How's the alcantara in the Limited? Will it pill like the BMW E46 ZHP's?
 

While alcantara has an awesome feel to it, I've known it to pill and fray from my experience while shopping for an BMW 330i w/ ZHP Performance Package. Granted, the alcantara was only on the steering wheel where it gets used up often. Now i'm a pretty neat guy, so i think with proper care, the alcantara may just last for a few years.

dunno about in this car, but my speed 3 had leather/alcantara seats and they still looked like brand new after just over 4 years and 58k miles.

I'm with you on this. Even though they look great, I feel they won't hold up as well as the years pass compared to the cloth, imo.

The FR-S seats won't hold up as long as the BRZ will. It has to do with the BRZ holding you in a little better. Less rubbing on the seat when you get into the car and while driving.

Aren't the seats on the twins the same?

No...the cloth differs between the base BRZ and FR-S, and the Limited BRZ has Alcantara with leather bolsters.

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8591

Nope

Alcantara upholstery seems about the same quality as in 08 STI. So find one nearby and see for yourself if you're worried. Alcantara on seats in my Legacy is holding up pretty well.

I can't remember exactly where I saw it on here but some have said the seats are the same just the materials are seat covers that can be removed. I remember them saying they were going to order the Brz seat covers and put them on an fr-s. Can anyone offhand confirm or deny this?

Thanks for the link--great article. However, I meant if the seats are different structurally, which they are not. Materials, some difference, but its structurally the same seat. As I see it, there shouldn't be any difference for how the seat "holds" the driver/passenger.

It's a bit hard to quantify but Alcantara will hold you in place better than some cloth and most leather. It's harder to slide around on the material.

Oh no, everything else other than the few cosmetic things are different. They are built next to each other at the same factory

I had a Celica GT-S for 5 years with Alcantara seats. I didn't like how they were dust magnets so I put seat covers on them from the begninning so I can't comment on lastability. But another BRZ owner told me his friend's BMW's Alcantara seats were a pain to maintain and frayed. So I bought faux leather seat back/bottom cushions from Wal-Mart. It only covers the Alcantara midsection and leaves the leather bolsters/headrest on the seat exposed.

I put 12k miles on an Audi S4 with leather/alcantara seats and try still looked brand new when I turned the car in. The nice thing about Alcantara is that they have a color palette of material and it's synthetic so even if it does wear several years down the road, an upholstry shop worth it's salt could replace the Alcantara sections fairly easily.

So how do you like them so far while driving with those cushions, as far as comfort goes?

And that's good to know, thanks.

:thanks:

I am more concerned about the leather bolster near the door. That was always a problem in my SVX, and every SVX I'd ever seen had a lot of wear on that part of the seat because it's a friction point when getting in and out of car. Hopefully the leather used in this car will be more resistant to wear/cracking. I certainly plan to make sure to use a leather conditioner frequently.

They're comfy since it's an extra layer of padding (thin; about 1/2" thick). The smooth/soft touch surface actually feels upscale. And the seats overall feel effectively the same maintaining their bolstering function. Sometimes the cushion shifts slightly off-center when I get in/out but for the most part the Alcantara holds them in the same position.

Hello,
Aren't those straps by any chance interfering with the side airbags? You should check if they do.

From what I remember from checking, the side airbags come out from a plastic panel just behind the recline adjustment knob (right at the articulation joint between the seatback and seat). So it's out of the way. But even if they did come out from the leather bolster they would easily bust through the straps. They're pretty thin/stretchable and I bet I could rip them apart by hand.

This. Its exactly the same as my buddy's 08 STi which held up well even with kids doing their best to ruin the back seat.

Man that reminds me of people who cover their couch in waterproof plastic.

Would prefer cloth over alcantera for least maintenance. My alcantera steering wheel is frayed or worn out already on my m3. Ive scrubbed and cleaned to revive but not the same.

I'm worry about the ware but more so my wet ass since they don't breath.

In both my '05 and '08 STi, the Alcantara looked essentially brand new at trade-in time. It is a "must have" feature for me now; I much, much prefer it over cloth or leather. The BRZ Alcantara feels about the same as the STI stuff so I expect it should wear the same. From my experience, it's virtually indestructible under normal use and resists stains much better than cloth.

For what it's worth, the overall seat feel is significantly better in the BRZ than in the '08 STI, IMHO.

Alcantara.com

Click on "maintenance", read and follow the directions for care. That should ensure that the material lasts as long as possible.

leather seats for FRS
 

I know this is a BRZ discussion, but wanted to put this out there since its related to seats.

For $2400, I'm having my FRS seats' cloth covers replaced by leather with the similar stitching(the red accents etc). I did not think the FRS' cloth seats were maintainable over a long period.