Regretting not getting leather

OK, so there are a lot of good suggestions in this thread. I took a slightly different approach when I wanted leather in my previous car, a Civic..... My local dealer was big on installing aftermarket leather in new Hondas. The leather looked good, but they would typically add on about $2k to the sticker. So I went to the parts counter and asked who the dealership used to install the leather interior. Sure enough, it was a local business specializing in car upholstery. I then visited the local car upholstery shop to see their operation (it was a good one).

The local car upholstery shop gave me the name of the OEM supplier of the leather interiors - - Pecca Leather. Pecca has US headquarters around LA, CA. Pecca sold me the full leather interior for $450. (This was around 2009.) I bought the seat warmer pads on eBay for around $50. The local shop did the install for $400. (Best $400 that I ever spent.... these installs are really labor intensive and the hog ties used to install the leather are a real PIA to install yourself.) The shop needed the car for a full day for the install.

I have a 2010 III with cloth seats that I bought new. I thought that I may want the leather in it too. I checked with Pecca a couple of years ago and they have the full leather interior for the Gen 3 Pri hatchback. As I recall, the price was a bit more.... around $500 + shipping. So the leather interior can be done for closer to $1k.

Have I installed the leather in my Pri? No. It looks fantastic and the built in heated driver seat is great in the winter. But at work I park outside now and in the summer the leather gets really hot and uncomfortable when you first get in the car. If the cloth gets really ratty / worn then I know that I have this as an option.

 

I think your upholstery shop has given you some bogus information. Pecca Leather does not supply leather seat covers to Toyota Japan. Toyota has their own seating company, Toyota Boshoku Corporation.

 

He was saying that Pecca supplied the local upholstery shop, not Toyota in Japan.

 

Pecca is actually a descent brand. Some shops only use Pecca or Katzkins. Did not know that their headquarters were that close to me.
Here's their contact info in case anyone is interested:
Pecca Leather, Inc.

Address: 12010 Woodruff Ave, Downey, CA 90241
Phone: (562) 623-0781
Hours: Tuesday hours 8:00 am–5:00 pm

 

teamsc10190 - the OEM reference in my post was in reference to the 2009 Honda Civic that I was purchasing the leather interior for at the time. Pecca was the OEM supplier for the Honda Civic.

 

Honda Civic seats are manufactured by TS Tech Americas, Inc. in New Castle Indiana where they provide sequence supply to the Civic manufacturing plant in Greensburg Indiana.

Pecca Leather is an aftermarket Malaysian seat cover manufacturer. It sounds like your upholstery shop sources their aftermarket leather kits from Pecca.

 

Looks great! Congrats

 

I've seen Katzkins on brand new cars too. Look great. Can't go wrong with it.

 

My softex seats get really hot, I luv the power seats and HUD.

 

I suppose perforated seating area would have been extra. I've asked around about black leather vs. light gray or tan and most agree Black leather feels warmer in sun than light colors. I switched to light gray leather seat cover. But black always looks classy.

Maybe you are experienced at leather cleaning and conditioning. I've got some experience with it and found Lexol cleaner pH and conditioner (separate bottles) to be a good safe bet. Walmart had them for $7 per bottle.

 

I sampled Meguiar's Gold Class leather cleaner and conditioner (one-step) vs. Lexol separate cleaner / conditioner.

The Meguiar's left the leather with a slick, shiny residue.

The Lexol cleaner, although very mild, did clean and the conditioner left very soft, non-shiny finish. There may be better botique brands out there and there are different types of leather, but Lexol is sold everywhere for a good reason.

There's a couple youtube videos on leather cleaning which are helpful. Professional detailers use brushes on leather, microfiber cloths and sometimes a steam cleaner.

 

I think for most with lots to spend, leather is the choice. Would we see a James Bond movie with passenger riding around in Jaguar with cloth seats?

I wouldn't get black leather. Looks great, but it's a bit warmer to sit on.

 

I shopped sideless seat covers recently. Many of the dealers carry the Allison brand which I got for front passenger seat. It's PVC vinyl, $38 so it's basic cheap protection. Never found a leather sideless seat cover. I'm rolling with a $70 one size fits all leather cover by Masque. I like how it covers the side controls cause sometimes I'd get to fiddling with them far too much. I cut a big hole in side of cover thin fabric. Maybe a semi-circular flap would have been a better cut. But, won't notice the hole much and ....

the leather feels better than any fabric or PVC vinyl cover I've used.

 

So, this company might have designed much of Prius interior? Toyota Boshoku Corporation

The tilt of their seats (Prius incl.) varies from little when raised up to a lot when lowered down in both mechanical and power seats. I like the Honda approach better: Leave constant seat tilt through the height range. Plus on Honda power seat, the whole seat tilts (front of button), not just bottom cushion as in Toyota. There's so much tilt induced when lowering Prius power seat height that lowering bottom cushion tilt barely flattens it out enough.

In my old '88 Toyota SR5 pickup, this is enough tilt to cause numbness:


and it barely flattens out with tilt full down:


Long history of this sort of thing.