Can someone here explain to me the appeal of car seats that get extra cold in winter, extra hot in summer, and that will get all sticky against my sweaty leg if I sit down with shorts…
Agreed. My mum’s car and my boss’s car have leather seats and I hate it. Both of my cars (and almost every other car I’ve ever driven in) have fabric seats, and they’re infinitely more comfortable. And I presume considerably cheaper.
Leather car seats might be very appealing for those with young children, as it’s far easier to clean food, drinks, and dirt, off of leather than cloth.
Leather feels much nicer than cloth. I prefer my seating surface smooth.
I don’t remember the last time I had a car without heated seats. I’ve had a car as old as 2003 (bought for 3k) that had ventilated seats. The are also ways to make sure your car is the right temperature by the time you get in it.
I’d like to know which country are you from. I live in Italy and I’ve never even seen a car with heated seating, it sounds like those fancy things for rich people in movies.
Estonia. I’ve seen 1980s or 90s heaps of junk with heated seats. It’s kind of a requirement when it gets to -33C in the winter. It’s also very cheap for manufacturers to add, so a lot of them include it as standard equipment in northern countries.
It was more common than AC here until AC became standard equipment in cars.
USA here. It mostly depends on the regional climate, in my experience. If you’re buying a new car in Texas, it probably won’t have heated seats in the options package. If you’re buying one in Vermont, it would be a lot more likely to be available.
They last essentially forever if maintained even just a little bit and is a good quality leather. I’ve been in cars from the 70’s with the original leather seats in amazing condition.
I don’t personally care that much what the material is in my car, but I’ve never had good experiences with fake leather, I’d rather honestly have any other fabric. And those other fabrics are very common already in cars!
Mine was a 2001 Fiat Multipla, powered with natural gas. One of the most reviled cars ever made, and produced when Fiat was at its worst. It was awesome.
As a lover of weird and ugly cars, I love the Multipla. If I needed a larger car like that, I’d totally get one. Though my need for weirdness is currently satisfied with ny Trabant
Besides I like to believe that humanity has somehow evolved. In certain parts of the world… at least. Why the need to skin animals for leather? Seems barbarism, pre historic and out of date…
It was an otherwise-wasted material that is already bonded, minimal tools needed for processing,
In colder climates, fur was already attached to the leather which means that warm clothes could be crafted easily, fast, and by gathering all of the materials at one place. In early historic times, growing suitable plants and having the capacity to process them, strip them, straighten them, and weave them was not always possible and would be a full time job where it was, which means less time working in agricultural fields. Plus, animal fur has bigger growing seasons and is much warmer than any plant alternative.
The real answer for the modern world is that leather is a byproduct of the very shitty industrial meat industry. The meat industry already has more leather than they can get rid of and it regularly goes into landfills. From an environmental standpoint, it is much better to use the leather than almost all other materials used for those tasks which burn oil and use oil to create them (every leather alternative is simply shitty petroleum-based non-recycled plastic, every one). From a moral perspective it is shitty to give more money to the meat industry, but they make the vast vast majority of their profits on the meat and not the hides. If everyone switched off of leather right now, the same amount of animals would be brutally murdered, but instead their hides would be dumped in landfills and the ocean after stripping it off of the meat.
This isn’t even getting into waterproofing. Almost all clothing waterproofing is petroleum or animal oil based (wax is either petroleum or harvested from bees) except for natural rubber which also has a bunch of negatives.
One advantage is that they are usually much easier to clean, stains that soak into regular fabric can often just be wiped off from leather, however I do believe it’s usually about leather having a more “premium feel”.
They’re comfortable, super easy to clean, and stay in great condition with minimal effort. My car has cream-colored leather seats with a seat warmer, so they’re a comfortable temp in both summer and winter.
I never understood leather car seats.
Can someone here explain to me the appeal of car seats that get extra cold in winter, extra hot in summer, and that will get all sticky against my sweaty leg if I sit down with shorts…
Agreed. My mum’s car and my boss’s car have leather seats and I hate it. Both of my cars (and almost every other car I’ve ever driven in) have fabric seats, and they’re infinitely more comfortable. And I presume considerably cheaper.
and crack after a few years of use. and stain depending on what gets on 'em. great if you want to burn your kids asses I guess.
Leather car seats might be very appealing for those with young children, as it’s far easier to clean food, drinks, and dirt, off of leather than cloth.
Leather feels much nicer than cloth. I prefer my seating surface smooth.
I don’t remember the last time I had a car without heated seats. I’ve had a car as old as 2003 (bought for 3k) that had ventilated seats. The are also ways to make sure your car is the right temperature by the time you get in it.
