I brought this up in a different post: https://mbworld.org/forums/showthrea...0&pagenumber=3

But it has been confirmed, the C Coupe does not offer 'full leather' no matter what package you bought.

The 'leather option' for the coupe is identical to the standard 'leather insert' for the sedans. This has been confirmed by 3 local dealers and MB North America.

One way to tell for sure....'full leather' includes 'ruffled' leather door inserts....'leather inserts' have 'dotted' door inserts.

Erik

I'm not saying you're wrong, but I'm still not completely convinced. The sedans with leather don't have the ruffled door panels either, do they?

Sedans with full leather do.

Erik

I'm trying to picture it, but can't. I'll have to take another look at one. Either way, I could care less whether it is really full leather or not. I'm fine with leather inserts, as long as it's not cloth. If I was getting a sedan, I would never pay for full leather.

here ya go...full leather.



Erik

The outside and top of the seats are MBtex, but the entire seating surface is leather. The grain on the leather doesn't match the grain on the MBtex. The leather is softer to the touch than MBtex. The leather smells like leather. MBtex does not. A co-worker managed to punch a hole with a pen in the outside (facing the door) of the passenger seat side bolster. It is MBtex. I managed to put a minor abrasion on the inside of the driver's seat side bolster. It is definitely leather. The four side airbag doors are covered in leather, and I don't give a damn if they don't have pleats. My shoes don't have a bunch of folds in them, either.


BTW, if any one is wondering, new upholstery from the dealer for a front seat is $400+.

Just for comparison, here is what an MB-Tex door panel looks like... BTW, after two years, my MB-Tex interior still smells like leather, thank you very much, and I absolutely agree with Lynn that pleated leather door panels blow no wind up my kilt...

I'm confused by some of the responses, like Lynn's. I'm not sure he was describing what he thought was the "premium", or, full leather interior or the standard. I have the standard leather inserts on my C240.

Standard Inserts Interior: Leather is only in the center seating panels on the bottom and back cushions. The bolsters on both seat bottoms and back cushions are MB-Tex. So are the headrests, seat backs and door trim panel.

Premium Leather Interior. In addition to the center seat panels, the outer seat bottom and back bolsters are leather, as are the headrests, seat back map pockets and door trim panels. Also, the stitching around the seams is "nicer" -- it is double-stitched rather than 1 line of stitching. Also, as mentioned, the door trim panels have "gathers" -- they have perforations (or "dots") in both cases.

For the coupe, last I checked (2002 MY), the only leather option was the premium package. It may be that the door trim panels are not gathered, but I would venture to say for the ~$1300, you are getting full leather seats like the sedan optional leather.

BTW, I recently had to have my driver seat bottom cushion cover replaced due to a malfunctioning seat heater. The first time they replaced it, they accidentally ordered the full leather cover. I made them change it to the standard cover mainly because the stitching didn't match the rest of the car. The leather bolster areas were slightly softer than the MB-Tex, but it would take a "trained" eye to see the difference.

According to MB North America and 3 of my local dealers, they coupe leather package is the Sedan standard inserts.

Erik

Sounds like the Coupe leather package has more leather than the Standard sedan and less than the Premium sedan packages.

Which is fine by me -

Cheers, BT

MarkL, to clear up the confusion, my car has the premium leather just like you describe except the coupe doesn't have seat back map pockets or the pleats in the door panels.

tifosiv122, this forum is full of posts by members who have been given erroneous infromation by both dealers and MBUSA. When I called my service advisor about repairing the puncture in the outside of the bolster, he said it was good that it was on the door side since that was MBtex and could be repaired but if the puncture were on the seating surface side, it would be leather and the cover would have to be replaced.

I will believe my senses and my service advisor over your sources.

I don't know, but all I can say is my C240 rental has inserts and it feels and looks identical to my leather in the coupe.

Erik

arrr...its the age old leather vs leatherette posts again. I dont mind my coupe leather/leatherette. I just didnt like the pattern on the MB coupe seats! I mean what the heck are those lil things??? if it was just plain ol grey or black i like the cloth material like that...i think its the same one on audi a4s. Athough on Audi the choice btwn cloth sport seats vs leaterette seats were no cost option.

*Oh and if u think we're getting screwed when i got my A4 w/ sport pkg in US i found out the same european version comes with Recaro front leather bucket seats!!!

BTW, I just re-checked MBUSA -- the C5 option includes "premium leather". This means full leather seats -- your dealers are incorrect. If you see one and the seats have the double stitching I mentioned, it is full leather.

When I explained over the phone my problem with the full leather cover replacement, my service guy couldn't understand. When I brought it in and showed him, I think he thought I was crazy to make them replace it again with the leather/MB-Tex cover. Sorry, but I wanted all the stitching to match so there's no question if someone notices when I sell it...

Woot! C5 = Full Leather seats... i'm glad that's cleared up.....

I have a coupe with C5 and my leather is double stiched all over. Is there a diference between leather on the coupe and the C5 leather. For $1300 or so I would like to think you get more than just MB-Tex. It looks as though the top is all double stiched real leather and only the lower side portion is not. But even my sides look the same as the top seat surface.

There is no difference between C5 leather and the stand alone leather option. The sides of the seats in my car are definitely MB-Tex. I got a good look at it when mu co-worker accidently punched a hole in it.

I don't know what this means, but I checked on MBUSA.com- the leather option for the C Coupe, C Sedan (C240, C320), and even the E320 costs the same- $1440.00. I doubt there would be "partial" cowhide in the leather option for the E Class, but I could be wrong...

Correct-- again, visually, it's not easy to discern the difference between the leather and the MB-Tex, IMO. That's why I made my decision to go with the standard leather inserts on my C240 after I checked out both examples. For the coupe, I'd definitely have to go w/ the full leather -- I'm just a "leather" person. :p