gone. However, I would be interested in very nice and durable cloth.
Yup, that was also the pattern in American limousines until 1940 or so. Chauffeur gets leather, rich folks get broadcloth.
Business coupes and trucks had leather seats, fancy sedans had broadcloth. Seems backwards now.
Correct about the English limousines. “West of England” cloth is almost always to be found in the back, with leather up front.
Cloth all the way. It grips well, is way less sensitive to temperature extremes, and resists tearing unlike leather or inferior vinyls.
It’s just a shame that at the higher end of the car market there is presently no choice, or if there is, it’s between either ‘leatherette’ or authentic cow hide, and often the difference between the two is almost indiscernible.
My ’04 Lincoln LS had beautiful white leather and I loved it. I guess over all I lean towards leather but the wife grumbles if I buy a vehicle with leather but I usually let her grumble and choose what I want.
When I started driving, imitation leather was common, and was called something that clearly signalled that it was synthetic and cheap. These days imitation leather has gone up-market. Volvos use ” man made leather” which is apparently made of plastic rather than human skin or animal hide.
Even real leather seldom smells like leather, as the chemicals that gave it that distinctive smell are harmful apparently.
Anyway , given the choice I would choose half-leather , leather is great but not for sitting-on.
If you read carefully, you’ll see that today’s “leather” interiors are “leather trimmed.” This means the seat faces are leather, while the sides and back are vinyl.
I challenge you to feel/smell/sense any difference between the hard, cold leather facing and the hard, cold vinyl sides and back of seats in a modern car. Which makes me wonder, why kill cows to make leather that’s no better than a synthetic substitute?
I’m not saying cheezy 70s velour would be better. Give me a nice, sturdy broadcloth seatcover every time.
Agreeing with you both,synthetic leathers have really come a long way. Particularly in makes like Mercedes and Lexus, I really can’t tell the difference. I find them actually a lot nicer than some of the “real” leathers in other cars, even from luxury makes. They hold up to wear much better too.
Cadillac puts fake leather in the base ATS, but seating surfaces are leather in other trim levels. The CTS has leather seating surfaces for all trims, but full leather seats for those trim levels with performance seats. My CTS has that and the door and dash seem to have something that looks like leather too. Where there is plastic it is nicely finished.
I suspect that half the reason today’s leather looks so plasticky is so that it will match the look of the imitation leather that’s used on the non-seating areas of the same cars. Also, if one buffed and polished either, it’s likely that they’d both look more like the real thing. Year ago, I inherited a fake-wood console TV, which looked pretty hideous. I buffed it up just for grins and the difference was amazing. It still had a hollow ring if you knocked on it, though.
They call that man-made leather “Pleather”-plastic leather, and its nasty.
My former Ford Windstar came with leather seats. Maybe it was leather, but what you touch does not feel like leather at all. They coated the real leather with some urethane based paint. That means I sat on plastic but I paid for leather.
I knew that when I bought it used. It was not a deal maker or breaker. I would have preferred a cloth seat, at least behind the steering wheel. The best part of the plastic coated leather is the ease of cleaning.
”These days imitation leather has gone up-market. Volvos use ”man made leather” which is apparently made of plastic rather than human skin or animal hide.”
I haven’t experienced human skin leather products yet lol
“I haven’t experienced human skin leather products yet”
They are only used in German cars.
My own preference is for velour.
Tasteless.
I can see the upholstery staff at Rolls saying “Thou shalt apply the lotion to it’s skin, or it will receive the bloody nozzle again”. While cuddling a bulldog pup.
Cloth is by far my preference, leather a distant second, only a reasonable upgrade when the cloth in question is really cheap and plastic-y. Too bad that this is usually the case in modern cars. Velour is a distant memory – I didn’t even like it back its heyday, and I see no reason for it to make a comeback.
Go to a high end furniture store and you’ll find $12,000 sofas covered with cloth. Go to your nearest giant furniture discount emporium and you’ll find all kinds of cheap chairs covered with low quality leather. I wish car makers offered the option of well designed seats covered with high quality cloth. There’s a stigma attatched to cloth beacause it’s used on the low rent base model seats. A lot of the perception that dead animal skin is better is because it’s used on better designed multi adjustable seats.
“Go to your nearest giant furniture discount emporium and you’ll find all kinds of cheap chairs covered with low quality leather.”
Good point, but not quite the truth, at least not on the part of the furniture stores. I’ll bet you almost anything that the cheap stuff is covered with “bonded leather,” which is a mixture of shredded leather and polyurethane on a cloth backing, with embossed graining. This is the stuff that tends to flake as it wears, whereas genuine leather will crease and crack.
+1 on Bonded Leather
Bob’s Discount Furniture (can’t stand that guy) always advertises bonded leather.
Well, at least we know what happened to the leftover bits from Bob’s Burgers.
Indeed. Then there are the apparently up-market fake leathers, like Artico as used by Mercedes. Jackets are now made from this stuff, which comes very close to looking like leather. Until the ’90’s Mercedes used MB-Tex, a form of vinyl, which had a great reputation as being incredibly hard wearing.
