Red Leather? Is this the colour of choice?! (also-HELLO!)

[mariojoshi]

Hi guys and girls,

I'm sorry that I haven't officially introduced myself as yet - but in short:

I'm a petrolhead called Josh - I live in Hatfield in Herts and currently drive a Merc C220 Estate sport as my daily for work.
I still have a Vw Corrado VR6 which I loved dearly.. but has been off the road for a few years since buying a house and settling down. I'm getting it back on the road and ready to sell at the moment.
Before that I had a Vw Polo coupe GT... which I also loved dearly! In the meantime, I had a Mk1 MX-5 for a summer, which was great fun.
Oh - and I've had a KTM Duke 125 for a couple of years, which I'm selling to help fund a Zed.

The Z4 Coupe has been my unicorn car for probably the best part of 10 years now. It's the one car that I knew I'd be able to afford that I actually genuinely wanted. The design is nothing short of iconic and the cult following, the understated power and long nose and short bum - I just love everything about them.

I've been watching the values slowly drop from about £16,000 for an OK one... down to their current value. Now seems like the right time to buy. I don't think they can realistically go much lower.
I'm going on a European road trip to Tuscany this summer via the Swiss Alps and back via Monaco. Taking the Merc would be the sensible option - but who's sensible?


So - I've found a couple of cars that I like - but I hate red leather.
Black on black is the only combination that works in my eyes.

Is red leather the most desirable colour to have?
Do the readers of this post think that anyone would want to swap out their black/two tone leather for Red if I was able to offer this?


What do you all think?
Josh

 

[mjgerrard]

It depends on the car colour really - You're not going to find many takers from owners of blue cars, for red seats! Though I would say that red seats in a black, silver or grey roadster would be more desirable than black seats. I like my Zed to feel special, and black seats just don't do it for me. I had black in my MX-5 too

Owners of a blue car would probably want cream as their desirable colour for example...

Saying that, I have a red car so cream or any other colour leather probably wouldn't have worked very well. The original owner specced red seats because I assume they thought black was going to be a bit boring and no other colour would work

Each to their own!

Mike.

P.S Welcome buddy!

 

[mariojoshi]

Agreed - Blue and red sounds a bit..... odd.
So, I may have some options from people with silver /grey or black cars then....

Hmmm!

 

[Stug]

Red seats in a black coupe with piano black trim was definitely what I was searching for. No other combo was acceptable. When I was looking for my roadster it either had to be grey with black leather or silver with red...

 

[cj10jeeper]

Red seats always command a premium over any other colour, hence you always see a constant stream of folks seeking them, especially the much rarer sports seats.

In reality the right colour combo of paint and seats is important as others have said and more importantly what you want - It's going to be your Zed.

If you want black then less to worry about

BTW - If you buy a car with red seats there will be plenty of offers to swap it over and even cash adjustment in your favour for good quality.

 

[tomscott]

CJ +1

Buy one with red and il swap you for my black

Only if they are ///M seats tho! When I was looking for mine the perfect combo was carbon black and red unfortunately impossible to find

 

[Lynchy]

I'm sure if you bought the car with red leather you would easily get a swap to black

 

[mariojoshi]

Thanks everyone - that puts my mind at rest. They are just a little bit on the loud side for me personally.
You never know, I might end up liking them if I buy a car with them!

I think my favourite has to be black with silver/grey bolsters or even the ochre yellow two tone! Each to their own eh?

Josh

 

[edd_jedi]

As you have proved yourself, red leather is indeed desirable by some, but many also hate it (like you and I.) You will also find that very few Z4 coupes have dark paint AND dark leather - you tend to find black leather in sliver/light cars, and grey or champagne leather in dark cars. I hate any leather other than black, so I swapped the seats in my Z4 when I bought it. It ended up costing me a few hundred quid after selling my old ones which was well worth it. so I would not turn down the perfect car on interior colour alone, you can change it. Check out my interior swap thread if you want to see!

http://www.z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=56151

 

[-Tom-]

Nice write up! Any pics of your VR6?

On photos the red leather on a z4 looks a bit brash and bright ... But in the flesh it has a darker tone to it - I was sceptical until I saw it in the flesh, coming from an off grey/white leather which I really liked.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

[Peddyboy]

I wasn't a fan of red leather also, but when I saw it with the space grey, I thought it went together very well, so much so that I bought it!

 

[budfox]

I've always thought that any colour other than black looks ridiculous. Red being the worst of the lot, unless one is renting out ladies by the hour.

 

[Nondizzyblonde]

Personally I always wanted black with red leather and was delighted to get it. I would like to say that I have never rented myself out by the hour !
But, at the end of the day, it all boils down to personal taste. As people have said, resale wise people seem to like red leather, but it would be odd in a blue car. Silver and black look good with them (IMO). Also, as others have said people will be happy to swap or buy them off you, so if the car is otherwise great I wouldn't let that put me off.
P.s. black on black would make me think drug dealer.

 

[Bing]

The ladies I rent out have a minimum call out of 3 hours, but they are very good and will make up for any lack of imagination you suffer, commonly evidenced by having black seats

Not a fan of black on black myself, though nothing against black leather in other colour cars. As said, you'll be able to swap them along with the door cards plus cash fairly easily on here. Good luck with your search

 

[cj10jeeper]

I've always thought that any colour other than black looks ridiculous. Red being the worst of the lot, unless one is renting out ladies by the hour.

Only one word comes to mind 'bland'

 

[Lynchy]

The ladies I rent out have a minimum call out of 3 hours, but they are very good and will make up for any lack of imagination you suffer, commonly evidenced by having black seats
I'll take two :wink:

 

[Gogo]

Personal preference as always! I recently swapped my Black Oregon seat covers and door cards for Dream Red New England (with Sterling Grey). Delighted with the result - to me it really lifts the interior.

Black Oregon seat covers and door cards now available................

 

[edd_jedi]

Only one word comes to mind 'bland'

For me it's not so much the colour itself, but the way it wears and ages. A good example is to look at an E36 or E39 - these cars are both well over 10 years old now, so ones with grey plastic and silver leather look a right state, even if you look after them. But black plastic and leather is a lot kinder and can easily go 10+ years old without looking old.

 

[Wyldie85]

Grey, silver and black cars with red leather is a special combination.
If you can find one with piano black interior trim then even better.

I have a grey car with piano black, black seats and black door cards. Whilst there's nothing wrong with it - it can look a bit drab and I I feel red leather would really set it off a treat.

 

[cj10jeeper]

Only one word comes to mind 'bland'

For me it's not so much the colour itself, but the way it wears and ages. A good example is to look at an E36 or E39 - these cars are both well over 10 years old now, so ones with grey plastic and silver leather look a right state, even if you look after them. But black plastic and leather is a lot kinder and can easily go 10+ years old without looking old.

My Zeds well over 10 years old with red and most people who see if would consider/comment it's almost as new.
Had a 10 year old X5 with 100k on and a light grey interior and it looked unmarked

A lot of it is down to how things are looked after, but agree as a general rule dark hides wear (and neglect) better than light