I'm curious, what is Soft-Tex? Does it stand up well to wear and tear in long term use?

 

soft-tex is toyota's faux leather/leatherette for their SE interior. I believe the SE Camry is the first car to have soft-tex so at this time, no one really knows how long it's going to hold up. give it a few more months and if something negative comes up then I'm sure the news will get posted on this forum.

 

As long as yours doesn't look like mine (crease in passenger side seat) it will be fine. The dealer is going to fix mine. I didn't notice it until I took the pic. :headbang:

They are comfortable seats.

 

I have that exact same crease in my seats. I don't know what they would do to fix it? I will speak to them and see what they say...

 

it would be very easy for the average person to mistake the soft-tex with real leather.

by my opinion it doesn’t look like leather at all. I was looking to get SE but bought LE just because of the seats.
Best leatherette I’ve ever seen is in passat SE. to me it feels even nicer and looks more realistic than MB leatherette.
And compared to VW leatherette soft tex looks very low quality and feels cheap. Sorry.

 

by my opinion it doesn’t look like leather at all. I was looking to get SE but bought LE just because of the seats.
Best leatherette I’ve ever seen is in passat SE. to me it feels even nicer and looks more realistic than MB leatherette.
And compared to VW leatherette soft tex looks very low quality and feels cheap. Sorry.

I understand your point but I'm willing to guess that you and the people in this forum are "car guys" and not the average person. reason why I said what I said, was that for me it was the very first time dealing with synthetic leather so I had no other experience to compare it to. and I thought it was rather nice...nice enough to fake out the average "Joe". I feel that if I didn't know any better some one lied to me and said that it was real leather, I don't think I would have questioned it. also to buy this car i traded in a Solara that had real leather and i felt it is was comparable to that.

 

dam i want the en-tune to but my wife said no i have the same car same color but got my for

$22500

plus remote start

for 24300 otd

 

I too was pleasantly surprised with the Soft Tex and Microfiber seats (the factory leather leaves a lot to be desired with the sticky Ultrasuede), for whatever it's worth, everyone that get's in my car thinks the Soft Tex is leather.

If it doesn't wear well, I will just have leather installed which was my original plan which I abadoned when I picked up the car and saw the black seats for the first time, everything just worked and it felt like a shame to throw away the nice seats. All the cars I drove at the dealer had the Ash panels but when they had to bring a car in for me to get the features I wanted (or didn't want) they brought one in that had the black panels and am I glad they did. It changed my whole perspective on the car, the black seats with the black car is a look I like so much I will deal with the heat issues. Originally I was going to get all Ash Grey leather interior seats and go for the contrasting and different look since factory was only available in a two tone look. Now, when I upgrade to leather, it's going to be black....

To Molson, I do remember liking the VW leatherette very much as well as the entire interior of the Passat but it's gotten its share of "bad" remarks regarding its interior quality in some reviews that I don't necessarily agree with, this was the other car I was considering but ultimately was concerned about VW quality and the fact that they are starting up a new plant. In 5 years when it comes time to replace the Crew Cab I will go back and look at the TDI Passat...

 

I understand your point but I'm willing to guess that you and the people in this forum are "car guys" and not the average person. reason why I said what I said, was that for me it was the very first time dealing with synthetic leather so I had no other experience to compare it to. and I thought it was rather nice...nice enough to fake out the average "Joe". I feel that if I didn't know any better some one lied to me and said that it was real leather, I don't think I would have questioned it. also to buy this car i traded in a Solara that had real leather and i felt it is was comparable to that.

thanks for compliment but I'm no leather expert nor car guy.
I drove alot of cars with leather but never owned a car with leather.
and still, as soon as I touched soft-tex I didn't like it and realized that it is not real deal.
I seriously considered to buy 2.5SE I was surprised very much that VW used leather in 26K passat. salesman noticed my excitement and with smile on the face told me that it is not real leather...Couple days later I looked passat again and still couldn't believe how that leatherette looks and feels.

again, it's my opinion only. and even nicest synthetic leather I've even seen didn't mess my mind enough to buy passat.

 

Is Soft-Tex more "grippy" than traditional leather? Perhaps being offered in the sporty SE helps hold you in place while cornering.

