I made some important decisions today!

I like the look of a pretty girl in a VERY CLEAN red car. But for myself, red was the only color I would have refused. I'd have accepted NAV if a "BC" had come in before my prefered "AM" but as it was I got my first choice: a blue "AM". After moving to Spokane I got a Street Pilot, and I'm happy with it, though it has given me a couple of bum steers, and did not have the local Toyota dealer listed. (I was already on my way, confident of finding the dealer in the unit's memory. Ended up having to cruise around a bit to find the dealership.)

I hate leather. I think it's extremely uncomfortable when wearing shorts, as I do in warm weather. My two-year-old cloth seats still look beautiful. But didn't I read somewhere that the factory leather offered in the '06 is actually synthetic? The only thing worse than leather is fake leather. Or plastic. Fake leather is just good plastic. But I've never seen the "leather" in the '06.

 

I understand what you all (both) mean by not being the right class of car for leather. However, I paid, after adding all the extras, a total of $33,000 for my Prius. While it was far less than our other car, I still don't consider it an "Econo-box" in any way. The Prius is actually a bargain considering all the stuff you get. Like it was said, you can get all this neat stuff in any number of luxury cars. If you did that, you'd end up spending much, much more. So I say the opposite. The Prius is a luxury car disguised as an "Econo-box," making leather almost a necessity. Well, for me it WAS a necessity.


Daniel, the leather in the 2006 is real, at least mine is. I got the port installed leather though, so I can't speak for ALL Priuses. If they say leather though, it has to be leather. If it isn't real leather, they must specify that clearly. Also, we've had leather in all our cars and I've never thought it was uncomfortable, even in 95 degree, 100% humidity weather... But to each his own.

 

Maybe if the Prius had more than a 4 way manual adjustable seat, I would take the leather option. To me, it seems that leather is not a good match to a 4 way manual seat. BTW, the 06 Package 7 will be my FIRST new car without leather. All my vehicles thus far always had leather. I find that leather is much more tolerant to spills, water, and dirt, and is much easier to clean than cloth.

I've lived in both So. Cal and the PNW, and found that leather seats to be comfortable in both climates. However, heated seats in cold climates is a must.