No velour for me thanks. Any material that reminds me of grandma’s couch should not be in any automobile. Leather and cloth both have their plusses and minuses; I have no real preference either way. I will say that I find leather somewhat easier to keep clean; there is a reason that convertibles had leather seats long after closed cars had changed over to “mouse fur”. For me the material is less important than comfort, especially over a long day behind the wheel.
Automakers just call velour Alcantara now, all the grandma stigma will be gone from it soon enough. It’s all the same thing.
Isn’t Alcantara a fake suede? A little fuzzy, but not really anything like velour. I agree with several other posters that a quality cloth is best, though rarely found anymore. Maybe even wool …
Correct, alcantara is indeed faux suede, created by the same company that invented Ultrasuede.
It’s also not stretchy, which velour is. In fact, that’s the difference between velvet and velour: Velvet is woven, while velour is knitted.
And that’s our lesson in textiles for the day.
I for once appreciate that lesson.-Thanks, BuzzDog
Toyota was advertising “micro-fiber” for a while, which must be some kind of suede-like cloth that’s been treated with some soapy substance. They sold shirts made of the stuff for a while and I found it vaguely repulsive. Maybe in a car it would be more tolerable.
Cloth or velour for me, especially here in hot, sunny South Florida.
Real velour, yes. It looks very regal. Cheap cloth? Nope. However, if it is going to be a base model with cloth, I liked the seats and cloth in my old Impala. I really do not like the plasticky “cloth” that is often found in cheap cars today.
I like leather, but it seems almost indistinguishable from fake leather these days as well. I like the older (at least 10 years ago) Cadillac leather that smelled up the whole car like proper leather.
Actually, if I had my way, it would be leather up front and velour in the back to keep up the old practice of velour for the passengers and more weather resistant leather for the driver.
Nah, in a family car it needs to be opposite! Leather(ette) for the kids, cloth for the adults.
+1 !
I’ve always considered leather to be overpriced vinyl. And in fact, most new “leather” is indeed synthetic if you read the fine print. Real leather is not socially acceptable on a large scale anymore. Cloth is more comfortable in pretty much all conditions.
This is true and that’s why using those “leather conditioner” products will do nothing to prevent cracks and splitting.
Definitely velour for me. I echo the sentiments of others decrying the lack of decent cloth upholstery in modern cars as well. Most feel no better than burlap sacks to me. Although leather and its faux equivalents seem to be getting more durable, I still find them hot/cold, slippery and uncomfortable. The only time I would choose leather is for a convertible or perhaps a kid transporter.
I think automotive upholstery is falling victim to the same consolidations happening with body styles and options. Gone are the days of being able to equip a car the way you’d like it, now the best one can hope for is to overshoot or do without.
“Taffeta, darling!”
Yesss!
Many forget (or never knew) how poorly cloth interiors wore before the velour era. All through the 50s, 60s and early 70s, vinyl was the extra cost upgrade. Only old people or cheap people went for the cloth. Velour changed that, and gave us some of the first seating cloth that was good for the life of a normal car.
I have had/experienced a handful of cars with velour seats that I really liked. The dark color ones, particularly, could look like new for years and years.
All in all, though, I prefer leather, so long as it is good leather. Quite a few cars over the last couple of decades have used cheap leather that cracks and splits very easily. A high quality leather (as was in my 89 Cadillac Brougham) is a pleasure to sit on, and will last for years. That leather smell in a warm car is a turn on for me.
Virtually all cars use coated leather. If water doesn’t immediately soak in, it’s coated. Likewise, if water beads on the leather, it’s coated.
From a automotive leather site:
“The automotive environment is extreme and virtually all auto leather is heavily protected,i.e., coated. Unlike leather luggage or jackets, automotive leather has to be durable enough to resist stains and fading and survive your butt sliding across it thousands of times.”
“Only 3% of hides are made into Full Aniline Leather: “These high-end hides are used for the finest of leather products where natural weathering are desired and allows for the leather product to develop a natural patina due to an unprotected surface. These leathers will absorb moisture, spills, oils, etc. In addition, will also change, weather, or oxidize due to sun exposure. These types of leathers have not been used in the production of cars since the very beginning of leather seating. As you can imagine, most people probably would not like their leather car seating to look like a heavily soiled and worn out baseball glove or horse saddle.””
Even Bentley doesn’t use Full Aniline Leather.
“Virtually all of the leather used within cars is either semi-aniline or corrected grain leather.”
“This means that the outdated, misinformed opinions regarding car leather care that society still clings to, must be replaced with correct information.”
“This also specifically means that virtually every leather found within your car or any car is going to be dyed first with aniline dyes, coated with color pigments to create a completely uniform color, and coated with a clear protective coating. So what you are actually cleaning and conditioning is not natural leather, but natural leather that has been enhanced, re-colored, reconfigured, and coated.
The car care industry not only has very little incentive to inform the public with updated car leather care specifics, but actually keep us car owners in the dark so as to continue to sell us products that are outdated.”
“Reduced down to its most basic understanding, because car leather has been coated with this clear protective resin coating, THE reality is that you are cleaning and conditioning a form of plastic; plastic that is both flexible and clear.”