Being faux leather is also good too - you dont have to condition it like the traditional leather.

 

it does have a more rubbery feel than real leather so i would say yes it should be more grippy

 

I think it looks fine and the design & comfort of the seat is great. If I purchased a new Porsche and it had the fake leather, I would complain, but we are talking about a Camry. Toyota does not advertise that the seats are real leather, so at least they are truthful about it.
I feel for the type of car it is, the Camry has one of the nicest interiors on the market.

 

they use soft-tex in some winter apparels......oh wait, thats gore-tex

 

I have the 2012 Camry SE as well, and I love the softex seats too. It does kind of look like leather. I had leather in my old car and I don't miss it. I just hope the Softex will hold up. I would think it would hold up better than leather, but we'll see. The leather in my old car didn't hold up very well on the driver seat.

Anyways, so far everyone who has sat in my new Camry has been impressed with the interior. One of my friends even commented on the seats, but I didn't tell her it was synthetic. I got tired of explaining to everyone that it wasn't leather.

 

I got tired of explaining to everyone that it wasn't leather.

Same here. Everyone that has been in my car has mistaken the soft-tex for leather and like you i'm tired of explaining it. I'm an honest person and I'm not looking to act like the seats are real leather but i'm telling the same story over and over again. from now on when someone says nice leather seats, i'm just going to say thank you and keep it moving. lol


Quick Story: Couple of days ago a friend saw my car and remarked on the "leather" interior. He said, "nice leather" and I tried to explain to him that it was the faux stuff. then proceeded to tell me that I'm wrong and that it's real leather. I'm like, hey man i bought the thing i know didn't pay for leather. lol I swear stuff like this you can't make up.

 

My seat was fixed under warranty. The seat cover was replaced. The camera can pick up some imperfection with the way the light hits it but it is not anything that someone would notice unless they closely examined it. I'm happy with the result.

 

S.E.T. Port leather?

I ordered my 2012 Camry with solid black leather from S.E.T. (didnt like the suede inserts). Does anyone know if what I got was in fact Leather or this Soft Tex?

 

I ordered my 2012 Camry with solid black leather from S.E.T. (didnt like the suede inserts). Does anyone know if what I got was in fact Leather or this Soft Tex?

S.E.T.? south east toyota? sorry don't know that breakdown is. I would assume its leather. both softex and leather have the same side bolsters (not the bolsters themselves), seatback and headrest back though.

 

If you guys want an "upgrade" you can get the FULL Leather set Upgrade (Using OEM Specs) for around $650 shipped on eBay. The old covers supposedly just slide off/unclip.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2012-Toyota-Camry-SE-leather-Interior-Seat-Covers-Black-/270929230882

 

You are correct

You are correct S.E.T. is Southeast Toyota. They are the importers for all Toyotas sold in the S.E. region. Upon doing some more research, I am being told that all factory Toyota vehicles have Soft-Tex side panels and backs. Correct me if I am wrong, but that makes up about 80% of the front seats? I paid $1300 to have leather installed in my vehicle and if what I got was Soft-Tex... I'm going to be pissed!!!!!!

 

You are correct S.E.T. is Southeast Toyota. They are the importers for all Toyotas sold in the S.E. region. Upon doing some more research, I am being told that all factory Toyota vehicles have Soft-Tex side panels and backs. Correct me if I am wrong, but that makes up about 80% of the front seats? I paid $1300 to have leather installed in my vehicle and if what I got was Soft-Tex... I'm going to be pissed!!!!!!

kinda why i stayed with softex, if i wanted the heated seats i'll install it myself for 1/6 the price

 

I drove several models of the 2012 Camry and decided on buying the SE because of the seats. They have bolstering that is not present in the other models. We really like our SE I4, so far averaging a calculated 28.3 mpg while tooling around locally, with no open highway driving. So far, we have driven it only 640 miles.

 

DANNYBOY: was this port installed leather as an addition or not sure? if you have a vin number i'll look it up

 

Yes... It was installed at the port. (car came with cloth, leather was added at port)
Thanks

 

wait, what port?
Aren't all camrys built in USA?