Leatherette v/s Real Leather

Have you ever owned a car with leatherette? Do you have actual first hand (or first-butt) experience or are you just being a, uumm... wiseguy?

I own a mid '90's 325i with leatherette. Every person who has ever got into the car (that was not intimately familiar with BMWs) thought the interior was leather. They are often very surprised when I tell thgem it's pLeather. Unlike the vinyl in most other cars, it feels and looks quite a bit like real leather. But, it looks pristine, even after 10 years and 115k miles of use, including hauling dogs and kids around in the back seat. Leather seats generally look pretty sad after such use, and cloth would likely look very dirty.

Yes, I agree with you that I would like the option of cloth interior as that would be my choice for comfort's sake, especially now that my kids have grown up. But the the leatherette is really not so bad as what you make it sound. It does have its place in the market.

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-Fred W

Fred, I'm curious as to what (if anything) you have used to maintain the leatherette. For my cars' leather, I have finally settled on Zymol Treat, although it's somewhat expensive.

Tom

My experience with both BMW and Mercedes imitation leather (leatherette, MBtex, vinyl, pleather, plastic, whatever) has been that they're both of high quality and durability. Cloth has its habitability advantages (neither nasty hot in summer nor ice cold in winter), but it isn't trouble free.

I've been disappointed by the Montana leather in my 5er. It's surface treated (as opposed to vat dyed) and shows wear quickly despite regular care.

R / John

That's the "beauty part" of Pleather; You don't really have to "maintain" it. I clean it occasionally with some stuff made for cleaning vinyl interiors made by Lexol. Don't remember the exact name, but it is only a cleaner and doe nothing to extend the longevity of the stuff, if that is possible. I have a feeling the interior of this car will be around a lot longer than I will be.

I have regular black leather in my E34 540i, which sees regular doses of regular Lexol. It looks good for a '94 but there is no mistaking this as anything but real leather. Lots of "character" marks, don't you know... My Z3 is also leather but that interior sees the least use and consequently looks the best of any of them.

-Fred W

Thanks for the info.

Same with my '99 328i, but I think many of us have "character", some with more marks than others! I started with Lexol & switched to Connolly because I didn't care for the Lexol+leather smell. Have since gone to Zymol for the best smell and feel.

My Z3 ( replaced by a Z4 in 2003) had the extended leather in red. Looked great, especially the custom dash stitching, but if I had known it was going to be $1,200 when I ordered the car ....

Tom

I've always felt luxury car makers are not going to sully their brand by putting in an interior that reflects badly on the make as a whole. The BMWs I've seen had excellent fake leather, and mediocre real leather. Honestly to the point you either can't tell the difference or you will choose the leatherette based on how it looks after a year.

Luxury car makers are the same people who want to charge us $100 for an oil change because "if you have to ask, you cant afford a car like this"..Do you really think these greasy bastards are going to make themselves look bad by putting crappy plastic seats in their cars?

Nah.. Leatherette looks fine IMO and stays looking such a lot longer.

My understanding is that Imitation Leather was introduced to appears the animal rights activists in Europe. Only died in the wool Bimmermeisters would accept a luxury car with plastic seats. Look at Lexus. Imitation Leather is not in their vocabulary.

When I first started looking at BMW's I sat in several and looked at several different colors. It wasn't until I went to discuss options with the dealer that I realized there was a difference. If I hadn't seen it on the sticker and been told about it, I honestly have to say I would not have known. I thought it odd that a car at this price range didn't have power seats as standard, but I don't really care about that either so no big deal for me.

Nice story. Total non-sense though. Cloth interior is available in Europe on many models not available in the US.

I don't get your logic. To begin with, a 325i is *hardly* a luxury car. Secondly, since the leatherette looks like leather (only better for a long time) and it is equally (un)comfortable, why would it be any more unacceptable to "non-Bimmermeisters"

I've looked at Lexus. I don't care what their vocabulary is... I own BMWs. That speaks volumes.