I’d like to know which country are you from. I live in Italy and I’ve never even seen a car with heated seating, it sounds like those fancy things for rich people in movies.
Estonia. I’ve seen 1980s or 90s heaps of junk with heated seats. It’s kind of a requirement when it gets to -33C in the winter. It’s also very cheap for manufacturers to add, so a lot of them include it as standard equipment in northern countries.
It was more common than AC here until AC became standard equipment in cars.
USA here. It mostly depends on the regional climate, in my experience. If you’re buying a new car in Texas, it probably won’t have heated seats in the options package. If you’re buying one in Vermont, it would be a lot more likely to be available.
They last essentially forever if maintained even just a little bit and is a good quality leather. I’ve been in cars from the 70’s with the original leather seats in amazing condition.
I don’t personally care that much what the material is in my car, but I’ve never had good experiences with fake leather, I’d rather honestly have any other fabric. And those other fabrics are very common already in cars!
The car won’t last forever anyway, if it’s used regularly.
I threw away my last car at 19 years and 380’000km with no tears on the cloth seats.
And yeah, fake leather is almost always a big no.
My car also has 480000km on it and 20 years old, seats still perfect. Maybe Seat just makes good seats :P
Well, it’s right there in the name!
…
Mine was a 2001 Fiat Multipla, powered with natural gas. One of the most reviled cars ever made, and produced when Fiat was at its worst. It was awesome.
As a lover of weird and ugly cars, I love the Multipla. If I needed a larger car like that, I’d totally get one. Though my need for weirdness is currently satisfied with ny Trabant
The cactus is on my wishlist but un/fortunately I don’t really need a car anymore as a moped suffices
Then take your seats with you to the next car!
/s
In my experience good cars can last a lot longer than the cloth
I guess your cars usually go to ~1million kilometers then?
Longer than the cloth for sure
Besides I like to believe that humanity has somehow evolved. In certain parts of the world… at least. Why the need to skin animals for leather? Seems barbarism, pre historic and out of date…
As I wrote elsewhere, I believe there are still cases where leather really makes sense from a comfort/durability standpoint.
I, like most people, still eat at least some meat, so it seems rude to not make good use of the rest.
I mean, that is extremely easy to answer.
It was an otherwise-wasted material that is already bonded, minimal tools needed for processing,
In colder climates, fur was already attached to the leather which means that warm clothes could be crafted easily, fast, and by gathering all of the materials at one place. In early historic times, growing suitable plants and having the capacity to process them, strip them, straighten them, and weave them was not always possible and would be a full time job where it was, which means less time working in agricultural fields. Plus, animal fur has bigger growing seasons and is much warmer than any plant alternative.
The real answer for the modern world is that leather is a byproduct of the very shitty industrial meat industry. The meat industry already has more leather than they can get rid of and it regularly goes into landfills. From an environmental standpoint, it is much better to use the leather than almost all other materials used for those tasks which burn oil and use oil to create them (every leather alternative is simply shitty petroleum-based non-recycled plastic, every one). From a moral perspective it is shitty to give more money to the meat industry, but they make the vast vast majority of their profits on the meat and not the hides. If everyone switched off of leather right now, the same amount of animals would be brutally murdered, but instead their hides would be dumped in landfills and the ocean after stripping it off of the meat.
This isn’t even getting into waterproofing. Almost all clothing waterproofing is petroleum or animal oil based (wax is either petroleum or harvested from bees) except for natural rubber which also has a bunch of negatives.
Because they won’t let us use human skin for seats in our cars like we all actually want. You know regulators, bunch of bitchy little girls.
One advantage is that they are usually much easier to clean, stains that soak into regular fabric can often just be wiped off from leather, however I do believe it’s usually about leather having a more “premium feel”.
With leather seats, you get a sense of panic as you spill something, before realizing that it’s leather.
You won’t believe how many years I’ve had a driving license without spilling something on my seats…
Kids?
I usually don’t spill those
Then what are those white stains on your backseat, huh?
There’s no stains, I’ve got leather.
Me too. I’m just using a feeling of relief that I have experienced in the past to illustrate the point that leather is easier to clean.
You guys spill things in your car!?!?
You guys drink something other than water in your car?
You guys drink in your car?
You guys car?
You… guys?
They’re comfortable, super easy to clean, and stay in great condition with minimal effort. My car has cream-colored leather seats with a seat warmer, so they’re a comfortable temp in both summer and winter.
Because they are so comfortable and everything you said applies to all car seat materials.