I live in ATL and have had leather in all my cars the last 14 years. My car is parked int he sun all day at work, the trick is to get good tinting and use a sun visor in the windshield. I don't ever find the leather hot, sure it is warm in the acr, but a few minutes of driving fixes that. One thing I di realize after owning 2 TLs is that perferated leather is very cool, literally, rarly did I sweat on my back or butt, but the solid leather in the Camry casues some minor sweating, but the AC is so storng I get over it quickly.

 

Aftermarket is a truly viable option to echo the views of some the the other posters. I got mine done at the same store as the poster mentioned in Gallatin.

My cost was the same as leather would have cost from the factory ($1295), so the the other poster did get a better deal than I did.

I went to the store to visit during my install even though I did not need to since the dealer was handling the delivery of the car to the shop and back, but I can confirm they used a katzkin kit.

This kit to me looked exactly the same as a factory install. All of the inserts from the door panels to every design in the stitching was the same in the kit as the factory.

I would have not even a seconds doubt in this being a viable option to get what you want.

 

I would recommend leather. I think it looks nicer and is much easier to clean. I was interested in a totally loaded THC with NAV even though I have a convenient, easy to use Garmin portable touch screen GPS system. While I was waiting for mine to come in, a blue TCH with leather/sunroof and no NAV came in to another dealer. I was fairly flexible on the color so I jumped on it. I have not seen too many with leather but without the NAV. I am pleased with the Toyota leather. I keep my Garmin in the glove box as it is quite small, and I can pull it out when I need it and I can easily use it in another car, or use in rental cars when I go on trips.

As far as aftermarket leather, if I were you, I would be wary and would definitely request to see a model that had been done BEFORE buying.

I once had aftermarket leather put into an Audi after the dealer messed up on my special order. The company was classic soft trim. After that I vowed I would NEVER have after market leather installed again. the car had all sorts of new squeaks as they had to take the door panels off to install the leather, the armrest was crooked after the install and they scratched the chrome door handles. While the quality of the leather seemed ok, the install was not as nice as factory. The seams under the headrest were coming apart after only a year. If you are flexible on some of the options and colors, you may be able to find what you are looking for.

 

I am a Ash-colored-leather-loving vegetarian. And it's hard to find even minor complaints about the "in my humble opinion" excellent NAV system.

 

Good luck in your decision bernt! Initially I was looking for the opposite. I wanted a CLOTH TCH with nav/moonroof! ha ha. Due to the limited choices I ended up with the loaded model and leather. I must say that the leather is top notch and I'm enjoying it after-all. Not to nock any brand, but this leather in my new TCH is MUCH higher quality then the leather I had in my Chevy.

Also I'm really enjoying the NAV system. Like Steven said I think it would be really hard to find any complaints about the NAV system. I didn't think to much of it initially but it has really helped me navigate to two different locations in town with great success both times.

 

When I was on the search for my TCH, I wanted cloth with a nav system. I ended up with a leather seats and moonroof, but I got my nav system! Anyways, the reason I didn't want the leather seats because they get so darn hot! Well since I went with the silver (Titanium) exterior, the car deflects quite a bit of heat that I find the leather is not burning hot like my previuos dark blue Volvo with leather was. I say go for the leather, with a light exterior color!