Crud. I thought they came with leather *trimmed* seats, which I was willing to live with. But... can I only get leather seats on the top of the line model? I hate leather seats.

I try not to wear or use leather at all, but I know that's next to impossible. Besides, leather seats get killer-hot in the summer.

*grump*

 

Yes. The "L" in EX-L stands for leather. I'd much rather have a white leather interior like the Mazda3, so it didn't get too hot in the summer, but would have the heated seats only available on the EX trims so I didn't get too cold in the winter.

 

And of course, as I was typing my post, I was thinking "duh, that's probably what the 'L' stands for".

But... but.... This is what it says:

• Leather-Wrapped Steering Wheel and Shift Knob
• Leather-Trimmed Seats

So, what is leather "trimmed" then? I was thinking the seam areas around the seat were leather.

 

I am also confused by the term "leather trimmed". There is no cloth on any part of the seats in my EX-L, except the back of the rear fold-down seats are of course not leather.

I just Google'd it and people are saying that "leather trimmed" means only the part of the seat that touches your body are real leather. The back of the seats are vinyl that looks like leather. All the leather in my EX-L looks exactly the same to me so that idea still doesn't make sense for the Fit. I'm pretty sure all the leather in the Fit is fake anyway, some kind of synthetic leatherette. I don't really care if it is genuine or not, I just wanted the heated seats. I asked several Honda salesman and they said it was definitely real leather but of course they are going to say that. Fake leather requires much less maintenance so that is kind of an advantage for fake leather anyway. It would be ridiculous to have soft, easily damaged genuine leather in a cheap car designed for carrying cargo.

I saw a suggestion that one can take a magnifying Glass and look for skin pores to identify genuine leather.

 

I believe "leather trimmed" mean the seat is made of vinyl and there is a thin layer of "leather" lining lamented onto only the seating surfaces. Like when you see a furniture commercial for a "bonded leather sofa" for a low price; bonded leather is vinyl with leather on the outside.

I am SURE the leather seats you pay $20k for are the cheapest legal definition of a leather seat possible. One cow will cover 10 Fits

 

I tinted my Fit EX-L with Navi's windows and it honestly gets less hot inside than my untinted Prius C that has fabric seats and everything inside is half black, half white/offwhite. Also the A/C works great and cools it down fast! We took a 2 hour drive each way into the mountains last weekend and left the Fit parked in the sun all day and it cooled down quick. Never once got sweaty inside. It is not humid here though so this is just my experience. And I gotta say, the built in Navi is pretty nice to have with no cell reception!

 

The actual seating surface is leather, like the part your butt and back touch. The rest of the seat is vinyl/leatherette.

Hence the "leather-trimmed"

My EX-L doesn't get hot inside, but I'm not a good example to go off of. My car is garaged at home and inside a covered parking garage at work, so its rarely left in the sun to get hot.

 

What he said ^^^

 

I was hoping that I would be able to find someone like you buying a car at the dealer that I had ordered my car from. That way they could move the leather seats that you did not want from the EX-L navi car that into my EX manual transmission car, where leather is not available. And the the cloth seats from my manual transmission car into your navi car and we would both be happy. I figured the seats just unbolt and the door panels are easily swapped. The only issue would be the switches for the heated seats would probably not have a place to pug into. But I was still disappointed that the leather trimmed steering wheel would not be available on the EX.

 

The leather-trimmed shift knob is a dealer-installed option for EX, but not one I'm really willing to pay extra for. Maybe in the future if I have extra cash to blow lol.

 

I do realize, by the way, that I may be the only person in the world who *prefers* fabric to leather seating.

 

No, you're not. If I buy an EX-L, I would be looking into seat covers.

 

No you are not. If I could have, I would have gotten an EX-L without leather.

 

In this case, I prefer the fabric. The leather trimmed seated in this car are pretty cheap both in look and feel and I worry about their durability.

 

...I was really thinking I was an oddball.

 

I don't really care either way, but point in favor to the cloth seats that I don't adhere to them in the summer.

My other car has them and I am often peeling myself free if I wear shorts in the summer.

 

I'm willing to trade my cloth EX interior for your leather interior. Just putting that out there.

 

Nope, quite a few people do. I actually prefer to cover my seats with "fabric sheepskin" covers in a light beige color to keep them cool in summer.

 

I don't like leather seats either. They look nice, but my for me they're too hot in the summer and cold in the winter, and it just seems like around here they're prone to crack in a few years unless they're conditioned regularly. So we went with the fabric seats and we'll probably put seat covers on them when they're available. But everybody is different!