XC90 pre-order advice

[JuJitsoup]

First time posting, looking for a little advice.

I'm in the UK. I'm placing an order today./tomorrow for an Inscription D5 in Onyx Black, everything is agreed but I'm still undecided on two things; wheels and leather.

I've pretty much always had black or grey cars and usually with a black interior. I'm a bit tired of the gloom tbh (especially as I can't get a panoramic roof sanctioned ) so was thinking about Blond leather. Love the colour and light feel in the cabin but I've read in a couple of places that it's really tough to keep clean. CAR mag stating their drivers seat turned blue from jeans in 9 months. I wear denim most days and as this is a lease car I don't want to get hammered when I send it back. Anyone got any experience of this interior and keeping it clean?

Second decision is the wheels. I'm not getting a pro so will be sticking to one of the two types of 20" alloys, but can't decide on which. I'd love to go pro and 21" wheels but can't get that past the Mrs either. I've seen a few on the road with 10 spoke wheels but none with the silver/black 5 spoke variant. My question which would you choose?

[pagan8c]

As regards the blonde seats , I also wear jeans a lot and yes the seats can get stained but I just clean them regularly with the wipes or a dose of leather cleaner I have in a bottle. Every now and then a bit of leather cream helps them to keep supple. My seats look fine and my car is 18 months old. I do the same with the two tone steering wheel as well.

[nu11eaf]

Nappa Amber seats look "really great" with the onyx black paint, because my last 3 cars were black with black leather seats and I fancied a change and decided on Savile grey with blond Nappa seats which also look really classy, but do take a lot of looking after to keep clean.
During one of my visits to the dealers they had an XC90 in the showroom in Onyx black with the Nappa Amber seats and boy did it look smart, a really good colour not too dark and not too light and the two colours just seemed to compliment each other and looked the Bee's knees.
I thought the blond went best with my colour paint but with black the Amber all day long.

[Lexman8]

My car has blond leather and I often wear jeans. Every 4-6 months or so I clean and condition them with the Volvo leather wipes. After 2 years the seats are pretty much as new.

As for the wheels, I would avoid the 5-spoke ones. Personally I think diamond cut wheels are more trouble than they're worth.

[Director76]

Wheel style #234 is very pretty, alas it wasn’t compatible with the T8

Diamond cut wheels are a pain but what does it matter on a leaser? You have to incur some quite serious harm to get beyond wear and tear on wheels in my experience and there’s probably a menu price of c£35 wheel for any damage above and beyond anyway. Corrosion is a bu993r with diamond wheels but again assuming you’re leasing for 2-3 years that shouldn’t be major concern?

[Director76]

Ps... the most stunning car / leather combo I’ve ever had was an Alfa 159 in carbonio nero (ie metallic black!) with naturale (ie. amber / tan) hide. Simply beautiful combination and effect would be very similar on the XC90 with onyx/amber

[macklij]

I like light coloured leathers. I have quartz in a 56 plate V50 and have ordered blonde in the upcoming XC60.

I have to say the quartz hasn't been a problem to live with at all. Very rarely have I cleaned it and it still looks great. I suspect the Inscriptions soft nappa wont do quite as well and I will have to conciously look after it.

[JuJitsoup]

Thanks for all the info guys, much appreciated.

I've been over to my local dealer again to have another look. I'm so sold on the Blond that even after seeing the Amber again I've decided to stick with Blond, even if it requires a bit more effort to keep clean. I'm just so sick of dull interiors I wanted the brightest I could get, although the novelty may wear off at some point.

I also decided to go with the standard 20" 10 spoke alloys in silver. Took the advice on diamond cut wheels. They look great on a non-black car, but with the Onyx black they almost make the car look too stealthy, although my 12yr old said that would have been "cool"....And tbh I just prefer the simplicity of the 10 spokes, although the 21" wheels are lovely and what I'd really prefer but, as I said, just can't stretch to a Pro.

Delivery looks like November time. Looking forward to it.