Mr. Livingston

How is the consensus on this?

Much appreciated

Guard Dad

I went with Alcantara because it’s cooler and grippier. My car is not a daily driver so I wasn’t worried about the wear characteristics.

EASonBASS

Agree with Guard Dad. Alcantara is grippier. And look good as well.

I have just north of 30k miles of my fat behind in my ‘15 and they look great.

I use a soft bristle brush to maintain. That’s it.

SilverGhost

Alcantara:
lately, looking at used vettes on the forum, if the used car dealer doesn't detail the microfiber seat inserts and comb it, it sometimes looks like a pee stain on them.

I've only owned a car with Alcantara once, a Porsche 997. To my nose, it stunk. It was standard, all leather extra cost.

My 1lt/1lzvettes have all had (have) the pleather, a mix of plastic and leather, chevy calls their brand Mulan

Nappa leather on 2lt/2lz. Had a Z06 2lz (C6) Nappa Leather nice feel. I put some leather treatment and conditioner on it, covered the car, in storage, and found I had grown light greem mold "blooms" like a flower bloom, all over the leather seats. The plastic on the dash in those c6 turned chalk white if you let them sit, so I had a red/black/green/white interior. not cool.

i'd take the "micro-fiber plastic "Alcantara" "Ultra-suede" whatever sounds cool to you seating if it was free. But I wouldn't pay a dime more for it as Chevy likes to charge. 1lz pleather is ok fine by me.
So Pleather is ok, and the Nappa leather on c7 2 and 3lt's just seem to be causing different heartburn than mold blooms, instead featuring bubbles dashes, so I wouldn't pay extra for Nappa Leather either,

It is not like Chevrolet is putting Connolly leather hides and Wilton scottish wool carpeting in their cars.

Speaking of which that carpeting in vettes is the pits, not the seating material. So thin it tears when you try to pull it out from the wheel well housing to work on the battery. Feels like a Dollar Tree car mat.

geraldschumann

Alcântara is the Victoria's Secret of seating material. It’s the best of the cheap stuff. I prefer Alcântara on my motorcycle seats as it wears so much better, it doesn’t look as bad as leather after a few years and it’s very comfortable.

dave_2012_tt

One of the reasons I purchased the corvette I did was because it had the alcantara steering wheel, shifter and seats. I woud get the two tone if you can...to me looks more sports car to me. they sell a alcantara cleaner and brush....works great.

rrsperry

Still not exactly sure why people want leather seating surfaces in a sports car. If it were me, I'd want cloth seating surfaces and microfiber on the bolsters, and steering wheel. Still pretty sure that the seating surfaces are leather, and the bolsters are microfiber in a corvette.

1BadRS

My 2008 Cobalt SS came with the Alcantara seats in black and I love them. I went with the two tone black alcantara with adrenaline red and it looks so awesome. I also have the wheel, shifter **** and boot also in the alcantara. I like it so much I want to swap out the rest of the parts to make it look like the black suede package they sold.

With that said, I would NEVER get the Alcantara in grey. The Cobalts that came with the grey alcantara seats all look dirty, even the low mile cars. They looked so good when they first came out, I was a bit disappointed I didn't get that until I saw what they looked like down the road. 12 years later and the seats in my Cobalt look brand new. I expect the same in the Corvette with the black alcantara

itchiesvette

I have them on my Jeep SRT and prefer leather seats .
Good video on how to clean them .
https://video.search.yahoo.com/searc...bf&action=view

Steve Garrett

If Alcantara is good enough for Lamborghini, Ferrari, Porsche, Pagani and Koenigsegg....it's good enough for me.

Bishop4142

I would not but a car with Alcantara. I had a BMW M3 with the steering wheel and after a few short months it looked like crap. I fought with the dealer to replace it under warranty, then I found out I wasn't alone. To me it is garbage.... that said, it is a personal choice

altransam

Well , had the alcantara with 3lt in my 2017 GS, was lukewarm to it when I bought it, my 2019 Z06 is 2lz with all leather and I miss the alcantara only on the steering wheel, I am worried that the leather will not have enough grip when lapping, whenever the tracks will open in Canada

Alain from Montreal

dvilin

Leather for me, looks better, feels better and wears better.

