Bluehinder

Alcantara wears very well. Besides, the steering wheel and shifter can be replaced for not too much muny. Suncoast has the RS wheel for $500. Gert has the shifter.

It feels so great that I'd rather replace it every couple of years than have leather. I never keep a car that long anyway, so it's moot.

Nordschleife

You spend a lot of money on a car, and then dress it in the automotive equivalent of a nylon shirt????????

I bet you get Old Spice for Chrtistmas!

I'm sorry but fake suede........ its up there with Tatoos - it doesn't belong in a quality motor car.

R+C

normank

Talk about mixed metaphors. What's your point? What do you know that Porsche missed?

ssarchi

Didn't you know? ole nordy knows all.........back to the cave.....

eclou

I am going with full leather and leather on the wheel. I take good care of my stuff, but I also choose stuff that is hardy to begin with. I don't wear suede shoes for that very reason

singletrack1

Those who say alcantera steering wheel wears well(meaning comparable to leather) has never owned a car with an alcantera steering wheel more than a few thousand miles. Wishful thinking about how well it is going to wear isn't going to change reality.

I've seen many alcantera steering wheels from BMW and porsche come into the shop and after 10K miles or so, they look very worn. Much more worn than leather. It looks like worn terry cloth. And, without using gloves, alcantera is slicker than leather to bare hands.

Does alcantera look "cool" and "race car like"? Yes. Does it function as well on the street and with bare hands as leather? No.

It is personal choice to buy either wheel and buy what you want. Just don't dillude yourself that the reason to pick alcantera for a street car is nothing more than vanity and doesn't function as well as leather.

blueillusion97

But if you wear gloves most of the time alcantera will wear much less?

Nordschleife

You are quite wrong there - Nylon shirts are synthetic as is Alcantara, the kind of people who wear nylon shirts tend to favour Old Spice/Brut after shave and tattoos...... entirely related and a logical association of images.

As far as what has Porsche missed - nothing - its a customer thing. Porsche is happy to replace all sythetic covering materials with leather, if asked, and other shops are able to supply suede if asked.

I generally select fine nappa leather roof linings and find them much easier to look after than synthetic alcantara. Plus it smells much better.

If you want a racy feel, select fabric upholstery. If you go back far enough in automotive history, utilitarian cars had leather interiors whilst the luxury cars had fabric and velour interiors, but no synthetics.

Might I suggest one time in your life, getting on the plane and flying to Stuttgart, going to Zuffenhausen and ordering a car to your exact specification, your colours, your equipment levels, your engine tune, your interior colour scheme and materials, its not cheap, but you have a car that is uniquely yours, if you got it right, you won't want to sell it, if you didn't you have an excuse for another trip.

R+C

Jewels

I have Alcantra on my 2000 Ausi S4 with 60k on it.....also on my steering wheel in my race car.
Holds up GREAT..wheel MUCH more grip with or without gloves then tyhe leather on my Targa...high wear areas are holding up fine.
Are you a purist..no synthetic material in the car...better through out all that plastic..but what! Now the car dosen't run? Hog Wash. It gets high marks in my book and is never cold in the winter or uncomfortable in the heat.

MPD47

My alcantara wheel has serious wear on the insides of it where I rest my thumbs when just cruising on the highway, it's to be expected and doesnt really bother me. Worst case, I'll order another one at some point. But until the whole wheel looks like that it wont bother me. My dash is holding up fine to UV/dirt etc, and does a nice job cutting down on the glare of course.

normank

What you know about my life is less than zero. If I gave you the impression that I was looking for suggestions, that would be my error. It was a simple question and required a simple response. "What did Porsche miss?" "Nothing."

normank

Thanks for the tip. I will be more careful in the future. Don't want to create undo competition for GEICO.

curtsm

I had a 2000 Audi S4 with Alcantara seat inserts and after about 3 years the material was discolored and had noticable pilling.

A single-edge razor blade was good at removing the pilling, but overall I'd say that I like the look of weathered leather much better than what was going on w/ the synthetic material.

- curt