OK, if anyone has read some of my threads you know I hope to buy a RX-8 in early 2005. I've been given some VIN# tips by user "grapes" but I'm looking at ebay, autotrader, carsdirect, and carmax and I seem to see a common theme with cloth seats...

They look like they are cheap and do not handle very well considering I see the same kind of stain looking, cloth comming apart type thing. Is this an optical illusion or are the cloth seats not too good in the 8's?

I really don't like leather, but if the cloth seats suck then maybe I should just stick to leather in this car.

What do you think?

 

I have a sport package, and like the cloth seats very much. No complaints from me.

 

I think they are pretty nice. And if you decide you don't like them afterwards you can always get the re-upholstered. Do a search and you will find some nice pics.

 

Not cheap!

 

...the cloth seats and have found them to be very well made. The material is very pleasing to the touch, they mask stains very well, are very easy to clean and care for and offer just the right ammount of support vs. cushioning. In fact, you may find that the cloth seats are better suited to "spirited" driving...lighter in weight, cooler feeling and no slipping or sliding. But it really boils down to your preference...I took my dealer's advice and went with the cloth. The 8 is the first car I've ever owned with cloth seats...go figure.

Arvin

 

Yeah, I like cloth also but the pictures I've seen scared me a little cause I see the same type of stuff on diffrent cars? I guess it's just the luck...or poor poor poor care by the owner...how can they treat an 8 like that?

 

No cheap just a big a$$ in that 8. The leather seats dont give as much head room and I'm 5-9?...

 

There are two things going on in the above photo. The pseudo-suedelike material that the lighter gray parts of the seats has a texture or nap to it which is rather directional. I wouldn't really call it an illusion, but much of what you're seeing that picture above is from the last "rubbing" the seat had (probably as someone got out of the driver's seat). If you ran your hand all over it in the same direction, it would dissapear.

Also, it also looks like there is mixed lighting of various color temperatures and intensity (camera flash, interior light and reflections from outside the car). Between the lighting and the difficulty of CCD and CMOS sensors to accurately capture certain non-neutral gray colors, the apparent discolorations probably don't exist on that seat.

 

I have cloth seats and like them very much. I preferred them over the leather....

 

I test drove an rx8 with cloth seats before i bought my gt package w/ red/black leather.. and i personally thought the cloth seats felt very cheap. i didnt think they felt as solid either.. felt like it wasnt made well and after sitting in them. i decided it was a no brainer to go with leather... this is all just my personal preference, and opinion. BUT I HATED THE CLOTH SEATS!!! cheap.

 

I've owned Mazdas for years and in my experience their cloth seats wear much better than their leather does! My old '91 Miata with 130K miles has cloth seats that are a little sun-faded (all that topless driving, y'know) but the cloth is intact and far from threadbare. My pampered '00 Miata with tan leather, however, is already showing wearthrough on the driver's side bolster, with only 24K miles.

I have the cloth in my RX-8 as well. What clyde said is correct; the pseudo-suede fabric on the seats has a definite "nap", and just like suede will photograph differently when the nap is brushed down or compressed. As for the seats feeling less substantial in cloth, I'm sure it's because leather is much heavier than cloth; if you're into "adding lightness", cloth's the way to go!

 

Personal preference I guess. My wife's Miata has leather and we both have the same complaint - our butts slide all over.

Personally I prefer the cloth, so that's what my RX-8 has. Butt stays firmly planted and it's relatively cool in the summer and warm in the winter. Yeah I know, butt warmers are nice (gonna put some in the Miata), but more cost, weight & something else to break.

 

So if I were to swap my leather seat for a cloth one in my GT equipped 8 I would have more headroom??

 

I dunno, the pic looks fine to me. I don't understand what's so horrible there. The only problem I had with the cloth was I was trading in a '91 Miata and wasn't about to spend another 14 years in an all-black interior. I might have stuck with cloth if they'd offered a decent 2-tone scheme similar to the leather but that's probably unrealistic from an upkeep/marketing standpoint. I only had my cloth seats for a few days before getting them reupholstered in leather. The Miata's cloth seats wore well enough for 150K miles though. I just think the leather, in addition to the color choices, looks "tighter" for this car.

If you're thinking of getting the sports package, you can always get aftermarket leather or aftermarket cloth re-upholstery for that matter, if you decide the stock cloth doesn't cut it. And it will still be cheaper than paying the extra bucks for the higher-level packages.

 

I gots leather and saw/felt cloth seats on the 8 the other day and I thought they were fine. Don't know about the long term quality though. But as long as you take care of it, there should be no problem.

 

The cloth seats seems fine, wish the color could be a bit darker and the biggest concern for me is that you're just asking to get shocked once you get out of the car in the winter.

 

The cloth is fine and seems very good quality to me (not sure why some in the minority would call the cloth "cheap," but to each his own). Considering some of the complaints I've heard from leather seat owners, I'm glad that I went with cloth.

 

The cloth seat looks fine in the pic. I had an 04 Pontiac Grand AM with gray cloths seats. Wished I took pics of them. There were horriable. Very cheap. I would give them about a year before something would show wear marks. It had already started with child seat marks in the back bench. That's one of the reasons I traded it in for a RX. I have leather now but the seat covers in the GM were very cheap. I have seen other RXs with cloth and seem to be ok. The carpet seems to be ok as long as mats stay on the shoe heel areas.

 

I have the cloth and love it. I really like the suede like micro fibre, the same stuff is being used on a lot of furniture as well. Relatively speaking, IMO Mazda's cloth seats are top notch for cloth; however Mazda's leather seems only average for leather. The leather seems just of so so quality and I don't care for the rubber like ribbing on the sides.

I chose cloth for the following reasons:

- Love the suede like feel, grips you better in the turns
- It helps keep the car lighter than the GT (no electronic motors, plastic seat back, and a lighter material to begin with)
- Gives the interior a two tone grey/black look. Black leather is all black. (But had there been a two tone yellow/black interior like the prototype, I might have opted for leather.)
- Allows you to sit lower (i.e. more head room), because the seats are manual. The power seats don't go as far down.

I don't know about long term durability, but it looks like it should wear well (I hope).

 

That's what I thought too, but I just had to ask. Personally, I like (never owned a car with leather...keep in mind) but in FL it can get WAY hot and with the humidity..well, paint the picture yourself.

Which ever version of the 8 I get the only REAL requirement is the 6-speed stick but a sunroof, and maybe the factory tail would be nice too.

Thanks for all of our input!

 

I like the car without a sunroof. The car has a sort of Corvette roof design with some nice curves on it. The sunroof takes some of that curve away. I have a sunroof only because I wanted the other options that came with the GT package. I have only opened the sunroof once and most of the time pay no attention to it.

 

They're not cheap but I prefer the look and feel of the leather more.

 

You could always just get the official seat covers, which are much easier to clean, seem to keep the dust away better, and just as grippy. It's made out of wet suit-like material. The cloth seats seem to gather dust like crazy.

I've also seen my friend's Celica which has cloth seats not unlike what the RX-8 has. Same grippy, suede like material. He bought it in 2000...the last time I looked in his car, those seats looked like absolute crap. The material just doesn't seem to stand time very well. That sight was what prompted me to get car seat covers immediately for my cloth seats after getting my RX-8.

 

I don't see anything wrong with the seat in that pic. It's probably too early to say for the 8's yet, but with RX-7's at least the cloth seats have seemed to hold up better than leather.

 

Oh yeah, I was going to get seat covers also...but do they make them for all 4 seats? I hate the 2 seat setup, it just looks undone to me.