What about the 1998 through 2005 SLKs? There are tons to choose from 4s, 6s, & 8s. Some of the SLK55 AMGs will creep above $20,000, but the others are really pretty affordable. You can get a good car and a parts car for under $20,000. ... View more

I would have helped if Pontiac had put in some of the consideration they wasted on the interior on the exterior. The Aztec has a reputation of being one of the ugliest vehicles to hit the road. The long nose borrowed from the minivan underneath was a major turn off. There was not much that could be done to gain traction with such an ugly duckling. ... View more

Bonded leather doesn't have to be much different than vinyl. Usually bonded leather is just a resin based product, like vinyl, that has a certain amount of leather fibers in the blend. ... View more

Sorry, leather seats do not have to have any of the characteristics that you attribute to them. Mine are not hot and sticky in the summer. The are not cold and hard in the winter, and you certainly don't slide around in them. Maybe junky, cheap leather covered seat are as you describe, better made seats are not. ... View more

Good leather seats breath as well as cloth. 1960s leather seats were not comfortable, but modern seat covers are not the same. ... View more

I have had leather seats and interiors in my vehicles for years. I may take some cleaner to them every 3 -4 years, but only is they are dirty. I don't get where everyone says they require tremendous amounts of maintenance. It just isn't true. I keep my vehicles until about 200,000 miles. I had been putting on about 40,000 miles per years. So, I was buying a new car and getting rid of it before it could get dirty or show some use. Maybe there is a world of difference in what you get for leather seats. All of my vehicles with leather have been Land Rovers or Mercedes so I may have an unrealistic viewpoint.   In any case everyone else has been speaking in absolutes and referencing brands or car class, so I have to assume they are meaning "all" leather seats. I'm saying it doesn't apply to all of them. ... View more

I guess it is an issue of what car you are buying. Most of what I have purchased for the past 30 years would be impossible to order with anything other than leather. You would have to go after market and the seat covers replaced. Now who is paying more? ... View more

I'm sorry, but well made leather seat covers give you all of the comfort and are not slick. You really need to try a well made modern leather seat. They have none of the issues you described. You don't slide on them and they don't burn after the vehicle has been sitting in the sun. I think you have just been exposed to junk leather seats covers. ... View more

The comments to this article have some value. ... View more

In the cars I had in my younger days, the non-leather seats were trash. They ripped and wore out much faster than any of the leather interiors that I have had over the past 25 years. I see no pluses to any other covering.   As far a heated seats goes, they are great. In the vehicles I have owned, if they were supplied without heated seats, it was only the controls that were missing. It was easier and less expensive for all of the seats to have the heater net in place whether or not it was used. I can't speak to cooled seats as I have never seen a need. Plus, the heated seats usually some with a package that gets a front windscreen and outside mirror heating system. If you don't live where there is ice, I guess it doesn't have much value. ... View more

Fair enough. I apologize for jumping the wording. It gets touchy these days. ... View more

Sorry Pal, radical name calling says more about you than the writer of the article, and it was a sorry article. You know nothing of left or right, just name calling. Why not hang out on some political bulletin board. I'm about as far left as they get and I won't have anything but leather interiors, so where does that leave you? ... View more

My wife drives a low mileage 2000 SLK230. I'm thinking that some day it should get a small block V8 conversion. There may be too many obstacles, but it sure would help the little thing. ... View more

I've seen so many articles about the "Top 10 Sports Cars" that show 80% 4 door sedans that I don't think the general public any longer knows what defines a sports car. Or, at least many writers no longer differentiate "sporty car" from "sports car" ... View more