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-Fred W

Some people prefer to spend their money on important engineering rather than power convenience options.

Example: You could go out and buy a fully optioned up Honda Accord for about the same money as a "stripper" BMW 325i. Actually, that's a fallacy in the US since all BMWs imported come with a pretty high level of standard features. Gimme the BMW and I'll manually move my seat into position (and then leave it there)

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-Fred W

On Thu, 25 Aug 2005 08:10:31 -0400, Malt_Hound waffled on about something:

I must admit I've never seen the attraction with leather seats. Sure they look good, and smell fantastic, but they're cold in the winter, you slide about on them, and if you have any naked skin against them you stick.

In the summer the naked skin welds!

I much prefer the cloth.

I don't know if any of you guys in the USA have ever seen it, but I used to have a Lancia over here in the UK which had seats made of alcantara. Fantastic. Easy to clean (I know this cos someone spilt a pint of cola on mine) and looks kinda like suede.

Dodgy.

"Dodgy" wrote

Although we haven't seen the Lancia, all 330i with performance package come with Alcantara.

Floyd

"Cloth" is certainly in the Lexus vocabulary. Leather on the IS300 is a $2K option if you don't like their cheezy cloth.

I'd much rather have the BMW leatherette than cloth. Easier to keep clean, doesn't stain, looks much better. If all three (cloth/leatherette/leather) were equal cost I'd choose the leatherette, since in 10 years it will be the best looking. By the way, you CAN order your BMW with cloth seats if you want, many people do just that.

Only died in the wool BMW enthusiasts would think this way - because only BMW enthusiasts expect to own their car for ten years. If the leather in a Lexus is shot after five years, it's no big deal since it's in the wrecker's yard by then.

I'm sorry, but I disagree. Well looked after leather will last a great deal longer than plastic. At least, older style "hard" leather will ... this more modern "soft" stuff seems far less abrasion resistant.

I have an older leather interior with 95,000 miles and 11 years on it, and it's frankly like new. Plastic rips, tears, scuffs and thins out far faster, IME, especially in very hot conditions. Leather dries in heat, but you can treat it; plastic softens and tears, which is trickier to fix.

Anything's better than cloth though. Nothing screams "pikey" like cloth. Hideous.

I agree with you on most counts, that leather can be kept looking very good with proper care, except in comparison to BMW's leatherette. Compared to any other manufacturers vinyl seating surface (including MB-tex) this stuff is incredible. I would not believe it if I did not have living proof sitting in my driveway (whenever SWMBO isn't tooling around town in it).

My 325i does not get pampered (like the BMWS I have in my garage with leather seats) it is 10+ years old, sits outside in the summer heat and winter freeze and looks, by all rights, like brand new. I only wish the carpets looked as good as the seats. ;-)

I really encourage folks to investigate the Leatherette... especially if you intend on keeping your car a very long time and may not always get around to pampering the interior.

Sounds very interesting; I've not had direct experience of modern BMW "leatherette" (what a ghastly term), and thus was talking out of my arse when saying leather was better; I believe leather is better than any other artificial substance I've yet seen. OTOH, leather is a renewable resource which plastics aren't ... can you sense me *reaching* for an argument now? ;)

(can we not mention leather tanning chemicals please, coz my argument will fall apart faster than a Ford's engine ...)

I still don't know to this day whether my 323, which I bought used, has leather or 'ette.

Well, that depends on your perspective... 8)

The way to tell, is... "How good do the seats look?" If they look nearly perfect, the covers are taught and the outer surface color is uniform, they are Pleather. Leather tends to sag and develop creases in the color layer after just a few years.

You can also tell by handfeel, but you'd have to see both first. The Pleather is a bit softer to the touch, and when you press into it with a finger you can feel the cover stretch ever so slightly. Real leather tends to be a bir sttiffer, the surface of the material is harder and has no stretch.