“You could also make the same comparison to clear coats on your car. While the clear coat on your car certainly consists of a different formulation than the clear coat on your car leather, it is still a form of polymer resins….most generally known as plastic in its most basic description.”
“Because clear coats on car paint and clear coat on car leather is a form of “plastic” (a combination a different polymers, resins, polyesters, etc., etc.) care for these coatings has changed the nature of the beast forever. It’s just that most people remain in their ignorance and the industry has very little desire to educate as this would decrease their ability to continue to sell us an ever increasing array of car care products.”
http://www.best-auto-detailing-tips.com/car-leather-care.html
Leather only has two things going for it – aesthetics and scent, and it takes periodic upkeep to keep them like that. In actual function of me sitting on them, velour hands down.
I do have leather in my car though, and I must admit I have them because I like how they look, and indeed I am a slave to keeping them nice, but I made a set of otherwise identical velour car seats into home furniture and they are sooooo much more comfy!
Love this.
That’s pretty cool.
velour! so much better than leather.
and if you’re wearing corduroy trousers, you don’t even need a seatbelt!
Nice SLC, hope it’s yours to drive. This M-B patterned velour is one of the best-looking, most durable cloth seating faces on any car. It is rare in the US, because of the perception that leather (or MB-tex) was the real, European thing. I know they kept it through the first series W126, as I’ve occasionally seen a gray market 280SE with dark blue seats in this pattern parked around here, but I don’t know whether it made it any farther than that. That stuff shown in the W140 in this article looks pretty nasty.
Perhaps the fabric seats on the Saab 99/900 look nearly as nice…
Rich – you mentioned THE WORST of all possibilities – MB TEX / Artico / Sensatec or any kind of fake leather. It is – by far – the worst seating surface you can have in a car. I call it “leather from plastic cows” and I think it presents my wiev…
Glad to see I’m not the only one whose brain gets crossed up when typing “view”.
Rich, the typical MB velours was still available on W140 cars (I know…) but very, very, very rare. I saw it only once
But what you get to see quite a lot still is W140s with cloth interiors. And the dessins they used back in the early 90s were just hideous !
All cloth all the time for me. Some is nasty, like the Neon seats that looked like polyester knit pants. Some cloth looks like burlap.
Leather has become the vinyl of the automotive industry. There’s no longer anything special about it.
Worse though is that shade of leather GM used that looked like dead human flesh.
Had velour in my 86 Olds Calais. My brother still has the car and the upholstery has held up for 30 years and still looks and feels nice.
A return of “panty cloth” would be nice. An actual choice would be even better.
Of course my ideal would be canvas with rubber flooring for heavy duty, long term use.
Cloth all the way. No contest. Every car I’ve owned with leather, with the exception of my old w124 Mercedes, looked like crap by its tenth birthday.
Honestly, I don’t get the popularity of leather over (quality) cloth. If they sold more euro stuff with cloth on our shores I’d probably be a lot more interested.
But then again I prefer manuals too, so what do I know.
I agree they should make more high end cloth.. I like the dodge SRT seats they made about 06-10 with suede in the middle and leather surround.
Leather gets wrinkly after about 8 years and cloth can rip at the seams. I had a 2000 4Runner with synthetic cloth that looked good even after 230,000 miles and 11 years.
My Hatch has cloth manual and diesel best of all worlds.
My 71 Riviera had vinyl seats, which were hot if left in the sun. Then my 76 Riviera had (true) loose pillow (both seat backs and seat bottoms) velour. It was the S/R package in red. It was much nicer to ride on then the vinyl. The 78 Olds Regency (no loose pillow seat bottoms, but tufted seats) was less comfortable but still nice. The 86 Electra T-type had velour seats that were very nice. First leather was a 91 Reatta and then the 95 Riviera, and all since. My black leather is not as hot when sitting out in the sun as I expected.
I don’t think that I like one better than the other. Leather is not hard to keep clean or if you drop an ice cream cone on it the mess can be cleaned up. Velour is more difficult, but with the right detergents probably can be cleaned up (I don’t know what the right stuff is though).
Leather. The Broug-hammy velour upholstery looks looks too delicate, attracts dust and lint like a magnet and if you smoke and accidently drop a lit cigarette or cigar on the fabric, you`re left with a nice little hole.Leather stands up better, and IMHO looks more luxurious than velour or mouse fur. It may be cold on a winters day or night, but who cares?
Mercedes used to offer a superb quality velour fabric on its upper-end cars until the 90s. In the old days, a high quality velour (or other cloth) was fabric of choice for fine cars (or train 1st Class train compartments). Chauffeurs were given leather in their front seat because it was durable. And of course leather was used in convertibles. But a top-quality velour is hard to beat.
Nevertheless, I do like a good quality leather seat, in part because it’s easier to keep clean. I’ve never been a fan of the very loose and tufted velour of the Brougham Era; comfy, I’m sure, but I always think of how they too often looked when not kept clean – gross.
See that actually looks nice and tasteful. It kind of reminds me of the furniture my aunt had in her office when I was a kid.
