My car is a UK 1989 Coupe V12 & has Doeskin interior.

Recently I found a replacement for one of the lower foot vent cover panels that sits under the dashboard, as mine had a small tear, but it appears the one on my car was genuine leather & the replacement I got, although being the same colour Doeskin. is some sort of vinyl with a leather pattern.
I then noticed my door cards & the a-pillar post trim were this exact same leatherette pattern as the new piece, so it appears my car has a random combination of real/not real leather. Looks like the entire centre console/armrest & vent trims are real leather. I'm not sure about the rear trim or door handles.

I'll try & get some pics later, but I was wondering if anyone had spotted similar in their own car or knew if there was any logic as to how Jaguar changed this over the years? Was this an option at the time? I guess it affects how it should be cleaned/treated.

 

Yes, Jaguar varied this a lot. I've never discovered a pattern or rationale but I'm sure one exists if you dig deep enough

My '88 XJS was 'full leather'. Door trim panels, door pulls/armrests, entire front seats, including the backs, entire console, entire rear seat, rear side trim panels...even the kick panels down in the footwells.

Others have reported vinyl/leather combinations....most commonly with leather only on the seat facings but other variations as well.

Cheers
DD

 

Jaguar gradually reduced the "full leather" complement of the XJS over the years. There are defined changepoints.

Also, as the six cylinder (3.6 then 4.0) were introduced, Jaguar sought to differentiate between the smaller-engined models and the V12s. The V12s had more leather (door cards, rather than just door pulls etc) whilst the 4.0 had leather on door pulls, seat facings, centre armrest, but mostly vinyl elsewhere.

Paul

 

Interesting - thanks for the responses.

I've now checked the entire car over - on mine the following is leather:
- front/rear seats & headrests (excluding front seat backs)
- front door pull handles/armrest (excluding the door pocket)
- complete center console including arm rest
- foot vent trim

Everything else is vinyl.

Second question - was there any variation in the quality/type of the leather Jaguar used across the years? i.e if I find matching colour leather parts from a different year car being broken for spares, will the leather match in 'quality' (apologies, now I think about it I have no idea how leather is classified)?