Mike728

Yes, if you wear a wet bathing suit often, you're better off with synthetic seats. I do not treat my leather seats any different than any other vehicle I've owned. If you've witnessed leather seats falling apart just by looking at them, you have issues!

Olasek

Sure, your "facts".

VisualEcho

A lot of classic, very expensive cars with very expensive leather have had issues even being treated fantastic. I shoot for Mecum auctions, so I see a lot of survivors...and even 90's cars with expensive leather that didn't last nearly as good as vinyl would have.

Oh, you're one of those type of guys. Got it.

arentz07

I don't understand. Are you disagreeing that NuLuxe takes less maintenance to keep up its appearance? There's simply no way real leather would be easier to keep up. It needs oils to keep it from getting dried out/tacky. If you haven't religiously cleaned your IS's leather-wrapped steering wheel - ask yourself, does it look the same as when new?

I've driven a few vehicles with real leather in recent years, and none of them have felt as soft as the NuLuxe in my car. I will say the Macan I just drove had a more substantial/thick feel to the material on its seats, which were real leather, but it certainly wasn't as soft or smooth as the NuLuxe. Maybe that's a maintenance issue on the owner's part, but then again, the rest of the car was absolutely flawless. No scratches, dents, swirls on the outside, and the inside was spotless as well, so I get the sense the owner takes care of it. Granted the only real high-end leather I've experience was in a Ghost, and of course it was very smooth and soft. It's a car that costs more than 6 times as much as mine does, though, so it had better be.

Not saying it's invalid to prefer real leather, but synthetic is A) more environmentally sustainable and B) imminently practical.

VisualEcho

Why do you always say everything better than I do???

I should just send you all my posts, have you screen them / convert them for me and then post .

arentz07

Eh, having downtime at work to be able to have time to write helps.

I will say, I have seen stories of synthetic leather cracking over time, so that part scares me a little. Not sure if there's a good way of preventing that. So, I guess the synthetic leather argument is to be taken with the caveat that older cars will probably have more issues (which could also be said of real leather...).

VisualEcho

Of course, anything can break down. I think there is a huge variation as well, some manufacturers just think hey, if they didn't want the expensive stuff, let them eat cake. But I think the NuLuxe is pretty damn good over the long haul, and better in the last few years than it has ever been. I'll probably never know, I love my car, but I'm itching for that M2 Competition version...with only 4,500 miles on my car.

swaangin

Bringing this thread back cus I have the caramel / dark brown interior, not sure if I have real leather though. I have a mix of these options I have navigation, I have the 10 spoke rims (luxury), I have rear cross traffic alert but I don't have automatic rain sensing wipers and I don't have memory seats / power steering wheel.. also no wood trim

KYLexusMkr

If I am not mistaken, the 3rd gen IS were only available in NuLuxe with no leather options. The current IS is still the same. If you check the configuration at the Lexus website you’ll find it’s not an option with any interior package or trim level, with exception of leather trim upgrade on the Luxury option package. That may include many of the touch points being leather vs NuLuxe.

kj07xk

You’re mistaken. I have leather in my 2014 IS 350 AWD. I carefully checked the trim codes before purchase to make sure I was buying leather, not NuLuxe.

KYLexusMkr

And there ya have it, you could or could not have leather...

swaangin

kj is right. My color is "Flaxen" looks almost like a peanut butter, could potentially be NuLuxe but I'd have to find out

link for reference:
https://www.autobytel.com/lexus/is-250/2015/color/