Always been a cloth guy, Expedition I could only get leather. but after having it 17 months, I like it, better than cloth. Also I have sold two prior vehicles and most wanted leather, it was a sale stopper so I think they are easier to get rid of with leather.

I have ordered black leather with my 04 Lariet, which may take 12 weeks to get from what I am being told.

As stated above, you have to clean things once in a while, we do a good inside cleaning a least monthly, that includes the seats.

 

Use this product here, just twice a year!

http://www.meguiars.com/store_meguia...l.cfm?sku=G-72

More great interior leather products, also from Meguiars:

http://www.meguiars.com/store_meguia...&subcatagory=2

It will only take about 5 minutes to do the leather. They also have vinyl cleaner conditioner for the back seat, dash, and doors. These have heavy duty UV protectors built in.

 

I have an 04 Lariat Scab with the tan leather, it's at about 7000mi now. The tan is a bit tougher to keep clean than in my old camaro (black leather) but by no means is it difficult. I use a Meguires conditioner/cleaner about once every couple of months, when I do a real clean up on the whole truck, and it looks as good as new. I do keep a container of the Meguire leather wipes in my toolbox for those quick wipe ups but rarely need them. To be honest, I'd go with whatever I thought looked best. I looked at my truck with the tan and black interior before buying and settled on tan. The black was just too dark for me, plus I was worried about getting a scorched butt in August!

 

I have always had tan leather and it stay very clean. The poroblem is the floor mats. they get dirty easily but are easy to clean

 

the tan leather in my 99 lariat still looks pretty new even though, unfortunately i don't take as much care of it as i would like to- so if I can keep it nice and thats what you are concerned about then go with the tan leather- feels better than cloth anyway.

 

Dirt is dirt - the darker colors just don't show it as fast. The dirt needs to be cleaned out of the leather no matter what color it is. I think the light colors are better as they don't absorb the heat which is probably the biggest problem with drying and cracking.

I don't get leather seats in trucks because we do a lot of boating and I don't want to buy expensive seat covers to compensate for a bunch of wet shorts and bathing suits. The nice cloth captain's seats do just fine with a beach towel thrown over them.

But, my Mom's very nice Sable has the really light-colored seats in it. I clean them for her a few times a year and they have stayed looking nice - the car is nearly 3 years old. Even got a bunch of black marks out of the back seat where the dog carrier rubbed all over it.

I was surprised after all that rubbing (several hours of soaking and rubbing off and on - it was bad) that the leather was still strong and very resilient. (Mom uses a towel now on the seat when little doggie has to go to the vet.)

That was a couple of years ago and the back seat still looks just fine.