I have been spending a lot of time with a mate taking him to look for a new or newish car.

He seems to tust my judgement a bit.

It seems that unless you go quite bit upmarket there are very few choices where the seat covers are not black. Only one we have seen is an MGHS trophy with the optional Tan leather that is within his budget.

It's been like that for some years - I particularly can't abide all black interior including headlining but with no sunroof.

When I ordered my VW Touareg in 2015, I specified cream leather trim, including carpets and headlining as well as panoramic sunroof - easily wiped clean even after a muddy day out birdwatching.

It seems that unless you go quite bit upmarket there are very few choices where the seat covers are not black.

To say nothing of the exteriors ! But there seems to be a move towards grey (also boring).

My 1991 Pug 205 has been black from birth (special order) but at least the seats are pale grey.

It seems that unless you go quite bit upmarket there are very few choices where the seat covers are not black. Only one we have seen is an MGHS trophy with the optional Tan leather that is within his budget.

One of the reasons I liked the Mazda MX-30 R-EV I have as a second car is the different colours and textures in the interior.

The seats are a Tweedy grey (made from recycled denim), the door cappings are speckly grey (made from recycled bottle tops), the centre console has a cork surround (made from recycled errr.. corks) and the centre armrest and areas of the door trims are blondie cream leather effect. The rest is a dense looking squishy black plastic. Sounds horrendous but looks really classy.