Cadigti

I ordered my 2019 GS 2LT with the Kalahari microfiber inserts. I do some long distance trips (10-12 hours) and prefer the better breathability of fabric and to me the fabric feels more comfortable to sit on. I do have heated and ventilated seats. My daily driver Acura has heated and ventilated leather seats. The ventilated feature works well on the Acura leather, but the fabric on the Corvette keeps me cooler / less sweating than the Acura with leather on long distance all day trips. I also like the look of having leather with fabric. Plus GM’s pleather even in most current Cadillac’s to me is very low grade. I inherited a 1 owner 1979 very low mile Cadillac years ago. Now that car has some real leather and still looks, smells, and feels brand new! A much heavier grade and plusher leather.
My Bonobos blue jeans have high dye transfer. So I do keep a towel on the seat if I am wearing those jeans.

23/C8Z

agreed. I've had a variety of cars and trucks with leather and alcantara. if the vehicle has a lot of cushion in the seat bottoms (Cadillac) i found the leather more satisfying. but when you start with a sport style seat Corvette like having owned 3, two full leather and now on my second C7Z but this one with the Alcantara inserts (and full alcantara jet black option so fake suede is everywhere, i am 100% more comfortable and confident whipping around in the car. it is also much cooler for a long drive (something i noticed back in 2013 when my friend picked up his 2LT Stingray with Alcantara inserts). I've had all 3LZ/LT Corvettes since 2013. As for wear? idk. depends on body size/type to me.. i see if different in all types of seats on corvettes.

As for steering wheels? i have had a full Alcantara steering wheel in my 16 Z and i have a CF/Alcantara in my 19Z. You can clean the Alcantara with hot water and soap on a microfiber and a brush and will a little elbow grease it comes out like new.

TO me, the full Alcantara interior looks sportiest and most exotic of the options (it's on the door panels, the batwing, the pass dash the seats headliner, A and B pillars etc). The full leather in a color other than black, looks "classiest".

owc6

If your car has MF trim and MF seat inserts, it's important to know that they are two different materials.

The inserts are easy to keep looking nice, and after more than 115,000 miles, the inserts in my 2014 still looked like new. It is a fabric with a nap, but felt like a fabric (similar in texture to a no-wale corduroy ). Cooler and grippier than leather.

The trim was a whole other story. The parts that didn't get touched looked great (dash, door inserts A pillars and windshield surround), but anywhere that did get touched became matted (center console, armrests, door handles). I can only imagine what a nightmare a MF steering wheel would be to keep nice looking. The trim is more of an actual fake suede with a short pile but with little to no nap.

JMII

this mirrors my experience with my 2014 3LT (@33K now)

The MF seats are great but the door pulls already look bad. The seats inserts stays cool and holds you in place much better then leather

However the MF material on my drivers door has bubbled up and is sagging already. I noticed when I open the door I press the button then use my elbow to nudge the door outward. After doing this for about a year the MF separated from the panel. I plan of getting some headliner glue behind it which should hold it down. Due the reports of the center console wrinkling I try my best avoid rubbing my elbow on it. At least that part is easy and cheap to replace compared to the door panel.

sjw91

I had a BMW with that steering wheel too. Totally agree. It's fine as a headliner, but I don't want it on any surface that gets touched.

Mr. Livingston

Leather is considered #1 but alcantara or even cloth feels better in recent years. Feels better to me at least.

Gearhead Jim

I'm with JMII and owc6.
We bought our 2017 Z51 2LT off a dealer's lot, and it came with the $695 Sueded Microfiber seat inserts and steering wheel package. I didn't want them but this was the only car with the other options we wanted.

After 3 yrs/30k miles, we love the suede seats. Cooler in summer, warmer in winter. No problems getting in and out but grippier around the corners. Still look brand new.
The suede shifter (A8) and sun visors are waste of time, neither better nor worse than the normal material.
The suede steering wheel has indeed gotten a bit matted, but not too bad. While driving, it feels like I'm fondling a small rodent and grip is no better than leather.
The other parts they mentioned are the normal plastic/leather in our car, so we got the best of everything. By dumb luck.