Alright since the search doesn't work I'll just post. I noticed that the RL and even the 2008 Honda Accord, have this leather intertior that resembles more like... cloth and drapery. I also noticed those in older TL's... are those custom? Did we only get 1 choice of types of leather when we purchased our car from the dealership?

 

the tl seats are more sporty and therefore have more support and are slighty firmer...the rl seats are more plush...there are no options for seats....

 

Are you talking about Alcantara Leather? The TL has leather standard so our only options are for color. The Accord has cloth standard; so there will be different interior upgrades for it. The RL is a large luxury sedan and will have more luxurious interior finishes than the TL.

On a side note though.. does the TL actually have REAL leather? It seems like a plasticky vinyl..

 

hmm... I don't quite understand what you mean, can you clarify? also Paging tripnbeats...

 

Ok so you have something like the 2008 Honda Accord



notice the texture of the seating

Then you have the RL



notice the texture of the seating

Then you have the Acura TL 2001 Seating





And even on the door side, it has that clothlike leather material. Unless i am mistaken that for fake leather...


Notice the texture of the seating. Touch it, smell it.

I've been in all 3 and felt them.. they are smooth and soft.. like cloth, but leather. To me that's more luxurious than what the 3G TL's have... which is... hard tight bound whatever. Cuz 3G is on the EDGE of HARDCORE.

 

Ok, I see now. I think this is done for 2 reasons, one is the look of it, it suggests that the car is rich and luxurious, and that it isn't cheap. The second is that the leather does not have to stretch to accommodate our butts, the extra folds in the leather open up. Personally I like the nice tight leather like the TL has.

 

i agree, that "extra" skin on the seats is a constant reminder that i'm just getting older and that not only is my body producing more unnecessary skin, so is my car.

oh the days of varsity HS sports rofl

 

wtf is "Alcantara Leather"??? lmao!

ok there are many diff types of leather....the brits have the best leather, germans next jap cars n US cars have the worst. a majority of the material in our cars is vinyl....leather is used in a few sections, still... mostly vinyl...the same goes for every other car on the market...except for when u go over the $100k mark then everything is real "you get what u pay for"

Sometimes the vinyls replace the leather depending on the batches of materials they have available or vice versa it doesnt really matter you can barely tell the difference....i have vinyls at my shop and leather that would make u think the vinyl is leather and leather is vinyl. for the most part as an example toyotas leather and hondas leather is the same thing in the higher end models as well as the lower end ones. keeps cost down. they change colors and that about it

 

Fancy word for Suede.

 

Trippen, ur actually wrong. TL leather is actually real leather.

 

^ Actually only the perforated parts on the TL are "real leather" all the rest is vinyl

 

sorry dude....Im actually correct......i do interiors at my shop i know what im talkin about....I think ..thanks mami and shes 100% correct...the perf parts of the door are leather as well as all the elbow rests in the car.

 

so u see...im already done up on the interior...right now i did all the door panels in black....grey wasnt flowing.

 

The leather style you mentioned in those pics are "gathered", just a different style to the tight and perforated ones we have in our cars.

 

"gathered"? i dont get it. the only parts in the car that are actually leather are the perf pieces of the seats, all the elbow rests and door panel perf pieces. If by gathered u mean diff car diff pics .... no I havent taken updated pics of the car. i just posted whats been done over a period of time.... i took the seats apart myself unstitched them and restitched them like i do wih a countless amount of other cars.

do u guys actually believe ur going to get real leather all over the place for a car u pay 30k for?? lol no really do u? do u think about the labor cost of it? it takes 40 cowhides to make an interior for a bentley 4 door..... it costs about 100k to do so....plus all the interiors are put together by hand by women in england. so there goes more cost.....what we get is machine stitched....with cheap fast produced materials.....sometimes it lasts sometimes it doesnt.

 

Actually one thing I think is wrong here is the fact only 100 grand cars ( or around that price range ) have real leather . The Lexus LS cars have Semi-analine leather and I believe the lower priced ES350UL has an option for semi-analine leather. Also the quality of seats in my IS350 and a TL are also quite noticeably different , much softer in the IS ( no where near as plush as the LS cars ) , although the TL I guess is a more sportier looking car thus the harder seats.

 

yea man 100k n up all real leather... the dash is real leather the door panels the elbow rests the seats. all real. semi-analine is another word for vinyl and leather.... its all bullshit to confuse u so that when u go to an interior shop u can argue with the guy who knows more than u about his business...thats its real leather. lexus and toyotas have the hardest repairs on the seats....the actual leather parts on the seats have a special coating that wont let certain chemicals stick to it....kinda weird.

 

So why am I spending so much money on Lexol Leather Conditioner?

 

lexol is an all around good conditioner....leather n non-leather materials....i used it til i did suede ("alcantara leather" or "microfiber" lmao) in the seats. id use a strong cleaner (malco's very strong) never spray directly on material always use a damp rag and wipe.... then Id apply the conditioner generously and wipe it with a damp rag... it comes out great.

 

or the window sticker, I'm sure you'll see lawyer-mandated fudge language like "leather-faced seating surfaces" to explain why there's a mix of leather and vinyl on the seats. This tracks back to a lawsuit against Nissan about 20 years, when some owners discovered their "leather" seats only had cowhide where they put their butt. But hey, if it all matches and you didn't even notice, what's the big deal?

FWIW, BMW has the most vinyl-looking leather, and the most leather-looking vinyl. Without a window sticker to reference, you have to take the salesdude's word on what you're sitting on during the test drive.

 

yea they do...i have some hides from bmw....and its a really nice leather although its super thin.

 

Seeing as I've never sat in a luxury vehicle above 100 grand ( with the exception of a S class , which im not sure about on leather ) is there a huge difference in the comfort level of the real leather in the high priced vehicles compared to vinyl ?

 

Sure is, depending on the manufacturer as the quality/style will differ with the type/cost of vehicle.

Never been a big fan of the TL's leather/vinyl interior, as they could have made it more luxurious.

A few months ago sold our Jeep and purchased a new car, naturally keeping the TL, then had Katzkin leather/vinyl interior installed. As far as I'm concerned even that is better quality than the TL interior. In fact, the Katzkin is better than most of the leather interiors in the cars I've owned.

 

yea katzkin makes great kits

 

Tripnbeats ... any recommendations on how to get rid of the cracks that I c in the pics of your black seats ?

 

lol all those cracks have been replaced with suede buuuut u really cant in leather or vinyl.... it occurs from being heavy and just putting weight on the seat. its just stress i wouldnt go nuts over it, it happens in all cars.

 

I was speaking of the OP's pictures, that style is referred to as gathered.