Textile seat vs Tan Leather seat

[TaoJones]

Go with the textile.

I've got the tan ventilated seats and they're not holding up for shite. The order for a replacement driver's seat went in at 4.5 months of ownership.

The grey leather seats in the car before that held up fine with only nominal wear after 2+ years. Unfortunately, they seem to have run out of grey cows.

 

[Vern Padgett]

Wondering what it is about the leather.
If someone told me to buy a textile belt instead of a leather belt, I'd say he (or she) was nuts.
If someone told me to buy textile shoes instead of leather shoes, I'd say he (OR SHE!) was nuts.
So what is it with the Tesla seats?
Tesla can make a great car, but they can't make, or find a maker, of a decent leather seat?

 

[Drlev]

Wondering what it is about the leather.
If someone told me to buy a textile belt instead of a leather belt, I'd say he (or she) was nuts.
If someone told me to buy textile shoes instead of leather shoes, I'd say he (OR SHE!) was nuts.
So what is it with the Tesla seats?
Tesla can make a great car, but they can't make, or find a maker, of a decent leather seat?

The fact of the matter is that leather ages and stretches and wears differently than cloth. That leather belt and those leather shoes you have, they’ve definitely stretched out and worn and gotten discolored with regular use. The issue with leather seats isn’t with Tesla. It’s with the material itself. Look in anyone’s old BMW or Mercedes or Volvo with leather seats and you’ll see the same stretching and wear and discoloration.

And for the record, I have the textile seats and live in an area with cold winters and hot summers. They’re serving me great currently in the winter and I eagerly await not sticking to or burning my legs on my seats this summer. (Plus with kids, textile headliner > alcantara headliner due to ease of cleaning)

 

[CAF]

The last Mercedes I ordered had the P-tex interior, sort of a vinyl like leather substitute that Mercedes says lasts longer than leather. After 70K miles, the stuff still looked like new. I think leather is mostly a marketing thing; it used to be a gateway feature for luxury cars (Ricardo Montalban's "rich Corinthian leather" on Chrysler products in the 1970s).

We've had the new textile interior in the Model S and I think it's wonderful. It's much like the material I had in an old 3 series BMW: it's grippy and holds you in place during spirited driving, you don't stick to it during hot weather like leather, and it's not hard and cold in winter weather. I've got power ventilated leather seats in my 2016 Porsche; I much prefer the Tesla textile seats--no need for ventilation, by the way.

 

[Eugene Ash]

I have tan ones, and like them. 18months. The only issue I had was that during the first week they smelled awfully alcoholic, and my blue jeans left pigment on the driver seat. If you order these, wear khakis the first week. Mine are holding up nicely and smell well. Like you I was on the fence, but ordered that upgrade

 

[spie]

If someone told me to buy textile shoes instead of leather shoes, I'd say he (OR SHE!) was nuts.

As a side note, my last combat boots were vegan, i.e. plastic, from vegetarianshoes.co.uk and they held up for fourteen Scandinavian winters with hardly any wear (in the end, the soles finally gave up). No leather boot has come even close.

So far, I've been very happy with the vegan seats of my S100D, but time will tell.