Former Top Gear host Chris Harris has decided to add some retro vibes with a new fabric interior for his BMW M5 Touring
https://www.carscoops.com/author/sam-d-smith/
by Sam D. Smith
October 13, 2024 at 17:20
- Chris Harris replaced the aging leather in his E60 BMW M5 Touring with a retro-inspired fabric.
- The V10-powered station wagon now features a bold brownish-red corduroy interior.
- Harris chose the material for its improved temperature stability, better grip, and comfort.
Chris Harris has long extolled the virtues of old-school, fast BMW wagons. Having previously used an E34 wagon that had undergone an M5 conversion, he’s now the proud owner of an E60 M5 long roof. But, while most of us will agree that a V10 estate is a pretty characterful offering in and of itself, the former TopGear host has injected a huge dollop of personality with a controversial new interior. The material of choice? Corduroy.
Purists look away, but a redone leather interior just wouldn’t cut the mustard for Harris. The automotive journalist and TV host has instead chosen to sit on the same kind of fabric more commonly associated with a geography teacher’s trousers.
Related: Chris Harris Says He Warned BBC Over Safety Before Crash That Killed Top Gear
Once upon a time, the material one chose to outfit a car could tell you a lot about a person or, indeed, the aspirations of the manufacturer in terms of a model or trim’s market placement. Vinyl was the lowest rung, while general fabric could be had in several levels of plushness.
In the West, leather has long been the gold standard of perceived luxury, which is a bit odd because it’s not always as comfortable and has drawbacks. Those in Japan have always preferred a plusher velour to leather – for example, the Toyota Century, Japan’s answer to the Rolls-Royce, almost exclusively featured fabric seats.
That’s the spirit of Harris’ M5. In many ways the corduroy offers many benefits over the leather that the E60 came with. For one, it’s more comfortable. And on an Instagram post, he reveals that it’s more grippy than the “nasty, fake-feeling, non-gripping, always the wrong temperature fake leather.”
The last time we remember corduroy being offered on a car interior was for the 911 Targa 4S Heritage Design Edition. Porsche peppered that limited run with callbacks to the 356 of the ’50s and ’60s, while the two-tone interior featured the same material on the seats and door panels.
So, does Chris Harris’ retro-inspired reupholstering look cool, or does it have you reminiscing about your middle school teacher’s questionable fashion choices? Either way, you can’t deny it’s a hell of a statement.