TIME SENSITIVE: Crystal White XC90 with blonde interior: charcoal or blonde floor/belts?

crosvs · Feb 4, 2016

Hey everyone,

I've been informed that we have only until the 10th to make any modifications to our order, so there's one thing we're still unclear about: we had initially ordered crystal white with blonde interior (we couldn't help but notice virtually ALL press photos went with blonde, and we fell in love with it too) but we selected the charcoal floor / seatbelt option (keeping the standard blonde ceiling) because we felt a blonde floor / seatbelt would be ... TOO MUCH.

Then just yesterday I saw a video of the new S90 with the same blonde interior but with blonde floor/seatbelts ... and I have to say, it looked REALLY good.

Also, my wife's "new New Beetle" is candy red with tan top and interior, including carpeting and seat belts, and while not quite as "white" as the blonde, it's very very light indeed, and looks absolutely stunning.

So... and I think I've answered my own question here: what should we do? Stick with the charcoal floor/seat belts or go blonde all the way?

Thanks!

cbm · Feb 4, 2016

Do you change shoes when you get into your car? I know it doesn't rain much out here, but still…

Charcoal, all the way, for me.

crosvs · Feb 4, 2016

cbm said:
Do you change shoes when you get into your car? I know it doesn't rain much out here, but still…

Charcoal, all the way, for me.

Our thoughts as well. But... after nearly a year with her Beetle (around 7000 miles), the interior is still remarkably clean. And to the extent that it HAS gotten dirty, the car wash seems to have no trouble cleaning it.

Paradox · Feb 4, 2016

Charcoal. But only you know what you truly want and what is best for you to get, so opinions of others really don't matter IMO.

Brutus99 · Feb 4, 2016

I would definitely go with Charcoal carpet personally. Good luck with your choice

hfwilkesjr · Feb 4, 2016

My wife has blond carpet, she says that she will not do it again. Blond seems to be a lot harder to get dirt out of.

rpmccormick · Feb 4, 2016

I did the two-tone interior in my 2013 XC90 config and the dark floor (carpets) were great - when I ordered my 2016 XC90 T8 I got the closest think to it (UC00) - the blonde with the charcoal carpets. Friend of mine has light carpets in his car - really difficult to keep clean.

Fmfosnacht · Feb 4, 2016

crosvs said:
Hey everyone,

I've been informed that we have only until the 10th to make any modifications to our order, so there's one thing we're still unclear about: we had initially ordered crystal white with blonde interior (we couldn't help but notice virtually ALL press photos went with blonde, and we fell in love with it too) but we selected the charcoal floor / seatbelt option (keeping the standard blonde ceiling) because we felt a blonde floor / seatbelt would be ... TOO MUCH.

Then just yesterday I saw a video of the new S90 with the same blonde interior but with blonde floor/seatbelts ... and I have to say, it looked REALLY good.

Also, my wife's "new New Beetle" is candy red with tan top and interior, including carpeting and seat belts, and while not quite as "white" as the blonde, it's very very light indeed, and looks absolutely stunning.

So... and I think I've answered my own question here: what should we do? Stick with the charcoal floor/seat belts or go blonde all the way?

Thanks!

Definitely go with charcoal. The pictures used to sell a car are not the same config if you are living in it!

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Mellow Guy · Feb 4, 2016

crosvs said:
Hey everyone,

So... and I think I've answered my own question here: what should we do? Stick with the charcoal floor/seat belts or go blonde all the way?

Thanks!

Go blonde all the way because you can tell if your interior needs cleaning.

Sonartech · Feb 4, 2016

Do yourself a favor and go to the dealer and ask to see both - not necessarily in the same car. It'll go a long way with helping you decide. I personally prefer black with black on black with a side order of Onxy Black. I'm not a fan of blonde, tan, khaki or any of its cousins, distant relations or otherwise. You smudge it, it's dirty forever, and your eyes will find it every time you get in the car.

whitev70r · Feb 4, 2016

Blondes have more fun.

