Cloth interior... Good or bad?
 

Hi guys

Thinking of buying a red 8 with cloth interior.

I would certainly appreciate any comments, first, on the cloth interior (quality, durability, looks) as I get very conflicting opinions and then on the red colour. Any photos of cloth interiors wouldn't hurt either... :)

TIA people

The cloth interior is pretty decent. I didnt know it was a water repellant until I poured soda on the driver seat.

I've got a VR 8 with cloth interior. I prefer the cloth to the leather. It was the main reason I got the Touring pkg instead of the Grand Touring. Leather is too cold in the winter and too hot in the summer. I'll admit the VR 8 w/the black/red interior is very sexy though. The cloth is actually very good quality and it still looks the same as the day I bought the car.

the red 8 is the fastest.

I have a cloth interior on mine and I like it (I'm hate sticking to my seat in the summer).

My first 8 had cloth and my present has leather.

- I chose the cloth because of price and the Sport Package as opposed to the second one I didn't care; I just wanted the GT package and a durable interior.

- The cloth actually feels better and is more comfortable than the leather.

- Cloth is better for holding you snug in the seat in the twisties.

- I wanted leather on the second go-round because I was concerned about getting in and out of the car would start to show wear on the outside lip of the seat where it gets the most ware. I think the leather may be better for this.

- The cloth is cooler in the summer when you get into a 135-degree car.

- As far as looks and feel of quality... you just cannot beat leather.

All said and done, I'd get leather again because of wear; I can deal with the temperature issue.

Welcome to the club. :)

I have cloth and like it so far. I just used the car for a track event, 5 hours on the course, without harnesses and the cloth held me in place much better than leather would have (although I did us cg-locks). My last car had leather and I really needed the harnesses to stay put.

Also, to get leather you have to pay for a lot of other options that you may not want with the grand touring package. I especially did NOT want the sunroof, it cuts at least an inch out of the headroom. So I really ended up with cloth by default.

At least with cloth you can change the seats, use seat covers, or recover them in leather without feeling bad that you are wasting all that money you just paid for factory leather seats.

And I didn't know they were water proof until I read this thread. I will have to check that out.

Cloth here. It's comfortable and looks swell but I'm sure it won't hold up as well as leather. Meanwhile the all-black interior is pretty cool. The black and red leather seats are a bit over the top for my taste.

I've got a VR with cloth. Had it since Aug '03, and have put 27K miles on it. Most of them with my wife in the passenger seat every day. The back seats are obviously impecable. The fronts are still in very good shape. The only part that seems that'll let go are the rivet inserts that go between your legs. Other than that early sign of wear, they are grippier on your butt & they are easy to vaccuum and clean.

Good luck!

Are the leather seats all leather?
 

In the RX that I drove while testing out cars for purchase, the leather seats seemed to be part plastic (side panels). Is this usual? Is there a risk of these splitting?

Very, very few cars with leather anywhere but the seating surfaces. It's too expensive for mass produced cars.

i like the look of the cloth better than the leater. Plus you save some weight ;)

I have cloth and love it for all the reasons mentioned above.

I picked the sports package because I wanted to keep the car's weight as light as possible. Car seats are one of the heaviest items in a car's interior. That's why the tuners and pro racers always put in light weight seats like Recaro or Sparco etc. Cloth is lighter than leather, and you don't have the electric motors or plastic seat backs which also add weight.

While I do like leather and have had leather in most of my other cars, cloth seems very appropriate for a sports car. (When's the last time you saw a race car with leather seats?) I really like the micro fibre material used, it kind of has a fake suede feel and look. We even bought a new sofa set made of the stuff. The micro fibre cloth is suppose to be very durable. My car is a year old and the seats still look brand new, but I do vacuum them often. Time will tell how well they really hold up.

I'm really curious to see how the cloth holds up vs leather with this car. It would be nice if we could hear from more people that have like 30k+ miles on their cars already.

I don't know if this will be any indication, but on the RX-7 the cloth seats were definitely more durable than leather. Go to a rotary meet and check out the interiors of the FD's, the cloth seats with 60k miles will look better than leather seats with 30k miles.

I picked cloth over leather without hesitation. These cloth seats in the 8 look and feel great.

I have the cloth and prefer it to leather. Here in Mass leather would be too cold in the winter and too hot in the summer (time to move). Only issue i have with it is that it collects dust at the base of the seat very quickly. I've never seen anything like it. Be prepared to vacuum often.

I have cloth and love it. I had leather on my last car, and it's just not something I'm bothered about having, mostly because of heat in the summer.

I have over 36,000 miles on my car, and the seats look like new everywhere but this one spot on the driver's side seat where the seatbelt hits it and rests there everyday while I'm driving. I'm talking about up near the headrest on the side by the door. There is definitely some wear there, but there doesn't appear to be any way to avoid it, other than not wearing your seatbelt.

Other than that, they are extremely comfortable and appear to be ageing well. Hope this helps.

I would not get the mazda leather. Get cloth seats then go to classic soft trim and get full leather for about $1300.

Biggest hate on the leather is the steering wheel color section, can see that getting discolor quickly.

Plus the little rubber portion on the seat between your legs. It is just rough and nasty, they try to copy the same pattern from the cloths onto the leather and it sucks.

Overall hated the leather, it wasn't impressive at all. The cloth seem to also be far more comfortable and more padded.

I have the original cloth seats in my '88 FC. They still look great.
As for Mazda leather... I had a Millenia S for 9 years and the leather only had one worn spot on the drivers seat .... 130k+ miles on it. I like the color contrast with Red leather in my 8. Looks new after 15k+mi. Though if Mazda offered red cloth like the red leather ... i might have gotten that.

Let us know what you get.

You could position the seat back so it doesn't rub, as long as your still in a comfortable driving position.

For me, the belt never touches the top part of the chair. It's the bottom part of the side bolsters that touches the belt in my case. So far, no wear though, I 'll need to keep an eye on that area over time.

i have cloth and am glad i didnt get the leather because the cloth holds me nicely when i autox.

I like the gray / black color combo as well and the seats look good as new still (aug 03) but i only have 5500K miles on the car.

I got the Sport package, which means I had cloth seats -- for about 3 days :)

And then I got the redone in leather by Classic Soft-Trim.

Nothing wrong with cloth seats in general. I'd always had cloth and decided to try leather this time. Both for the luxury factor and that I was definitely tired of black after 14 years of driving the Miata. Black dash. Black carpet. Black seats. Black top. The only way to get any light was to put the top down! Of course the big advantage of black cloth seats is very little problem with stains and dirt.

I love the feel and smell of the leather. And very happy to have a brighter interior.

CST does a great job. So, if youre leaning towards cloth, go ahead. If they ever do start getting worn you can get them re-done in leather (or even new cloth, I think) and they will look factory.

Thanks people.
Great answers. Will keep you posted when I buy.
Thanks again

Hey Nubo, got any pics of the leather? I'd like to see what you did.

Yes, I suppose it does depend on how you position the seat. Unfortunately, I'm not sacrificing driving position to avoid the seatbelt rubbing issue. I've got it just right now. I guess my legs or arms aren't long enough or something.