Leather Trim Seats
- Thread starter micah
- Start date
I have a FE with leather seats (black). I love the seats and the leather. Much preferred over the softex. Best cooled seats on any vehicle I have owned or ridden in. Have not tried heat yet since its summer.
I have an FE as well and like the seats, however I did notice our 4Runner limited seats seem more substantial in thickness of the leather which are the same color as yours.
I'm under the impression after talking to the dealer when I bought mine that the 'leather-trimmed' seats consist mostly of... not leather. It appears the perforated portions are the leather, while the sides/etc. may indeed be Softex. Can't confirm for sure, but these non-perforated portions certainly do feel like the Softex in my 4Runner.
LC/LC trim w/ Premium Package (so leather appointed seats). Honestly, I'm disappointed in the leather seats. My first impression was that the leather seems paper-thin and dry compared to other leather seats I’ve had. My impressions were confirmed on our first camping trip when our dog punctured the perforated leather in two spots with her toenails. We’ve only had cars with leather seats for 20+ years with large dogs. We’ve had some scratches, but never a single puncture. This is our first Toyota and I was warned that Toyota interiors are not the best. (“Fisher Price interiors” is specifically what I was told from a friend who has, and has had, several Toyotas.) I didn’t think they would be this cheap though. Overall, I like the vehicle, but it feels like they saved some money on the “leather seats.”
Are you sure other cars you had were real leather? Leather to a large extent has the same thickness, as it is an animal product. You can change it’s thickness by coating with vinyl etc, but if it is coated to a level that thickness increases significantly, it no longer is leather.
In my opinion, real leather is very easy to damage, especially if it is perforated.
- Moderator
- #8
Not true at all......... I work with leather a lot. It's described/advertised/sold by weight ie...... 1 oz leather is thin, soft supple and 12oz leather is thick and sturdy, like saddles or gun holsters. It all starts out as "X" thickness (however it comes from nature) and the processor's slice it to the desired thickness.
Yes I’m positive our other vehicles are/were real leather. Not all leather is of equal quality or thickness as the animal product is split to get the most out of it. That’s why there’s top grain, split grain, full grain, etc. classifications. Different places are better at creating the finished product. So I just feel like the leather used in the Land Cruiser isn’t very high quality.
Sure but it doesn’t change that much for automotive grade leather. Industry standart is 1.2-1.4mm.
- Moderator
- #11
I guess, never heard of "automotive grade" leather nor an industry standard. By no means am I an authority on automotive leather, but I am very familiar with leather.
I do know that a Ford "King Ranch edition" leather is quite robust while the "Lariat" isn't as sturdy. BMW "X5" leather is about right, in my eyes, it's somewhat supple but sturdy at the same time.
At the end of the day, it's whatever the manufacturer specified and in the LC's case...... it wasn't that high.
Quality for me is mostly about longevity. I find the interior quality of the many Toyota Ubers I travel in to be surprisingly good after hundreds of thousands of miles. Yesterday I was in a white Prius Uber with 250K miles and it look good. So interior quality for me is a non concern.
But I also find the Premium LC interior to be premium, which according to Youtube is not true. So I may have deficient taste.
But I also find the Premium LC interior to be premium, which according to Youtube is not true. So I may have deficient taste.
