Interior question
 

Has anyone regreted their choice in leather color? If so why? I am trying to decide what i want and what will work the best for me and thought I'd ask the question to what everyone thought.

As with anything there are pros and cons (this is for leather interior of any car not specific to the 8).:

Leather Pros:
Easy to clean up if you spill something on it
Feels nice on the butt
Looks nice

Leather Cons:
Damn it gets hot in the summer (I’ll never get a solid black interior in any car again)
Needs a bit of care to avoid wrinkling
Will eventually crack if you don’t take care of it

I have a black interior in Florida. I love it. Yes, it can be hot, but it looks great and feels good. I'd prefer a two-tone leather, but I always want leather.

black leather sure in the summers when its 112 its not the best choice but everytime i look at it i just think damn this car is sexy its well worth it

I have the red/black and I love it. I don't like it on any other color than Velocity Red, but that's a personal preference.

Gross factor: it doesn't breathe on your back and if you aren't willing to accept the extra cost of running the A/C in hot weather, don't get leather if you travel for work. There is nothing grosser than a sweaty back in a nice business shirt. (ok, there ARE grosser things, but you know what I meant ;) )

yeah -- another vote for the black leather interior, i mean i drive a brilliant black car.... gotta have black leather. I was tempted to get the black/red leather combo, but it would look to "Busy" and "gawdy"

Yeah it's hot in texas weather here in the summer but it looks good and DAMN does it smell good.

OH MAN! DOES IT EVER GET SWEATY! I mean my back is sometimes drenched after a drive in the sun. That is bad and happens almost everytime when it's hot (especcially with the windows rolled down) outside.

Personally I love the black cloth, it holds you in the seat very well, not to mention it gives you that sports car feeling... Usually leather is for luxary cars! once again its only my opinion!

Wife's got leather in her car, that's why I chose the fabric for my RX8. Keeps me cool and my shirts dry in SoCal weather. After a year, no regrets.

i think the two-tone black/brownish looks real nice in ti. grey, nordic green and any other somewhat dark color. But not black, blue or red. The two-tone red/black looks good in red and black. all imo.

You do have to take care of it though like was said above.

I've got black/tan in a Ti-grey and I love it. The tan part needs cleaning more than I expected though, but it's not a big deal and it forces me to remember to condition the leather. I'm in the Seattle area, which doesn't get hot very often, so I don't have the sweat problem :sweatdrop :) . Having heated seats in the winter is the best!!

I wanted the leather seats but due to headroom issues (leather w/sunfoof only), I had to opt for cloth. IMO, the 8 has the great cloth seats. Firm but not cheap feeling. No regrets.

My wifes's Silverado has leather seats and yes the seat heater is awesome in the winter but I will trade a cold bum any day over a wet sweaty back.

the cloth seats plant you down more. less movement during cornering and such. i got black leather, but i still like it. may be hotter in summer time but i deal with it. i think only the full black leather works in all colors and red/black leather combo works only in red. the tan... not really feeling it.

Get cloth. Cheaper, always comfortable, lighter in weight, very low maintenance.

ya i was thinking of getting seat covers after the first 100+ degree weather and driving in it for 5 hours straight but i just cant do it ><

Can you get seat covers for a car with side airbags? I thought that would screw things up? Two-tone black and red interior is nice (I'd prefer solid red) it's just the solid black I can't do anymore. I have solid black in my Murano with a black dash, starts to look like the inside of a coffin after a while.

the red/black has probably the most red you can have without going into an epileptic fit. all red would probably send me over the edge! it's pretty damn bright as is :D:
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a245/rsd428/SD11.jpg
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a245/rsd428/SD10.jpg

I doubt a piece of fabric is going to stop an airbag from deploying

Cloth. Never been a fan of leather, especially in sports cars. Unless you have the BB or VR, the black & red leather, it's fugly. Most of the combos Mazda offered kinda sucked. The white for 06 aside, of course, but how f*cking high maintenance is that?

