MichaelT

I'm thinking of buying an A4 with <br>leatherette seats. I've always had leather<br>or cloth. How does leatherette comfort in warm<br>weather compare with real leather ? <br>

Chris B

I have the black leatherette and find they are very cool and comfortable during the summer. Summer in New Orleans can be very warm, with temperatures up to 100 degrees, and even with a black interior I have never said "ouch" upon getting in my car with shorts on!!<p>98.5 1.8T Casablanca White<br>

Larry R

... but chilly in the winter. Get the seat heaters if you are in the north.

klidge

Yea, Leatherette sounds like a bunch of nonsense, but it's a surprisingly nice fabric. Looks and feels like leather. I've seen very few complaints on this forum about it, and A LOT of very positive comments. By the way, this post is from someone who has, and loves, leather in his other car.<br>

Serdar U

I took delivery of my car at the end of July and took it for a 200+ mile spin the very first day. Although it was in the 90s in the SF Bay Area, it was considerably cooler on the Pacific Coast (upper 60s). Nevertheless, the seats got uncomfortably warm after a while and I regretted my decision to go with leatherette within the firat hundred miles. Interior is terra cotta, so it's middle of the road in terms of heat absorption.<p>However, I have not complained much about the leatherette since then. I either got used to it or the weather cooled down :-) I do have the seat warmers, so I'm not too worried about the winter (besides, I live in California).<p>So, after ~3K miles, here are my rankings:<br>1. leather (I would have gladly paid an extra $1.2K if it were available on the 1.8T as an option)<br>2. leatherette (easier to keep clean, tolerable in the summer)<br>3. cloth (too pedestrian, IMHO -- leatherette *is* vinyl albeit a very classy one).<p>

Carlos Rodriguez

Have had leatherette for 2 years now have had no problems everyone thinks it is leather which is cool but I have found one problem with it and it is that it is a lot more fragile then leather it will rip a lot easier specially thos jeans with a pin on the like armani's that beautifulk chik with nice but had on one day and a pin on the jeans that said A|X just ripped my seat had to fix it with a leather repair and spray paint it worked great but took me a while to find matching paint and cover everything so that it would not turrn ecru but she was worth it.

AndyD

There's a lot of info in the archives on this subject, take a look.<p>I ordered cloth but settled on leatherette to save a few months wait. Haven't regretted it once. It's fine in the summer, and mine is black. Just get the seat heaters for winter.<p>Since someone else put up fabric rankings, here are mine:<p> 1. Cloth. Always the best choice. Always the most comfortable and least slippery. No contest. Period. If you're looking for comfort and practicality, cloth is the best.<br> 2a. Leatherette. Beats out Audi's leather because you can get a beautiful set of 17" wheels and tires for the same price. It also looks good and holds you in place almost as well as cloth. That is, it's not slippery.<br> 2b. Leather. Looks great, feels better, smells best. If you think you must have leather, get it or you probably will second guess your decision forever. Still, my opinion of leather is that it's one of the worst seating fabrics of all, mostly because of how damned slippery it is. My experience with leather in cars (Italian, Swedish, Japanese and English cars) is that the hides vary greatly. In some cars, they're wonderful, in some they're awful. Audi's leathers look pretty good and seem to be worth the premium if you really want them. Of course, if you want a 1.8 you're out of luck anyway.<p>Andy