2004 Toyota Prius: Wear and Tear

asdf9036:

Um, we have to be fair here.... Any car thats at least 6 years old and in a fleet with quite a few people getting in and out is going to have wear and tear like that

your comment is typical unthought out garbage

And any car with a beige interior is going to show dirt like that.

Are you sure it's not a least a little dirty? The pull area there is, I'm pretty sure, filthy. Though yeah I can tell some of it is wear.

My old '92 maxima with lighter cloth beige interior was much cleaner than this after 13 years and 165,000 miles. There were some lightly soiled part, but absolutely zero wear, even on the driver's seat.

All surfaces were nicely padded, and squishy to touch.

They don't make 'em like they used to.

I agree, some of that is dirt, check out one or two of the car detailing sites for tips. There's people on there that takes cars 50 times worse that they make look like new.

and tell someone to wash their hair.

Yeah, our '04 Sienna (preface: I'm by absolutely no means a Toyota fanboy...it just gets the job done for this purpose) has been abused rather similarly, which is to say that it's been seeing pretty heavy use since day 1. However, nearly ever material on the inside is still like-new, with absolutely NONE of the wear that you're seeing on these seats- we even have the same beige fabric.

Like others are saying, I think a good detail would do wonders for these problems- we try to thoroughly detail our Sienna after every major roadtrip, or at least twice a year, with normal cabin cleaning more frequently. As a result, even the plastics still look like new, save for some scratches on the panels near the rear, from metal frames we've moved.

The outside, however, has taken quite a few parking lot mishaps, so the IL Prius might have the edge there.

Aww man, looking at that seat is gross. Tell Josh "SadButTrue" Sadlier to wear a diaper from now on.

Maybe Caroline has some lemon Pledge in her Corolla to clean it up.

Yeah it always seemed like the suede type stuff Toyota uses would wear quickly and show a lot of dirt.

That's interesting. I have a VW Beetle that's 5 years older than your Pruis. Its black interior looks literally brand new. It's been through 10 Michigan winters and with the exception of styling changes, you wouldn't know the difference between its interior and that of one rolling out of the showroom. VW all the way!

This is why leather is better than cloth interiors.

This is why cloth is better than suede.

Remember this order of seat materials.

Vinyl < cheap suede < cheap cloth < leather or mid grade cloth < high grade leather/cloth < top grade leather <exotic seat materials.

At least this is the chart I use when shopping for cars.

Truck = Cloth Its the best blend of comfort and durability.

The cloth seats in my 105K mile 1999 Wrangler Sahara look as good as new. I actually prefer cloth over leather.

@hybris

I'm not sure that I agree with your order. A good quality vinyl like MB-Tex can be better and longer lasting than leather. I'd much rather have MB-Tex than the horrible leather that GM uses.

You people are harsh. It's a 5-year-old company car that no one took care of. Have you been inside a 2-year-old rental car?

why did Toyota put those types of materials on the armrest? I never understood that. The 2nd Gen Prius was full of poor materials and had all of the quality feel of a $15k car. Fuzzy materials do not belong on surfaces that are frequently contacted in the car- like armrests. The rental Prius models I have been in were worn like this.

@leftnose

I will admit that I do have a disliking for vinyl simply because of how uncomfortable the material it self gets under cold or hot conditions.

I don't I have ever seen GM leather in bad shape but I know there seats seem to break down quicker than average.

my old car had 6 years of use and leather was in great condition when I traded it in. considering GM interiors are better now than they were when I got that car I dont see any reason to believe their materials are worse than the competition's.

yuck!

The cloth in my Maxima was charcoal and lasted 11 years, looking nearly good-as-new. But, I was a bachelor and didn't eat in the car. Now, I have an otherwise wonderful wife that eats in the car, and insists that kids and cloth don't mix, because of crackers, puke, and hot milky. What do you think? Should I go average leather in a family sedan (e.g. Altima, Legacy) or assume I can get the filth out of cloth?

I will side with 1487 here and wonder why Toyota uses that fuzzy stuff. It just feels cheap and non-durable. High quality cloth is my choice for upholstery. Some good leathers are nice too but it also depends on the purpose of the vehicle.

@jederino my cousin has a 7 year old, and his Subaru of the past 3 years has cloth and it is disgusting. Crayons, food, dirt, you name it lodged into the material. My sister has a 5 year old and her Tahoe of the past 5 years has leather, and the seats look OK, not like new but not that bad. Either way it takes a lot of work to keep the interior looking like new when you have kids.