I like an all red interior myself, just looks pretty sweet to me.

http://images.autotrader.com/images/..._A.562x421.jpg

http://cwimg.us.publicus.com/apps/pb...ef=V4&maxw=490

Why would you not get leather? The car is too good looking to only have cloth on the inside.

Never had a problem with summer heat or maintenance with red/black leather combo. Just Lexol leather cleaner and Lexol leather conditioner used quarterly...

Cloth tends to look bad over time as it becomes stained.

I like the red, the red/black, and the black. Color-coded inserts are attractive (I'd like to have Winning Blue inserts).

I am going for the GT package so the leather is not a deletable option. Here in PHX all leather is going to be screaming hot and sweaty unfortuneatly. I just can't seem to make up my mind what color to get. I am planning on getting the VR, but I can't exclude the 07 Stormy Blue and the new sand interior. I just haven't seen any pics of the new interior. I want to see how closely it looks to the Shinka interior.

Only had a couple of interior options, and choosing a leather colour wasn't an option (all black for anything but the reds, titanium greys, and special editions). Black's not too bad, provided you remember that you have a black interior - and park it in the shade, close the moonroof cover, wear manly shorts, that sort of thing.

The interiors seems to get beaten up easily either way after a couple of years. Leather is infinitely easier to clean up and take care of. Ever try to take chocolate out of a cloth seat before?

I got the Black leather because I bought a 05 at the start of 06 and the GT was the model I was able to cut the best deal on. I personally prefer cloth.

Cloth:

- Breaths better
- Cooler in summer
- Warmer in winter
- Wears better
- Will not scratch or crack.
- You don't slide on it (RX leather is pretty good in this area)

Leather:

- It can look richer.
- Can wipe of spills

I got cloth, but I don't mind having it. I won't have to worry about stains or anything, as I don't allow eating of food or smoking of any kind in my car. I just worry of it tearing and such, but that problem comes with leather as well.

My only choice was black leather. If they would have had black/winning blue combo for the leather that would definitely have been my choice!

I would definitely have to agree with the sweaty back issue with the heat, though. About a week or so ago we had 100-plus weather which is not very common in Portland. I drove to work with the AC on (cools great!) and temperature wise it felt fine inside the car except that the seat felt pretty toasty. When I got out the back of my blouse was totally soaked! As I was walking out of the parking garage someone who had pulled in just behind me said "I see you have leather seats in your car, too" and he proceeded to turn around and show me how he was totally soaked, too. LOL

I can't say I notice sliding around too much in my seat and I have some very sharp curves on my way into town. Maybe all the sliding people don't wear seatbelts? :dunno:

no the rx8 leather are actually oretty grippy cause of the material on the side bolsters- either that or you arent going fasst enough;)

the black/chapparel is discontinued for 2006

IMO - there really is nothing worse than a small stream of sweat rolling its' way down the spine. The AC, while not awful, never really chills the entire cabin down enough to keep my back anywhere near cool. As for wear & stains, my brother does upholstery. I'm thinking shag carpeting all around. :rock: :rock:

Don't forget to put it on the dash! :)

^ No doubt!! And it'll be color matched to my fuzzy dice!

Test drove one with leather and did not like. I was friggin moving all over the place , cloth holds you so much better. It seems like the sides on the cloth grip you better . That is if you dont mind starting on the driver side and ending up on the passenger side.

u must be tiny i feel like i fit perfectly into the seat and never move

I feel like the seat grips me perfectly and I am a rather thin person. :dunno:

That's why I think it's odd that people say they have problems with sliding all over in the seat. I don't and I go around sharp curves.

No seriously , the leather looks nice but you slide quite a bit.

The Mazda seat covers have slots for the side airbags. I bought them for going to the beach (well, for coming back from the beach, actually). They're pretty cool looking, but it takes a few minutes to put 'em on.

