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Leather interior questions/concern

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Main Forum' started by marrat, Jul 29, 2015.

  1. marrat

    marrat Junior Member

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    After a long search, my hunt has almost come to an end. I found two cars with the same build year (2010) and almost the same mileage. Now the question is, whether I should pay extra for the car with ACC, pre-crash detection and leather interior. It'll cost me about 1000 euros extra (on a 12K purchase). Now I'm used to leather seats from Mercedes since my father was always a Mercedes nut. He's been driving a 2001 Mercedes for some years now, the interior is like new. Can I expect this quality from the Toyota leather interior? I like the cloth seats, I have no problems with it, but leather adds a good deal to the car.

    I ask this question because I want to keep the car for long while (if it doesn't break on me later on). So having a leather interior that's prone to tearing and degrading, wouldn't be useful.
     
  2. JimN

    JimN Let the games begin!

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    Yes. My car is a bit older than the one you are looking at but I have not had any problems with the seats or the systems. Your comfort is worth something. If the systems prevent or mitigate a collision they will likely save you more than 1000 euros.
     
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  3. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    The leather is holding up but the vinyl on the seat side had torn on mine so I had the driver's seat bottom leather cover replaced within the 3 year basic warranty. Now it's going on to 6 years (3rd year on the driver's seat bottom) and it's holding up.
     
  4. marrat

    marrat Junior Member

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    After months of searching I was able to find a 2010 Prius with everything on it. It's called Executive here, the highest model. It has leather interior, solar roof, ACC etc. As a bonus, it even has JBL, which is very rare on used Prii for a reasonable price here!
    As for the leather, after test driving three cars with the leather interior, I must say it does feel and look nice, but it seems you really have to take care of it. Two cars were lease cars, some of the leather was loose (the door arms for example) and the driver seats were full of creases. The car I am buying, from a second private owner, had a pristine interior. I guess the owners took good care of the leather, there's no other way to explain the condition of the leather in the other two cars. Sadly, it did not feel as durable as the leather in the Merc I mentioned. Maybe the car makers used better leather in their old cars (no idea how new Mercs are).

    Now only one question remains. What do I have to pay attention to when buying 16" wheels?
     
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  5. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    There are some aspects that were better in older vehicles (from the 90s mostly before the cost-cutting happened at the turn of the millennium at practically all levels). Also, you would expect leather from a Mercedes to be better than a Toyota. I would expect the leather in the Lexus to be better than in a Toyota (and a Camry's leather to be of better quality than the one they put in the Corolla). Of course now Toyota is turning to synthetics for the "lower end" models in the form of SofTex.

    As for 16" wheels, just make sure the tyres have similar "revs" number as the stock rim. A starting guide is to look at the 205/55R16 specification wheels and tyres. It'll have the closest revolutions specification to the 195/65R15 wheels on your Prius.
     
  6. marrat

    marrat Junior Member

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    Thanks for the rim numbers, I'll look for those when I decide to replace the 15" ones.

    I guess comparing the leather to mercedes is a bit unfair, but it's the only leather interior car I have personally driven. I really hope the leather in the Prius won't be degraded by the time I decide to sell it.
     
  7. el Crucero

    el Crucero Senior Member

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    Realize, that putting on larger rims and tires (even if the same revolutions per mile) will hurt your MPGs. Some people in the modding forum say they have lost as much as 5 MPG after they switched. I was going to put on larger rims but decided I didn't want to hurt my 70 MPG average. So I am just going to have my 15" rims powder coated and run the the stock 195/65 15 tires with spacers on them (15mm at the front and 25mm rear) to bring the wheels closer to the exterior (even those modifications will cost me about 1 MPG penalty).

    I have Softex "leather" in my Prius and after 3 years it is still in perfect,as new, condition. I would not even consider cloth seats.
     
  8. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    To be honest, I found the leather in my 2008 smart fortwo to be of better perceived quality than my Prius. But, I prefer my Prius' perforated leather to the smart's non-perforated for summer driving. I do prefer the smart's seat design (it was more comfortable, probably because I was sitting higher up than in a Prius).
     
  9. el Crucero

    el Crucero Senior Member

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    I read this and went, WHAT?! :eek: I didn't remember my "leather" seats being perforated, so I just went to the garage to check. Nope, my 2012 dark gray "leather" seats are not perforated, they are completely smooth and they are more expensive looking than what I had in my MBZ a few years ago. Everything is right in the world once again.
     
  10. marrat

    marrat Junior Member

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    The one I bought isn't perforated, all of the Executive editions here have non-perforated leather afaik. I am worried about durability because I saw what can happen. One of the cars I've driven had loose leather at the armrest, I don't know how to describe it exactly. It was very thin and I could pull at it for about an inch, not normal. The other had a lot of creases on the driver's seat.
    I'll see in a couple of years I guess, useless to worry about it now. I'll do my best to take care of it.
     
  11. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    That's because you have SofTex seats. The 2010-2011 Prius had real leather seat surfaces (vinyl elsewhere)