Hello again. Roadslayer the real newbee here.
In that I've just contacted CatBug fever I decided to spend all day yesterday in the big city looking at and test driving used XJ8's. An XJR and an XJ8L. Nice. Super sweet in fact. Anyway, upon my first inspection of the interior an immediate question came to mind. Are the door panels and armrest vinyl or leather covered and if so what parts of each are upholstered in what?

'Thanks.' Roadslayer

Either way I've got to have one.

 

That can depend on trim level and year of the car. If you can't tell by feeling it, then they have done a good job!!

 

Thanks, hlgeorge. What I'm saying is, the leather on the door panels feel like vinyl. Not good in my opinion. While driving my '94 Infiniti Q45 mere moments ago I was admiring the buttery smooth leather on all of the door panels. Which is one of the reasons I bought that car. The leather in the Q45 has a 'hand' unlike most other cars including the S500 Coupe' we have. I was hoping someone here could describe with authority the outer workings of the upholstery on an XJ8 door panel.

'Cheers' Roadslayer

 

door cards, or more to the point, the arm rests are vinyl. So is the centre console and b panels, along with the rear parcel shelf. The leather items are seat faces, rear-front pockets and steering wheel. The use of vinyl saves money.
I've re-trimmed most of the vinyl with leather, can't wait to install it in my car.

 

Interesting. Thank you, Sean B.

 

My experience with XJ8s is nil but, on older models, the "VDP" (or other upper end model, according to market) had higher grade leather and more of it...often including door trims, console, etc. This was something varied quite a bit according to year/market/model.

My '88 XJS had a full leather interior: entire seats (as opposed to just the facings) , door trims, full console, rear seat side panels, etc. Frankly, it wasn't all that it was cracked up to be...but I digress.

Cheers
DD