lexus leather is soft but doesnt wear well. German standard leather is rougher but wears much better than Lexus. To someone who really knows leather, my father was in the leather business for a while, the MB-TEX feels like rubber.

 

I'll take the leather. Much nicer to sit on.

 

No dogs or cats allowed in my cars. Sure I take leather, my car is for people not animals or people that behave like animals.

My point regarding non-issue is the fact that Mercedes makes MB-tex standard.

But the fact that Mercedes and BMW give the customer a choice can certainly be viewed as a plus.

As I said, it's not killing any sales. I know because I quizzed a veteran Mercedes salesman with 25+ years Mercedes experience that I've known for years on this subject.

 

As usual, Philip is right on.

Leather DOES hold up if you treat it with any kind of care at all.

M-B Tex is just an excuse (and a poor one at that) for cost-cutting...........and 50-60K cars should not be in the buisness of cost-cutting. With M-B, it seems you have to move up to the AMG cars to get standard SMOOTH leather.

Audi and BMW have a similiar problem......to a lesser extent. They put rough, grainy leather on their lower and mid-line cars...but at least it's not synthetic or vinyl stuff. High-line BMWs and Audis seem to get nicer, smoother leather.


This never used to happen. Not long ago, ALL leather used in cars, regardless of price or brand, was smooth and slick.....though, of course, Jaguar and Lexus generally had the best. Then the bean-counters came along. And, some people also complained that the smooth leather made them slide around in the seats too much on sharp corners....but that problem was addressed by side bolstering in the seat.

That doesn't mean I'm a leather junkie. Far from it. Personally, for a number of reasons, I'd rather have cloth. But my feeling is, if you are going to do leather, do it right. Vinyl belongs back in the 1960's....and on cheaper cars at that.

 

I'm not disagreeing with you.

The MB salesmen that we dealt with actually recommended that we not go with true leather as we actually use the "utility" of our SUV's.

 

Cool, he actually took into account your usage. Customer satisfaction via choice, even if it means slightly lower margin/commission.

 

Yes, true to some extent, but, at Mercedes and BMW prices, one should not have to pay extra for leather (it should be a no-cost option).....or, in some cases, be told it is not available. And, IMO, the leather that IS offered should not look and feel like a Braille patch.

 

The fact of the matter is the C and E (with MBTex standard) are easily outselling the IS and GS (with standard leather). Your opinion is not the opinion of the typical buyer of these cars, so Mercedes and BMW have taken their own approach based on people that really buy their cars.

I like leather too (like you) and have it in my Lexus and previous Jags and Porsches. I have both seat materials in both of my cars currently for long-term comparison.

IMO, cloth is the cheeziest of materials of the 3 and that's what I have in my snow/rain vehicle, a 2002 Jeep.

 

^^^ what he said

when i test drove the 2007 E class, the MB tex felt nicer than the regular MB leather, which had a rough texture.

MB tex still can't touch lexus leather in feel though

 

i never understood why bmw put such rough leather in the cars.

leather seats are made from a hide base, with a thin vinyl-ish dyed layer on top. can't they make that vinyl layer smoother? or do europeans prefer the rough texture?

 

I thought I bought a luxury car to have luxury features? Maybe I'm wrong.

If Lexus offered this crap as standard and charged people over $1500 for real leather the internetz would be up in arms about how cheap/Toyotaish it is.

Double standard strikes again!!

Well its easy to see how they price is lower than before. Leather is OPTIONAL. I wonder what else, wheels, paint, a steering wheel?

 

+1, at this price point is should be real leather.

 

leather was never standard, even in the more expensive last gen E

 

MBtex and leatherette only holds up in dark colors, in light colors it gets filthy fast.

 

but are all the "extra" number of E and C sold all on mb-tex? if that's not the case then your argument doesn't hold. E and C are outselling GS and IS, but that can be a lot of reasons (brand image, designs, features, etc...) and personally i am not very sure if mb-tex is a major part of it

in fact while mb-tex is standard, a lot of the mb i have seen (owners or at dealerships) they are with leather upgrade already