Indeed – Mercedes did a delightful velour upholstery pattern on everything from the 300 Adenauer series through to W 140 S Classes. The fintails, 108’s/109’s, 600 could all he had with it and as I recall it was higher priced than the leather option.
I detest pleather/leatherette, and even real cowhides in most newer cars have so much plasticy coating on them that they are hardly leather at all. Nice leather is terrific, especially perforated leather so it at least breathes a little.
In a perfect world, nice sturdy cloth would be my choice.
As an aside, when someone vomits red wine all over a beige Cadillac leather interior, the leather itself comes clean, but the stitching stays pink for the life of the car…trust me on this one.
The full sized Buick station wagons in the 1980s let you have both. Velour in the front seat and vinyl (would be leather today) in the middle and 3rd seats.
I think the 3rd row was vinyl (and identically patterned) across all divisions and regardless of the 1st/2nd row trim.
It still is in many 3row SUVs that advertise leather seats – the third row that is rarely used is vinyl.
Don’t care much for velour. Sort of reminds me of bordello style furnishings and IIRC was in my 72 Olds. Leather is pretty good and seems to last a long time, had it in two LTCs and put it through a lot. My first vinyl was called Leatherette and was in my 66vw. Hot in summer. Cold in winter. Do not want it again.
The cloth in our 4runner and cube are better IMO than either.
Good article but one omission. No mention of indian blanket seat covers. A favorite in Texas and on my list of things to do before I completely trash my truck.
Just having more choice would be great. It’s either gray or black on most cars. If you get the top model you might get brown or cream colors.
My ATS had red leather.
I love velour and Alcantara. Love the touch, the look and how they hold the body while cornering. They don’t wear as well as leather though.
Though I’m old enough, I guess I never really sat in enough of the velour barges to have an opinion. I’ve never paid the premium for leather, so I guess I (naively) still give it an “upscale” connotation in my own mind. Lots of nice memories of late-1960s FoMoCo “panty cloth,” to be sure.
FWIW, a 1957 column from the NADA magazine about the (apparent) growth in leather interiors. BTW, were the hides better/worse, thicker/thinner back then–anyone know?
I find them both attractive, but I find Velour more comfortable.
Leather. Tough as vinyl, but more luxurious. My Durango had leather, my Acura has leather; with any luck my next cast will have leather. Perhaps if we had nice, quality cloth, I’d be game for that, though leather is default, as anything with GOOD cloth would be mighty expensive.
Even the Cordoba was standard with velour, while the famous Corinthian leather was an option. Automotive leathers had become so hard and plasticy that I wondered if “Corinthian leather” actually came from a chemical company in Corinth, TX.
I’ll take cloth any day.Our ’88 Ford Ranger with the XLT trim came with velour seats that were soft, yet tough. My only complaint is that it was nylon that generated static electricity as you slid across it.
Cloth, be it velour or some other type. Have never liked leather in cars and would not buy one with it. Dealbreaker for me, same as a manual transmission.
+1
I’m in a quandary as what to replace my current car with…for the past 35 years I’ve only owned VWs, each one a hatchback, with cloth seats, and manual transmission….I can get the base VW Golf with cloth seats still (and manual transmission) but it is only 2 door .. (I prefer 4 doors now, though I’ve owned 2 door in the past). For any but the base model, VW has gone to vinyl for midrange cars (leather on the higher models). As I live in the sun belt, I prefer cloth for coolness, 4 doors for access (passengers aren’t getting younger either, non-scramblers most of them are). And despite my advancing age, I still like shifting for myself. I can get a GTI (they make them in 4 doors now) but I’m not a fan of the large alloy wheels they come with, plus they are a good $5000 more expensive than a Golf (price is an object with me). If I want the 4 door with cloth, they offer a Jetta (but it isn’t a hatchback). The 4 door Golf is no longer offered with manual transmission, and it has the Vinyl seats VW has spread throughout its model line
I guess I remember the transition away from vinyl in the late 70’s to early 80’s on cars, they seemed to brag about their cloth seats then in advertisements. I’ll agree that most cloth seats seem not to last very long, but I think that’s partly due to the material they use isn’t the most durable, and also the foam underneath which seems to degrade into powder with the heat of the car (in fact I think the foam is more important than what covers it in terms of comfort.
Someone mentioned Peugeot as having comfortable seats, I think at one time they were the benchmark for seating (or at least they seemed to pay some attention to the seats on their cars)…I’d agree with that, but since they’re no longer sold in the US, that’s not an option.
I know I’m probably a “fringe” buyer, don’t fit the normal demographics, and to reduce inventory the manufacturers have worked to reduce the options (in terms of models, colors, etc). I’m just looking for a car with comfortable seating, able to accommodate my load carrying needs without being overly large. So I’ll probably need to compromise on one or more of my preferences, unless I go buy a used model (equipped the way I prefer, but no longer available new from the manufacturer.
Peugeot velour baby!
The French Mercedes. That’s how Peugeot was defined when I was a kid.
Imitation leather “Cognac”, just fine with me !
