Alcantara interior -12 months on

[Coops]

Good point Nick.

 

I'm not 100% sure on the performance of Alcantara but on previous cloth seats, the material has got easily marked/stained with muddy foot prints, dirty hands, split food & drink etc. and has looked dirty and grubby in comparison.

 

The (protected) alcantara has on the flipside remained in near perfect condition - how much of this is down to the alcantara itself or the protectant I don't know? The protectant will have only added to the performance of the material though.

[weasley]

Just to add that 8 months and 12,000 miles after the original post my (untreated) seats are still in tip-top condition, despite the attentions of my (now) 5 and 3 year old kids.  And the seat heaters are coming in snugly and smugly right now too.

 

As I said at the start, I would never have opted for them but as a freebie I am very happy with them.

[mandaroo]

Regarding the cream/gobi sand interior, I've never been a fan personally. I'm 30 and think it's a bit too much of a grown up older generations colour. plus having a border collie and a 2 year old I don't think it would be staying that colour for long.

[mandaroo]

Well ended up being stuck with the leather as the dealer said it was too late to change to alcantara. Already starting to think the leather is a really bad idea. In just 2 weeks and 600 miles the 'leather' on the front seats is already creasing and stretched. very poor quality imo. Other than that we're more than happy with the Yeti

[jonceebee]

Yes unfortunately I have to agree. I was on the verge of a private sale of my Yeti with 8.2k on the clock but the chap who was interested saw the creases on the front seats and decided to then look at an SE model with cloth which he bought instead preferring the look of the cloth seats, so I had to trade in to save time. The strange thing is that our Octavia does not have these creases, it seems to be a Yeti thing and the Octy. seats are still looking great after over 160k miles. I also found that trying to clean of belt stains when I tried a professional cleaner and rubbed hard the cream (I assume paint) started to come off onto the cloth which worried me a little so I stopped using it. I do not think the leather is as good as it used to be

[mandaroo]

I'm not too sure if it is real leather. The Astra we had before had really good quality leather seats. After 3 years of use the front seats looked as good as the rear ones that had never really been sat on. not a mark on them.

[Silly Old Hector]

Yeti leather seats are leather on the face and artificial across the rest of the frame.

[900000]

Yeti leather seats are leather on the face and artificial across the rest of the frame.

Exactly the same practice as on any BMW, Audi, Mercedes, Ford....... In fact any car this side of a Bentley or Rolls Royce.

[grr666]

White alcantara is a bit harder to keep clean, but does look very special. 

 

 

 

[BossFox]

Exactly the same practice as on any BMW, Audi, Mercedes, Ford....... In fact any car this side of a Bentley or Rolls Royce.

 

Yes, unless you go aftermarket this is sadly the case.

It was only when I had mine retrimmed in nappa (all of the seats, all the way round) that I actually got that nice leather smell due to having more of it in there.

Even now, about seven months on it still looks great and smells nice too.

Plus it's also softer as I got them to put a bit more padding in. (on top of the actual leather being softer)

[Truthseeker]

Reminds me of when I used to customise my cars in the 80's. Always had seats/door cards re-trimmed in quality Swedish leather (Millmans in Winchester, as they had the contract to re-trim new Saabs back then when customer specced leather as was a dealer fit option), and like Richard, leather all over.

 

I also got the trimmers to give me a bag of leather off-cuts, which I used to keep under the seats to keep that new leather smell at full strength (sad I know looking back). Having said that, my current car has part leather, but has not got that lovely leather smell, so maybe another "bag of bits" under the seats is in order.

[Kingsley]

RIchard, where did you go to recover your seats in nappa, and can we see a picture please? Personally, we love our Gobi sand leather seats and find the colour fully appropriate to the jeep like function of the car. We cannot stand coal scuttle black interiors, 'cloth' is generally horrible and synthetic and a nightmare to keep clean. I am amazed how people seem to think there is any comfort in black interiors, considering how much time we spend inside our cars, and why beige or gobi sand is regarded as the choice of older people is a mystery to me. It's just lighter and more cheerful. Time enough for black interiors when we are in a box, folks! So far our leather seats are very robust and comfortable, although we have only covered about 3000 kms. Obviously not like the (sunny beige) leather armchairs in the VW, which are nicer than anything we have in the house!

[900000]

Time enough for black interiors when we are in a box, folks! So far our leather seats are very robust and comfortable, although we have only covered about 3000 kms. Obviously not like the (sunny beige) leather armchairs in the VW, which are nicer than anything we have in the house!

I hear you. But I've seen many Gobi driver's seats going blue if you wear jeans. In my view it's a colour that goes grubby very fast whereas with my black seats they are probably as grubby but I don't see it.

Furthermore the cream dash accentuates every single dashboard join line since these gaps are black shadows. So the dash looks like a lot of LEGO blocks joined together instead of as one nice big black unit.

 

cream/mushroom dashboard

 

black on black dashboard

A lighter seat leather with a black dashboard is best in my book if you want to brighten the interior as you describe. I like the L&K interior for that. Black dash with non black seats. Though I guess even these are too dark for you.

[BossFox]

RIchard, where did you go to recover your seats in nappa, and can we see a picture please?

 

Pictures are here, in my Yeti thread:

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/226003-the-twins-and-yeti-vrs/?p=3200992

 

I used Trim-Star in Colchester, Essex.

[Coops]

<snip> I am amazed how people seem to think there is any comfort in black interiors, considering how much time we spend inside our cars, and why beige or gobi sand is regarded as the choice of older people is a mystery to me. It's just lighter and more cheerful. <snip>

 

Fair comment but unfortunately a light interior and light seats with me (and the kids) wouldn't last 5 minutes. Plus as a company car others use mine so black is better.!

 

 

White alcantara is a bit harder to keep clean, but does look very special. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That does look good I have to admit but as above, would be black in no time.

[Kingsley]

Richard, your leather seats are gorgeous, especially with the stitching and padding. I understand that most people wear denim these days, a bit like the cultural revolution in China? My own preference as a time traveller from the 50's is for summer wool or light cotton, especially having visited the factories in Sri Lanka that make denims for rich and poor alike. They are all made in the same place and just the labels differ. When did denim become so a la mode actually? So I perfectly understand why folks might not want light seating material. Just sad to me that so many lovely cars seem ruined by coal scuttle interiors. I don't agree about the dashboard, though. It's lovely in beige and brown, doesn't look blocky to me a bit. I like the fake wood in ours, too, can't stand matt silver plastic and in some cars the piano black wood offered looks just like black plastic to me as well. It's nice to have a bit of decoration inside a car, especially our robust but slightly austere Yeti interiors. Some of you will be horrified to know I am also adding an extra fake wood kit to enliven the Gobi Sand! Silly old sod they might say!

Must say we have totally adopted our Miss Yeti, what a lovely little car!