Leather

[The Great Soprendo]

New poster here, currently seriously considering a Civic as my new car. I'm actually getting to test drive a CDTi for the weekend shortly which I'm very much looking forward to. However I need to order very soon after as it's a replacement for my company car which goes back at the end of Sept. The model I'm looking at is the CDTi SE.

Anyway, does anyone have any experience of the leather seats option? At £800 it seems reasonable compared to what other manufacturers charge for it, especially as it includes heated seats and a leather steering wheel (though the latter I'd probably expect on a car like this anyway). And also when you consider they charge £350 just for a pair of foglights (which is a shame, as I think they make significant improvement to the look of the car, but it's too much money to justify).

I've read one or two reviews which seem to suggest the leather seats are actually better seats (as opposed to just being covered in leather). Can anyone confirm?

The other issue is whether to go for the black or ivory? I haven't really seen any images of a Civic with the ivory seats, and the brochure only has an internal view from the rear of the black seats - seem to have light coloured stitching which looks quite nice, but sometimes light coloured leather just looks better, especially on cars with darker bodywork. Question is, is the Civic one of those cars that suits leather (my current Alfa definitely is, I think), or are cloth seats just better suited to a car like this? And if so, with what combination of exterior colour?

Any views very welcome! Many thanks.

PS One more question - can the front passenger airbag be switched on and off easily to be able to put a baby seat in there? Can't find mention of this anywhere.

[Copycat]

http://www.civinfo.com/forum/viewtop...ighlight=ivory

There ya go. Pictures and all.

As far as I know the airbag can not be switched off at all. Then again, what do I know. I haven't had the chance to read the manual yet.

[Raegten]

I nearly went for an SE in Black with light leather. It really looks well and the leather is good quality. The seats didn't look much different from the fabric ones but the fact that they're heated might suggest that they are entirely different seats as opposed to the same seats that have a heating element fitted.
I would deffinately go for the light leather. without the glass roof the interior would be a bit dark and dreary in all black. The glass roof means you can get away with black seats.
I would have gone for the SE with leather trim (is it called the SE Executive??) but I would have missed the gadgets that you get on the ES light fog lights, cruise control, auto lights, auto wipers and the glass roof. I 'm told you still can't get the diesel OR the EX in Ireland yet fro some reason so that made my chice easier still.

[jw]

I'm picking up my new Civic in the next few days with black leathers. I have sat in both cloth and leather seats during my test drive and found the leathers slightly firmer and more supportive. I also found the interior appearance much better with leathers and went for black to avoid dirty marks showing up in the future.

Like you I was also considering the foglights but decided against it because £350 was too much for something I would hardly use and probably get stopped for by the police for misuse. Instead I went for the front bumper garnish in silver because that definitely improves the look of the Civic especially with the colour I chose.