Gary-16-Xc90 · Feb 4, 2016

I have blonde carpet and blonde carpet floor mats. I bought the charcoal floor mats for winter. I have done this for years on my lighter color interiors in my 4Runners. I love pulling out the black floor mats in the Spring and putting in the light color. Reminds me that Winter is passed and that I have a really clean car. Personal decision all the way....

sam818 · Feb 4, 2016

BLOND/BLOND.
Once you get a dark interior it simply becomes another ehhhh car.
You might want to get the charcoal rubber floor mats.
I've found the blond carpet no problem to keep clean. You might spray a little protectant on the sidewall carpets on the transmission tunnel, but that's about it

reeg2 · Feb 4, 2016

I wanted blonde until the dealer showed me a vehicle that hadn't left the showroom. Just from people walking inside and across the clean floor, the floor mats were heavily marked.
It was rather shocking - so make sure you go see a vehicle with blonde that's in a showroom. If it's clean, get in with your shoes on and you'll be surprised how just one person can mark them up.

sam818 · Feb 4, 2016

reeg2 said:
I wanted blonde until the dealer showed me a vehicle that hadn't left the showroom. Just from people walking inside and across the clean floor, the floor mats were heavily marked.
It was rather shocking - so make sure you go see a vehicle with blonde that's in a showroom. If it's clean, get in with your shoes on and you'll be surprised how just one person can mark them up.

You mentioned marked-up "mats".... can we assume you mean either the blond carpeted mats or the blond rubber?
Again, the suggestion is to take the blond carpet but replace the carpeted mats with the charcoal rubber.
The best of both worlds!

reeg2 · Feb 4, 2016

sam818 said:
You mentioned marked-up "mats".... can we assume you mean either the blond carpeted mats or the blond rubber?
Again, the suggestion is to take the blond carpet but replace the carpeted mats with the charcoal rubber.
The best of both worlds!

Agreed - if you want blonde interior, charcoal carpets or mats are a must.

crosvs · Feb 4, 2016

Gary-16-Xc90 said:
I have blonde carpet and blonde carpet floor mats. I bought the charcoal floor mats for winter. I have done this for years on my lighter color interiors in my 4Runners. I love pulling out the black floor mats in the Spring and putting in the light color. Reminds me that Winter is passed and that I have a really clean car. Personal decision all the way....

Hah! That's a good idea!

And to everyone else, thank you for all your feedback. The poll results are pretty convincing, and with n>15, fairly significant, as well. Ok then... we will consider all the advice and decide very shortly!

Gary-16-Xc90 · Feb 5, 2016

sam818 said:
BLOND/BLOND.
Once you get a dark interior it simply becomes another ehhhh car.
You might want to get the charcoal rubber floor mats.
I've found the blond carpet no problem to keep clean. You might spray a little protectant on the sidewall carpets on the transmission tunnel, but that's about it

+1 charcoal rubber mats for winter / blonde carpet mats for summer. It is the best IMO. My dealer brought up the charcoal rubber mats to confirm before they were ordered.

Oh, I ordered the blonde rubber mat for the rear as I was not concerned about marks there. Your concerns may vary...

jrt67ss350 · Feb 5, 2016

I would get the blonde/blonde, personally. Our XC70 has Sandstone interior, which is just a little darker than the blonde, and after 6 years and 60,000 miles of daily use and three little kids, it still looks great. If you clean your car with regularity, it shouldn't be much of a problem to keep clean. My Dodge Charger has black/charcoal interior with black/charcoal carpet and mats, and I hate it. The black/charcoal carpet shows every single minuscule speck of fuzz, sand/dirt, crumbs from the kids' snacks, etc. It drives me crazy. The carpet always looks dirty two days after I vacuum it. The Volvo's carpet always looks much cleaner in comparison, even though it gets much more use, and the kids spend much more time in that car. The Volvo always feels so much more inviting and "airy" than the dark interior of my car, too.

crosvs · Feb 5, 2016

Thank you everyone for your insightful and -- frankly, surprisingly one-sided -- results to this survey. After considering all you have said and discussing amongst ourselves, and considering how happy we are with my wife's "new New Beetle" with the tan (almost blonde) interior (including carpets / transmission tunnel), we've decided to change our order to blonde/blonde. It's too beautiful a car, and too sunny and airy to dampen with the black carpeting, so we'll just deal with keeping it clean as we have the Beetle, and that's the end of it.

TIME SENSITIVE: Crystal White XC90 with blonde interior: charcoal or blonde floor/belts?

Blonde or charcoal carpet/seatbelt?

Blonde carpet/seatbelt

Charcoal carpet/seatbelt

crosvs

cbm

crosvs

Paradox

Brutus99

hfwilkesjr

rpmccormick

Fmfosnacht

Mellow Guy

Sonartech

whitev70r

Gary-16-Xc90

sam818

reeg2

sam818

reeg2

crosvs

Gary-16-Xc90

jrt67ss350

crosvs

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