A long time ago the leather armrest was a cult icon in this very forum, spearheaded by a member who went under the name of "Emperor Ming"... I'll be honest with you, I'm not sure how much use the leather armrest is, think of where the armrest will be in relation to your elbow, on my 3 door at least, the lid for the cubby hole in the centre console that is replaced with the padded leather armrest is behind where my elbow would naturally fall to or rest uopn, Maybe on a 5 door like yours the geometry is slightly different? Try folding up a towel to create a cushion and then place that cushion on the cubbybox lid, then sitting in the drivers seat try putting your elbow / forearm on the cubby box lid and see how egronomically comfortable it is, if it doesn't feel like you are trying to reach to get something off the back passenger footwell putting your elbow that far back, you probably would benefit from a leather armrest, if on the other hand resting your elbow on the cushon on the cubby box lid feels like a contortion and isn't a comfortable position, probably better keeping the standard lid with its little storage pocket.
