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Semi- Leather seat Vrs. Alcantara - owners advice ?

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paddypool

Ready to race!
Location
Ireland
just deliberating whether or not to go for the semi leather seats & trim in the MK7, over the alcantara...
The 'semi-leather' meaning the door trim & seat bolsters etc. are leather & the rest fabric...

my friends Toureg had to have the drivers seat replaced twice, as they were cracking/tearing along the side where the plastic trim meets the leather seated part near the seat winder.....so I'm concerned if this will happen in the mk7 over time ?
Even looking at my alcantara fabric, it's reasonably frayed along the same area..the trim seems to be too sharp meeting the seat, along an area which takes a persons body weight repeatedly

feedback appreciated to make a decision;)
 
DW58

DW58

Go Kart Champion
Location
Moray, NE Scotland
Although I've never owned a Volkswagen with leather, my parents/Mother have and the experience hasn't been good. Whilst generally Volkswagen build quality is good, I've found the leather to be very thin compared to the Renault leather I owned and others I've known. My Mum's leather driver's seat on her Mk4 GTi split in two places in under two years, and her Mk5 1.6 FSi didn't fair much better.

My 10yo Renault (Scottish Bridge of Allan Leathers for Renault) was way better than any Volkswagen leather I've seen - there again it was the only good quality component on the Renault).

My personal preference would be for Alcantara over leather for that reason.
 
P

pcr

Ready to race!
Location
Shropshire
I have the alcantara seats and they always look shabby with creases and puckers where the alcantara is stitched to the rest of the fabric, one of the few things that disappoints me about the car.
 
DW58

DW58

Go Kart Champion
Location
Moray, NE Scotland
That's interesting - I've no personal experience of Alcantara.

If I could have leather the quality of that in my Renault RX4 (2000-2010) I'd have it again in a shot. I still have the car (currently SORN) and its leather is still in perfect nick.
 
L

lawrie1

Ready to race!
Location
North Yorkshire
All seat covers look tired after a while.
Tired alcantara looks the worst IMO

I went for the leather option and I am pleased with it although it is expensive.

I had my MK6 & California retrimmed in leather at a much lower cost although I did have issues.
 
JohnV1

JohnV1

Ready to race!
Location
Midlands
I've got the Shetland/light coloured Alcantara and it looks and feels superb. I haven't noticed any quality or stitching issues after 5,700 miles. Also on the Mk7, VW now fit leather (real or not) on the door arm rests and the centre arm rest for the GT model. It's a nice touch over the Mk6.

The black Alcantara on my last Mk6 looked perfectly fine, just a tiny bit of wear around the stitching on the drivers seat after 66,000 miles, which I thought was pretty decent compared to cloth.
 
GTI-7-Performance

GTI-7-Performance

Ready to race!
Location
Switzerland
I had grey Alcantara seats in a Polo for 4 years and there wore well and were comfy and looked and felt good.

I now have Alcantara in the GTi, but this is only on the edge of the seats, the main area id the GTi tartan, so i wonder how much advantage it is over full cloth.

My dealer's demo GTi had full leather and that put off ordering that as I thought it was plastic when I first sat on it. It's leather Jim, but not as we know it...
 
GOLF NUTT

GOLF NUTT

Drag Race Newbie
Location
Planet Earth for now
Car(s)
2019 Golf GTI
Had one car with full leather and did not like the seats.
My last few cars all had cloth, warm in the winter and cooler in the summer.
Perfect for me the Golf and the cloth seating.
 
D

dickt

Ready to race!
Location
Earth
When I had "Executive" Co cars I got used to having leather. With leather, heated seats is essential.
My last 3 cars - Passat, Mk 5 Golf and Mk 7 Golf, have all been leather.
No problems with any of them. (Touch wood). The best was the Mk 5 where the seats still looked like new after 50,000+ miles.
 
dadu

dadu

Ready to race!
Location
RO
To me, Alcantara is the less reliable so I'd avoid it. The Viena, should be one of those good quality but it's not (I think you find the real one in Audi).
Bottom line, choose ErgoActive seat or none.
 
P

paddypool

Ready to race!
Location
Ireland
dadu said:
To me, Alcantara is the less reliable so I'd avoid it. The Viena, should be one of those good quality but it's not (I think you find the real one in Audi).
Bottom line, choose ErgoActive seat or none.
Click to expand...

i would if i could, but pr*cks in VW Ireland have stopped the option in the latest spec options which came in a few weeks ago. It's looking like i cant even spec the semi leather seats:mad:
they've also dropped he heated windscreen, winter pack, ergoseats, coloured MFD, DAB radio:mad:
 
JCJ

JCJ

Ready to race!
Location
Devon
dadu said:
To me, Alcantara is the less reliable so I'd avoid it. The Viena, should be one of those good quality but it's not (I think you find the real one in Audi).
Bottom line, choose ErgoActive seat or none.
Click to expand...

I wanted Ergo Active seats, but was told by my dealer that they are not available in the UK.
 
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