My New Beetle had cloth, which I liked. My ’13 Beetle ‘vert had the vinyleather, which I found hot and sweaty any time it was nice enough to put the top down (looked nice, tho). My Honda Fit that replaced the Beetle has cloth, but I recently bought a leather OEM steering wheel and shift knob, as the plastic they used for the wheel isn’t really comfortable.
Years ago, my grandmother’s Grand Marquis had velour, and I never really liked it.
VW still has widespread availability of cloth in just about every country but the USA; even Canada IIRC has more Golf models with cloth seats. Not sure how one would go about swapping upholstery with a foreign-market car. (I could also do without the huge wheels VW foists on anyone not getting a low-end trim. Standard Golfs should not have 18″ rims).
I have leather in a couple of my current cars, and I sort of like it. It was something different for me. Day to day, it is maybe just a notch easier to keep clean, but boy-oh-boy if you get some junk stuck in those holes in the perforated sections, you’ve got a challenge to clean up.
Like JPC said, the many of the old brocade fabric seats usually had a hard time lasting the life of the car – seam splits and complete fabric wear through were pretty common. Dry rot in sun exposed areas like the top of the rear seat was common. Lighter colors were sometimes subject to staining from just water. The market moved heavily to velour in 1975 or so, and the new fabrics were quite comfortable and much longer wearing.
Many of the less broughamy velours and fabrics of the 1990s were very good. The fabric seats in my 2002 Durango are in fabulous condition, and as my kids say, they are warmer in winter and cooler in summer with no heated and cooled seats needed.
When we shopped for a new car in 2005 Ford was using a really awful fabric that was snag and stain prone. Upgrading to leather was practically mandatory. But, that leather is now showing some real wear on the driver seat. A rather expensive option to have it be in worse shape than a fabric interior that is 3 years older and a lot more abused by the youth in my family.
At the time I concluded that the manufacturers were essentially conspiring to get their thousand dollar upgrade for leather, and several hundred dollars more for seat heaters and coolers.
I love the way leather looks. Shiny and supple. It looks great in dealership brochures. So does vinyl, for that matter.
Velour cloth is easier to live with. It grips you in your seat, it doesn’t freeze you in the winter or burn you in the summer, it’s soft to the touch, and it wears better. It also soaks up stains and odors, which is why loosely-tufted seats in well-worn ’70s and ’80s cars always make me cringe.
Leather if its quality and thick enough to have good durability, which most of the run-of-the-tannery hides being cut thin don’t. Once its subjected to daily use, it cracks and even tears, is a poor choice for most buyers. The major reason leather became so readily available can be found at any fast-food restaurant: millions of cows providing their meat, and acres of hides looking for a market.
Velour, essentially the modern equivalent of the mohair used in pre-war cars, could be very acceptable again if good quality, durable and stain-resistant, well-tailored and in tasteful colors. Most of the ’70’s broughams missed those standards to varying degrees.
For truly luxurious fabric, nothing beats high-quality woolen broadcloth, the choice for all pre-war luxury closed cars.
Unless the cloth is great, I’d always go with leather. The leather is far easier to keep clean, and I think it looks/feels nice.
When I was a kid, I desperately wanted a car with velour seats, since they were the fashion rage in the 1970s. Specifically, I thought my Mom should get an Olds Ninety-Eight Regency with the pillow-tufted velour thrones, instead of the LS models she had with vinyl seats. She wanted no part of that, griping that the cloth would get “filthy” and that “she wouldn’t be able to move.” My Pop did ultimately get a company car with velour, a 1978 Caprice Classic with the Special Custom interior. The “crushed velour” was light blue, it did get dirty, and it was hard to slide around on…
On my own cars, since having kids, we have exclusively had leather seats and have been thankful on countless occasions for that decision. One of the best car seats I ever had, though, was cloth. The very high quality ribbed velour seats in my 1988 Prelude were hugely comfortable and held me tightly in place during cornering, etc.
Definitely velour for me, far more comfortable. And would like to have colours available like the dark reds and blues, dont seem to be options at present
Good quality cloth. Warm in winter, cool in summer. The seats are still in great condition in my 30 year old Jetta GL. I don’t miss the “leatherette” seats in my ’66 Beetle and ’75 and ’77 Rabbit one bit. Had vinyl seat in the ’70 C10, but always had a cloth bench seat cover over it. Never owned a car with leather, seems to not hold up well long term from what I’ve seen.
Definitely cloth for me.
Put me down for the velour team please. We had vinyl and leather in the cars I grew up with; I still remember my legs being seared in summer and frozen in winter. As soon as we got velour in our family cars it was bliss – no temperature extremes. I also find leather cold to look at, whereas velour looks warm and comforting.
High quality leather though, like was in my grandparents’ Volvo 164E, has a wonderful look, feel and smell. In comparison, the ‘leather’ that seems to be in everything nowadays seems cheap and nasty and, worse, is barely distinguishable from vinyl. My Ford Sierra’s interior is velour and still looks great after 26 years. Yet after 10 years my daily-driver Peugeot 307’s leather is wearing unevenly (especially on the seat bolsters).
