We are close to buying a new Prius Excel, but there is one major topic of debate – the interior. Now I utterly love the two tone light grey / black upholstery, it just looks marvellous. But the big question is what is it like to live with? Does it mark easily? In particular does denim leave a stain? Is it worth it, or is it just too much of a pain to keep clean? Thanks!
Welcome! If it is actual leather, you will get few real experiences outside the UK. The US and many other countries get the Softex "fake leather". @RCO @Harters or @raspy may have some experiences or know of other experiences with Prius or Toyota leather interior,
Yes, the UK have real leather as Prodigyplace says whereas the US has Softex. I was torn between the Moonstone when I purchased my car, but I didn't like that it looked as though it was trying to match the white centre console, but didn't quite so I went for the all black and I am very pleased. It works really well with the Pure White paintwork.
When I saw the back cloth interior I thought it made the interior look too dark. I ended up with the beige (tan) cloth interior color.
Hello and welcome to Prius Chat from Cornwall. I have black cloth seats which seem to be wearing very well. My Business Edition didn't merit the leather upholstery, so Harters is a better source of information. Congratulations on your new car, I'm sure you will soon be loving it.
I have Moonstone Softex. I like it very much. I carry garden soil, lumber, a dog, and all sorts of dirty things in my car. I clean it up after each task and the interior shows no wear. I've had the car for just a year and a half and I can't believe it still looks new inside despite the punishment I inflict.
The centre part is perforated too which helps more than I expected in the summer compared to non perforated in previous cars.
Is softex Toyota's equivalent of Mercs Mb Tex? If so should last longer than real leather. SM-N950U ?
I get along with mine just fine. And it really doesn't make any difference because you can NOT order whatever material that you want. For instance, you can't get cloth seats on a "4" model.......unless you pay a crap load of money to buy a second set of seats yourself.
I first saw MB-TEX in the late '70s - it was just vinyl with holes punched. (My VW '77 Microbus had very similar material.) It wasn't made to pretend to look like leather. Probably one of the best vinyl upholstery materials there has been - but I always had it covered with Lambswool seat covers.
