Cloth or Leather Interior?

There’s a long list of things to consider when it comes to buying a vehicle. How many passenger seats do you need, and how much cargo space? Should you get a vehicle with all-wheel drive? Do you want four cylinders or six? Should you go with the turbo?  Of all the things to consider, the choice of a cloth or leather interior seems pretty trivial, but when you consider how much time you will be spending in your car, it’s pretty important.

Cloth or leather isn’t necessarily an easy decision, though. 

Leather will typically be more expensive than a cloth interior. There are varying grades of leather, so exactly how much more expensive depends on how nice the leather is. Cloth is definitely the cheaper option, though, so if price is your main concern cloth is probably the way to go.

If you're willing to pay for leather, it might still not be the best choice for you.

Leather is not ideal in extreme temperatures.

If you live in an area that gets hot in the summer, you might want to shy away from leather. Sure, leather looks glamorous and all, but it gets sizzling hot in the summer. Cloth might get a little warm, but you never have to wonder if you’re going to need a skin graft from sitting in your car on a summer day.

Leather doesn’t fare much better in cold weather than it does in hot weather. When winter cold rolls in you will want to be careful with leather interior. You don’t have to worry about injury as you might in the summer, but a cold leather seat is less than comfortable.

Leather might lose out in the temperature and price categories, but it does edge out cloth in other areas.

A cloth interior is much harder to clean than leather. Fine quality leather wipes clean, but cloth is much harder to clean. Your lunch on the go or day of hiking through mud might turn into a stain that will last for years.

Sometimes cloth holds odors. Maybe your dog just loves riding in the car with you. Over time cloth upholstery will absorb odors and will start to develop a musty, musky smell. Leather, on the other hand, doesn’t retain smells as cloth does.

Ultimately it comes down to personal preference. Both leather and cloth have their advantages and disadvantages. It’s just a matter of what is right for you.