Having said that though, both velour and leather have their places. I’d never carry our Spaniel in the Sierra, whereas after she’s been in the 307 with muddy feet, a quick wipe is all that’s required.
The rental that I am driving (Dodge Dart) has a cloth interior which is not velour. It seems quite durable and is nice enough.
Sheepskin. Over cloth.
This is the pimptastic velvety chocolate brown velour goodness in my Delta 88 but I don’t think it would work as well in todays jellybeans, its definitely more at home in 70s and 80s barges. It is the most comfortable interior I have ever sat in, period.
I just hate leather. Its uncomfortable, loud, doesn’t wear well, cold/hot, etc. In todays cars I like a nice soft cloth interior. I actually think the new, post-Marchionne Chryslers have the nicest most comfortable cloth seats now, at least in American cars.
When I was a teenager I had an ’86 H-body Delta 88 with the velour seats, and to echo your statement, its seats are to this day the most comfortable I’ve experienced.
Cloth all the way. Leather requires too much attention if you want it to look nice for years.
I have leather in my 1995 Deville which looks good for being 20 years old but I don’t intend to do anything special to protect it. If it rips or wears away, then I will toss a seat cover on it.
Leather, it isn’t even a contest. For durability and looks you just cant beat it. Yes, on a hot day, dark leather (Im partial to jet black) can be a virtual frying pan, but a towel can help that. On cold days, its not an issue if you have butt warmers. Leather just ‘works’ on just about any kind of vehicle, from a sporty compact, muscle car, or even a 4×4. Velour is a one trick pony. If youre riding a big land barge then it goes with the car, I guess…but that’s not the type of vehicle that would interest me in the first place. Try velour in a Jeep or a Mustang. Um…yea, no.
I like cows. I like to eat them. I like to wear them. I like to sit on them, in my house and in my car.
Good cloth, in color, would be the first choice if it were still available. I’ll take the cheap-backpack black cloth though, its’ pluses and minuses and those of leather cancel each other out leaving the latter not worth its’ option cost.
My previous car had a full leather interior………..hotter than hell in the summer and freezing cold in the winter.
Smells nice, but I have to go with cloth.
For years depending on the car my preference was always for cloth seats. My 79 Mustang Cobra had leather, my first experience with cow hide in a new car. No A/C and my wife just hated leather seats beginning on our honeymoon.
Years later it was leather in our first used 03 530i. Easier to clean and with A/C there is no complaining from my wife. In fact she reminds me to clean and condition the seats spring and fall.
Still prefer cloth especially if trimmed with some Alcantara.
Velour only because the best car seats ever were so covered. Peugeot 505 S.
…Maaaan that velour looks sooo comfy. Aaaahhh.
The auto detailer in me says, (p)leather cleans better.
Do you have to ask? Velour or cloth! I wouldn’t even consider a car with leather or “pleather”. That said, my s/o got a new car this year, and she just had to have leather (real or imaginary). I hate it for the usual temperature reasons, and it isn’t as compliant as cloth so my aging body lets me know it. Sure would’ve been happier with the base model with cloth and no bang your head moonroof, but it’s her car. And in 8 years it will look like excrement while the interior in her old car will still look almost new.
In fact, I detest leather so much that I almost bought a nearly new 1992 Corvette with cloth interior because that was the last year cloth was available and it was sooooo comfy.
I much prefer a top quality cloth interior as it will last the test of time. Most leathers do not last the test of time. They crack and I personally find them to be hard to keep clean once dirt is engrained into the surface.I also find leather to be to slippery. I remember the leather seats in my father’s 1974 450 SL quite clearly. Every time I hit the brakes I slid forward in the seat.
There is actually only one thing I like in leather and that is my Navy G-1 Leather Flight jacket.
Wow Brendan for the cloth “choices” you show the all-time best velour, the one in the Cadillac D’Elegance. And then the classic flat-woven in the Mercedes.
Except for stand-outs like that I would take leather for its long life and easy cleaning. I have the same leather in my Fleetwood Brougham that you showed in the second pic. Still looks like new after almost 30 years.
In terms of appearance and comfort it’s a wash, though a slight edge goes to the leather for its smell.
Best described by Jeremy Clarkson as “vulgalour.”
High quality velour, definitely. Says “top luxury” to me.
http://i.imgur.com/W2bIr.jpg
Preferably not of the “crushed” variety, though, because for the most part it looks just as if the seat have been poorly upholstered. IMHO, leather is only good if you have small children, or a dog. It may be a more practical choice, but I never liked either the look, or the feel. I also like wool cloth interiors, which look mostly like velour –
http://antiqcar.ru/d/81154/d/4_14.jpg
– but that’s something you don’t see in modern cars any more.
What sort of car is that first one with the Persian rug on the floor? Looks great!
A GAZ Chaika M14 limousine from the late 70s.
Cloth. Besides all the detriments already mentioned of leather, the one that’s the most irritating is it isn’t even really leather at all but that ‘bonded’ leather crap which is a synthetically manufactured covering more akin to vinyl and only uses a fraction of the leather in, say, split-grain leather.
