Cloth interior?

[Blauwagon]

I'm in the planning stage of my next car and the Passat TDI is at the top of my list. The only problem is my daughter is sensitive to the smell of the VW leather(ette) interior of my current '07 Passat Wagon.

From what I can tell the Passat TDI only comes with a leather interior.
I called a local dealer who said they could special order a Passat TDI with cloth.

Do any of you have any experience with such a special order?
Are there any other TDI's, Sportwagon, Golf that are available with cloth?

Thanks in advance

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Blauwagon
2002 Jetta Wagon TDI ( Sold w 250k miles )
2007 Passat Wagon 2.0T ( For Sale 160k miles )

 

[Softrockrenegade]

I thought the passat was real leather and suede rather than leatherette . The golf is only available with cloth and I think the jetta and jetta sportwagen are both only available in leatherette . I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong though.

 

[APT]

Passat SE = Leatherette
Passat SEL Premium = Leather outside of seats, Dinamica inserts. Maybe that is acceptable substitute for your daughter. Or, buy some $10 towels to cover them.

 

[Niner]

Passat SE = Leatherette
Passat SEL Premium = Leather outside of seats, Dinamica inserts. Maybe that is acceptable substitute for your daughter. Or, buy some $10 towels to cover them.

Sheep skin seat covers? Baaaaaaaaaaah, Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaah.

 

[tdiatlast]

Blauwagon: I'm sorry about your dilemna. I'm not allergic to the odor of the leatherette, but during the first several months of Jetta TDI ownership, I found the odor quite annoying. It wasn't the "normal" new-car smell I wanted.

Covering the seats with a cloth or a seat cover will accomplish nothing. The odor comes from the normal "out-gassing" of volatile compounds in the vinyl itself. It will dissipate with time, but it does take quite a while. I sped the process by leaving the windows and sunroof open overnight in the garage.

I would seriously doubt the dealer you contacted about special-ordering cloth seats. With production capacity has heavily burdened as it is, I find it unlikely that they would allow such a special order.

Good luck. We love our 2012 Passat SEL, although as others have commented, the cornsilk seats are going to be a challenge to keep clean. In fact, the driver's seat left bolster is already quite a bit darker than when new.

 

[RebelTDI]

My Jetta has leatherette, Golf has cloth. Both have their own unique smells. I'm pretty meticulous about keeping my cars clean. My kids complained more about the smell of the cloth. Cloth seats will eventually fray a bit. The leatherette is quite durable, but kind of cold in winter AMs. The seat heaters are nice, though. Back seat riders will have to rely on the heat of their buttocks to warm the seat.

 

[APT]

If you like the car so much, I am sure you can find some seats at a junk yard, or find someone with a non TDI lower trim model to swap. Probably going to lose heated functionality though.

 

[TomB]

So is your daughter allergic and having a medical response or just doesn't like the smell?

You could have an upholstery service redo your seats, but that would be expensive, so if for a true medical necessity probably worth it.

 

[Niner]

Park it in the sun, with the windows cracked, to expedite the out gassing. Hold the drivers side window button down for 8 seconds to open up all the windows every time she enters the car to let the vapors out as she starts driving, it will flush the scent out quickly.

 

[Sharky]

Passat SE = Leatherette
Passat SEL Premium = Leather outside of seats, Dinamica inserts. Maybe that is acceptable substitute for your daughter. Or, buy some $10 towels to cover them.

Move to Canada !

Only the top the line model here (Highline) comes with leather/danimica.
All other models come with cloth.

 

[verylongdrive]

Move to Canada !

Only the top the line model here (Highline) comes with leather/danimica.
All other models come with cloth.

Are there different types of cloth? The US cloth seems a bit cheap and rough compared to e.g. the cloth in my '01 Golf.

Do the higher-end models come with a power driver's seat, which would means power cloth seat are a manufactured combination?

 

[MyAvocation]

The non-SE, non-TDI comes with cloth. Find a daeler willing to custom order a TDI. Then share with us so we can pursue our own custom orders.