I like the leather seats in the '05 Shinka. I would've preferred cloth—but the seat warmers are nice in the winter, and I like the way the light parchment color keeps the interior from being too dark and drab—especially with the 8's smallish windows.

You know they say you can find most anything on teh internets ... I've found the solution to hot leather seats: people will buy any gimmick

I like the look and feel of my black leather seats, and the seat warmers in the winter, BUT... for autox/track, they're hot as a bastard in summer, and I slide around in them (although the CG-Lock solves that one). I like the idea of the Mazda seat covers. New Yorker - are they cooler in the hot weather?

https://www.rx8club.com/attachment.p...chmentid=81305

I had the Mazda seat covers over my cloth seats...and they looked ok....but I opted to have leather installed...and yea it gets hot in the summer, but it looks and feels so good that I am glad I went with the leather...it really gives the 8 more class.

Even though I bought the Mazda seat covers for the beach, I haven't gone this summer—so I don't know if they're cooler than the leather. They're definitely grippier, though.

I think red interior goes best with sunlight silver

See the above post by Redshedevil?

That's why I had a hard tome picking red/black over all black.

Look at the drivers dide. see how it is off color and almost looks brown.

Well you could say it's the sunlight, but it looks loke shit.

I've seen enogh of them, walked around them sat in them to tell you many of them have that off color all over.

I'm worried about the long haul on how it will fade out and look like crap.

Then one thing that bugs me is the two tone steering wheel.

Even though you may see a bright red it does not match the VR.

I don't think any red matches the silica VR paint. Any part that I have seen that has been changed to red soe not match the paint of the car.

Whether it be brake calipers or interior.

I do think the two tone brown may look better with the VR paint.

When I sit in a car with the red/black it seems like it's too much.

However, I love the red stitch. I wish they had that on the black seats. O even a blue stitch w/black seats for the blue 8.

too much can be tacky and gaudy. Can you live with a plaid interior on a sports car?

Can you live with a two tone for several years?

True, it's not an exact match, but I doubt any car with color leather inserts matchs the paint exactly. As long as it's in the ballpark the eye is pretty forgiving, IMHO.

No! This is the one color combination everyone pretty much hates!

Don't forget you can always change it. Several 8 owners got the cloth seats and then had custom leather seats—all black, all red, or two-tone—installed. Some say the cost of stock cloth seats plus aftermarket leather cost less than the stock leather—and was better quality leather, too. Oh—and the VW Scirocco from the mid-70's came with cloth plaid inserts on the seats. The new GTI has cloth plaid, too.

Then it’s a 2006 Shinka interior FTW! Microfiber inserts to grip you and a slight two-tone look that shouldn’t fade. Of course if you really wanted to you could always have Alcantara inserts added in a black leather car to the color of your choice; should be an under 2k mod. A guy on an M3 board had it done to his e46 for about 1,500 and it looked really good.

black/chapparal
 

I have a black 8 with black/chapparal leather and I have never regretted the color choice...the rusty brown actually looks better as it wears, kindof like a baseball glove. Also not a lot of people have seen that color and go nuts about it..

I have the Brillant Black and love the red/black interior. I have not had the issues with sliding. I have the seat adjusted to where it is perfect for me, and always have my seatbelt on, so I am surprised to see sliding is an issue. Even when taking onramps at high speeds I stay in place.

On the heat issue. You are going to have that with any leather car. had it with my Miata, and have it with my wife's Liberty. Still wouldn't change out to cloth though as i haven't been able to get cloth to weather as well as leather over time.

I got the cloth in my '04 and am very happy. I love the LOOK of the leather. If I ever buy a car to show and not drive, I will get leather...otherwise, I'm cloth all the way.

don't get leather if u love cows...

mooooooo

Happy cows from California.

I have the black/red leather interior and like it on my BB car. My friend said that he usually thinks there is too much red but really like's Mazdas restraint.