This also explains the odd, chemical smell of any new car with a so-called ‘leather’ interior. Although they try to duplicate the true leather aroma, it simply doesn’t smell like real leather.
in AZ, cloth hands down. leather gets ridiculously hot in the summer here. no black cars, no leather.
I’ve never been a fan of velour — I don’t like the way it looks and I don’t think it’s that comfortable either. As for leather, both real hide and the plastic equivalent are no fun at all in very hot or very cold weather. I’d rather have a decent grade of cloth upholstery (no mouse fur, please).
Good quality velour- my old Citroen had a nice black and grey striped fabric like a broad stripe corduroy. Grippy and soft and didn’t burn your bum in summer.
Older Mercedes had some very nice velours too.
A buddy of mine had a ’82 Buick Regal with velour seats. Best car for long trips.
Way better than the leather seats in my 2012 Ford.
The crappy Rover SD1 Jeremy Clarkson brought to one of the Top Gear challenges had “plum-coloured vulgarlour upholstery”. Whether it’s vulgar or not I’m not sure of, but I do find velour to feel dirty very quickly. Icky. I prefer cloth.
Velour.
My ’75 Olds 98 Regency has medium blue, clean velour. It has barely any signs of wear. It is durable, and in my view rather elegant. To me, “vulgar” describes the paisley patterns offered on same-era Cadillacs; but the Regency velour is nice, university club style furniture in a classic color. It’s thick, yet floury soft to the touch, and has a huge amount of foam inside. You hold position and you don’t slide around. Passengers unfamiliar with the interior have called it “plush” or said it seemed “velvety”. It has a scent of its own which I find pleasant. Certainly the most living room like interior I’ve experienced.
I’ve owned cars in velour, leather, and cloth. Cloth is okay but most cars with it present it as the cheap option, and support and durability are accordingly low. I love the old leather interiors in 70/80s Cadillacs, a wonderful smell and comfortable…but no thanks on a cold morning or hot afternoon, or to the sensation of the seatbelts being all that prevent you from sliding across the car on a turn. The leather in today’s cars feels cheaper than that old Caddy leather though maybe a bit less slippery. But it’s become so commonplace it feels pedestrian.
Orrin, my ’84 Olds 98 was the velour that was coming to my mind as one of the good ones. The one in my father’s 78 Continental Town Coupe was another. Oldsmobile had a long run of really, really nice velour seats. You remind me though that in a really big car like your Olds, the slide in-slide out operation can be a bit of a chore.
Velour, Ninety Eight style
Leather is great… on the steering wheel, where I touch it with bare skin. I hate leather seats and decided to wait over 2 months to get my 2014 VW CC with fabric seats instead of taking the one with leather standing at the dealer…
+1 and in the winter a heated leather steering wheel is wonderful
However I do not find leather seats that cold in winter (but then both the front and rear seats can be heated in my car). The vinyl seats (naugahyde) in my 71 Riviera were cold in winter and hot in summer, as well as sticky on long trips in warm weather.
My ’79 Mk V Collectors Series is ALL velour, similar to the Fleetwood Talisman and is very, very luxurious. Oddly, the console, seat backs and dash pad are leather, so obviously, the late ‘ 70s were the last vestige of the “cloth is for the rich”. I think that the Cadillac 75 limousine had cloth in back and leather in front through ’76, also.
It just doesn’t wear or tear as easy. No leather unless never exposed to sun or constantly garaged will age as well…
Simple- cloth on any of the older Brougham type cars and leather on today’s stuff to escape that horrible fake harsh sandpaper rough stuff they pass off as cloth.
Bedford cloth or West of England cloth because it wears like iron and is what Rolls Royce used in the 50s.
The velours inside of my car makes me feel like inside a swimming pool ! 😉
I really like your Senator, inside and out !
Here’s a comparable 1987 W126. With a 3.0 liter inline-6.
thanks Johannes.
The cloth interior of the W126 looks really classy and was very common on 280 and 300 SE´s. It was not as durable as velours though….
I think that top grade leather (as used in older Volvos, Jaguars, and Rolls-Royce) is awesome. I think that too grade clothes, such as West Of England, is also awesome. Regular velour a, or the grade of leather found in most passenger cars these days are both awful.
Give me a thick, high grade vinyl (MBtex for instance) and I’m happy. It wears like iron, is effortless to clean, and retains no odors.
It really depends on the car, the style of the seats, and even the type of cloth/fabric/leather/vinyl that is used. I love the mid 80’s Cadillac d’Elegance velour seats, with the millions of buttons and tufted goodness. Same for a late 70’s – early 80’s 98 Regency or a Delta 88 Royale Brougham. They were ultra comfortable in the velour cloth. What about a Buick Park Avenue? Another ultra comfy velour mobile. Now if I think back to my Mom’s ’79 Riviera, she had oyster white leather in that car and those seats were ultra comfortable too. Yet my sister’s ’77 Seville wasn’t as cushy as the Riviera was. Her leather was stiffer than the Riviera’s, and as a result the seats weren’t as comfortable. Dad’s ’82 Country Squire had the luxury interior group with vinyl seats and they were ultra comfortable and soft, too. So I think the material used makes a great difference. I can’t picture any cars of today with velour, as it just wouldn’t seem right.
