2007 Ordered: Question about leather

[Charles Suitt]

Waiting for a 2007 Pkg #6- Option A. Trading my 2004 22K miles.

In the "factory" leather, can anyone here confirm what surfaces are covered? I'm aware that the 'seating surfaces' are, but what about the armrests and console cover?

It appears that 2007's "available" in Texas right now do not yet include the Pkg 5 and 6, so I have a bit of a wait.

[Tideland Prius]

synthetic on armrest and console

sides of the seats are vinyl.

[Charles Suitt]

THANKS, Tideland Prius

That's what I suspected. Do you know about the seat backs - Synthetic or Leather?

[Tideland Prius]

That I don't know. I know on our Camry, the seatback leather wraps over the top of the seats so we still got some leather on the back. I can't remember how the leather seats are designed on the Prius. If it's anything like the design pattern of the cloth seats, then it's probably synthetic. You won't get a full leather seat til you spend about 2x the price of a loaded Prius (in USD) I would think.

[derkraut]

I just took another look @ my 2006 with option #8 (leather); the leather surfaces go to the sides of the seats and over the tops (past the headrests). everything else is vinyl. The leather portions are perforated. I do believe that the Prius is more comfortable to sit in than my Avalon XLS, which also has leather seating. The smell of leather just can't be beat, IMHO.

[Paul R. Haller]

I have an 05 with leather installed at an aftermarket shop and an 06 with factory leather. I like the 05 leather better. The 05 has leather all the way around the seat including the back as well as armrests and center console. The 06 just has leather on the seating surfaces only and is about 1/2 the thickness of the aftermarket leather. I spent 1800$ on the leather in the 05 and I would do it again in a heartbeat as opposed to factory installed.
-Paul R. Haller-

[onerpm]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Paul R. Haller @ Oct 18 2006, 02:46 AM) [snapback]334314[/snapback]</div>

I have an 05 with leather installed at an aftermarket shop and an 06 with factory leather. I like the 05 leather better. The 05 has leather all the way around the seat including the back as well as armrests and center console. The 06 just has leather on the seating surfaces only and is about 1/2 the thickness of the aftermarket leather. I spent 1800$ on the leather in the 05 and I would do it again in a heartbeat as opposed to factory installed.
-Paul R. Haller-
[/b]

I'm with you. My black 2006 has factory leather, and I ordered a mag grey 2007 w/o leather so I could go aftermarket. (I also want black leather, and seat heaters underneath.)

[David Beale]

Most cars that come with leather come with "leather seating surfaces". That means the centre panel on the seat bottom and the centre panel on the seat back. The rest is imitation leather - it's hard to tell because it has gotten so good, but if you can look on the underside you can see as the imitation stuff usually has cloth backing.

The aftermarket leather can come with whatever you want. They will make to order - price varying of course, as you ask for more leather. The aftermarket leather is usually less expensive than the factory stuff. You can also get the door armrests covered and the console too. Some kits come with them standard, some you have to order as extras.

Be aware, you have airbags in the driver and front passenger seat outside bolsters. They have to use breakaway stitching there to allow the bags to deploy properly.

[azguy]

Can someone clarify the word "leather". Leather from an "animal" or "synthetic leather".

[Tideland Prius]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(azguy @ Oct 18 2006, 01:06 PM) [snapback]334687[/snapback]</div>

Can someone clarify the word "leather". Leather from an "animal" or "synthetic leather".
[/b]

leather - the real stuff
leatherette - vinyl (leather look alike)
synthetic leather - well, it's synthetic.
vinyl - well, it's vinyl. not sure what's the difference between this and leatherette. Maybe leatherette is vinyl with leather patterns??