tom incredibie

Im ordering a alabaster white with ash full leather. im thinking about changing the interior to charcoal any suggestions?

kompressorchick

I say change it to charcoal, i regret not getting charcoal.

tom incredibie

did your interior get dirty quickly?

amdeutsch

My $0.02 says to go with JAVA. I saw an ash and a java at the dealer when I got mine. Charcoal is to dark. Depending on where you live it might also be undesirable due to excessive heat built up.

Anyway. What are you getting? That might help the opinion poll.

Matt230K

Are you talking about a C sedan? I would go with charcoal, but if you don't want to do that, definitely go with oyster over ash. Both are grey, but oyster looks nicer. It is the only grey in the E-Class now, except for some reason they call it Ash. It is really oyster.

KWiK

White/charcoal

amdeutsch

Oyster in a white sedan is an $1150 special order charge which does nothing for your resale down the road. I would stay away from it unless you got too much money to burn or can convince somebody else to foot the bill.

Matt230K

I wasn't aware of the special order charge for that. But if you got the money, it looks nice.

tom incredibie

im getting a 2003 C320 alabaster white with [ash] full leather. c2, c4, and cd changer. i called the dealership earlier to switch to charcoal but he sounded like he was lost or confused.... i hope to call him tomorrow instead.

patronus

I can't help but ask this, but why would someone pay so much money for full leather? MB tex wears better and you really don't sit on it, anyway?

Maybe I am just cheap, but I would rather put the money into fold-down seats (C3...a must have item), multi-contour seat, suspension or exhaust upgrades.

MarkL

I agree w/ Java -- but I think there's usually a personal preference toward gray vs. beige, and I always prefer beige. I think charcoal w/ white is too much contrast. But, as you see, everyone has a different opinion. You have to get what you like best.

Outland

Anyone else noticed the new dark silver? I like it a lot...I drove thru my dealers lot last night, and they have two 03's in this color. One manual, one auto w/C7. I think if the Dark Silver was available when I bought my 02, I'd have gotten it instead of the bright silver.

BTW, neither 03 has the 1.8 badge.

Matt230K

Are you talking about the new pewter color? It's kind of like a darker desert silver with more gray in it. I like it a lot too. But I haven't yet seen it on a coupe. A pewter with charcoal C-sedan looks awesome though.

vadim

Charcoal would be (and has long been) my choice.

Outland

Pewter Silver Metallic, I think that's the official name for it. Its cool!

Looks much better in person.

amdeutsch

Me too. I'm cheap. Why pay for full leather. The seating surface is std leather on the sedan anyway. So why pay for leather on the backsides and on surfaces you really don't sit on.

bagwell

go for charcoal ! DO NOT GET ASH...its wayy to lite and gets dirty quickly...I have to be very very careful if the car...charcoal is bullet-proof!

c200k uk

so does that mean mb-tex has the same centre bit (the bit with the wee holes in them) as the real leather seats? and its only the side bits which are different ?

Rick

Is that why all the cows were mad?

MarkL

Yes, the center panels (with the perforations) are the same leather as the full leather interior. The difference w/ full leather are the leather side bolsters, headrests and side door panel inserts. It's hard to tell the difference by touch or appearance. The full leather interior in the sedan can be discernced by the double row stitching around the seat cushions and headrests, and the puckers in the door inserts.

FrankW

the seating insert is leather (the part with holes), but the part that support the thigh is not.

White with Ash is better IMO.

session

white w/ ash cloth

Vince

white on charcoal. black interiors just look a whole lot better. light interiors get dirty quickly.

MB-BOB

Just to throw in some variety, I really like the Alabaster with JAVA interior. Ash is very light, JAVA is darker. Both require more attention (Java less so than Ash) compared to charcoal, but charcoal looks like a black hole inside a white car. (How's that for breadth of opinion?)

While I have the Java interior, my exterior is Desert Silver, so I have no personal preference to push. I've seen several White/Java on the street, and the combination is stunning and classy.

Lynn

I like Alabaster with blue leather. Yeah, I know. It's another $1150 for the special order fee.