My 1999 Accord has a very nice cloth interior, not really a true velour but very comfortable and durable to boot. It’s almost as good as my ’93 Accord wagon. That car had the best cloth interior you could ever ask for. It had a fabric that was so durable and comfortable, it must have cost Honda a lot extra to put that cloth interior in its Accords back then. You could tell it was high quality, and even after hitting 250k miles it still looked like new.
Velour/ good cloth all the way. Its amazing to see a comparable car after a few years how the leather has worn messed up look vs the cloth still looking almost like the day it was built. In the late 80 early 90’s the Japanese luxury LS400 and semi luxury Maxima had some of the best velour seats in the market, very good quality and feel! Today the only Japanese cars with any luxury pretensions that still offer cloth is the Maxima and Avalon and hope they continue to offer it!
There has to be something other than leather…because now you can get leather seats in economy cars – the exclusivity is gone. Not only that, the color choices are extremely limited – black, beige or grey. They have to find something else that is better than leather….maybe ostrich leather?
I like cloth if it is a high quality product. My ’90 Honda Civic SI had dark charcoal cloth “Recaro” type seats and those were great, especially w/o A/C. My ’96 Mustang GT has sport seats with the tweed like cloth and these are comfy and holding up well. My ’94 Seville had all black leather, looked terrific, but stiff and hot as hell after sitting in the sun for awhile. My ’96 Chrysler Town and Country van had very soft and comfortable semi gathered leather seats, just great. My ’77 Cadillac CDV had nice firm, yellow leather seats. Nice, but I covered them with quality sheepskins. make all the cracks about the 80s you want, but I prefer sitting on sheepskins over anything else. Just buy the good ones. the cheap ones are embarrassing. I don’t like velour.
Nobody’s mentioned leasing yet, but I wonder if the expectation that a high percentage of luxury cars will be leased and take an inevitable second run through the dealer has led to the elimination of cloth options. Good cloth can wear like iron but a permanent just-gotta-live-with-it stain is always a possibility, and a justified dealbreaker when spending well over new-econobox money on a CPO luxo model.
I wonder what percentge get re-retailed through the same dealer as CPO or just pre owned cars, and how many the manufacturer wholesales through dealer auctions, etc..I have seen some really awful looking leather on relatively low mileage cars…surely dark colored cloth with scotchbrite or something would wear better and be easy to clean.
Yesterday evening I shampooed the front seats of an 02 Mazda Protege which will be my winter car. Since day one the original owners took good car of the car. It has rust in the usual places of this model.
The interior is in very good condition and the amount of dirty water from the front buckets was far less than I expected to see. I’ll do the rear seat tomorrow. In only two places have I seen a slight tear in the fabric. If this car had a so-called leather interior I would expect the driver’s seat would have been in poor condition by now as the average person knows next to nothing about caring for leather seats.
I suspect that very few people even try to maintain their leather. The newer stuff has so much finish on it, I doubt that conditioner would even penetrate and do any good anyway.
Maybe some fabrics like London Transport uses will be fashionable for car seats some day.
After 134,000 miles and 37 years, have a look at the front seats in my ’78 Continental. Still in pristine condition. Superbly comfortable.
I’ve had leather in several cars before. I’d just as soon never have it again.
Al W those seats are beautiful. Love the color.
I’ll take a nice rich velour any day. Leather is not luxurious to me, it reminds me too much of the old vinyl seats, smooth, slippery and burns your legs in shorts. Leather is too temperature sensitive, and contains lots of cheap vinyl trim in most models, not to mention it cracks and looks awful with age. I love cloth, but the cloths today are mostly rough and scratchy, and getting worse. I had a 2003 Impala with a very nice plush velour interior, I currently own a 2009 Impala, and the cloth is rough and cheap feeling by comparison. My parents have a 2014 Impala, and the cloth is even worse, I’m convinced it is just textured plastic and all the trim is vinyl -yuck!
Cloth all day. Just don’t smoke or eat in the car. Since I don’t do either, I’ll take cloth and enjoy sliding into a pleasantly warm, non-sticky seat on a 94 degree day 😉
Velour is really hit or miss with me. It could be done well, like the Turbo Coupe / XR7 articulated buckets in the 80s. Then again, it could be awful, too.
My 1998 Dodge RAM has Velour upholstery ………. it’s spectacular, wears perfectly to date and is warm and comfortably soft.
In Australia, most cars have vile polyester or so-called leather which is really vinyl. Neither is to my liking. I prefer velour or alcantara. Honda was the last to use these. The velour in my 8yo Civic is still as new, despite the intense summer sun we have.
Velour has an extra layer of protection and at least in earth tone colors, hides dirt better. Simple cloth starts to look dirty and worn pretty quickly, especially if you eat in your car or do any kind of mechanical work. Sure, you can keep it clean with a wet vacuum, but that wears it out even faster. Leather is my favorite choice, but I’d consider velour preferable to cloth.