Airmousam

Hi, New to the forum, and I must say this was a very entertaining thred to enjoy with my morning coffee, for that thank you! Like most have said its a preference. Have leather on my 99 SLK, and mb tex in my 2010 E. I bought the E used and knew it was Tex. yes it seems weird that a 50K car have Tex, but I actually like it a lot, an no one has noticed that its not leather. the tex seems very thick and can not imagine it splitting. Have had leather in many cars over the years and all showed quik wear...for whatever reason my slk has held up very well with 126k miles. Has been well cared for with Zaino....leather in a bottle is great stuff. When searching for my E I ran across 2 that had leather and both did not look near as good as the ones I saw with tex. looked at probably 20 cars and the tex looks awesome in every one. Time will tell...at 22k miles now....but for now Im happy with it. Cheers!!

hyperion667

LOL

telemakhos

And I bought it on the salesman's recommendation that it is more durable! I haven't taken it back to the dealer yet, I assume that they will cover it under warranty.

Arab_Homie

When the c300 first came out I ordered it with every single option possible EXCEPT leather seats. My salesman recommended the MB tex because I travel with pets and drive a lot and tend to put somewhat shap objects on seats. The MB Tex stretches so it's good for heavy kinda pointy objects because insteadof ripping like leather or scratching, it just stretches and goes back. Only thing I didn't like was whenever I wear new pants (especially Levis 501's) the color did rub on to the seats but just rub it with open palm really fast and hard and the color comes right off. Loved my MB tex no scratches or holes.

El Cid

MB makes a much larger profit for the leather seating surfaces. A lot of what is considered "seats" is still vinyl. Also, if the leather has a coating or treatment, it is vinyl - so you actually have vinyl seats.
When I got my E, MB wanted $1,100 just for leather seating surfaces.

mrjoed2

Your kidding right ? The protective coating used on real leather automotive seats is not vinyl. Sounds like sour grapes to me - you did not want to spring the extra $1100 for leather, so you trash it to make the "MB-Tex" plastic seats sound good. Go up the food chain - BMW has several grades of Leather - Dakota, then Nappa then Full Merino. Each more expensive than the previous. Sit in a 650 with Nappa or Merino - which is from calves - glove soft, perfect grain, glorious aroma.

Vinyl seats remind me of a old Star Trek TNG episode - Scotty tells everyone after drinking fake scotch and seeing android Mr Data - "synthetic scotch & synthetic commanders" Same hold true for luxury cars with Kmart vinyl seats.

Arab_Homie

The sad thing is that alot of used car dealers pass it off as real leather. Even Benz dealerships do. Don't get me wrong I actually like MB tex because if the durability and not cracking as easy, but it makes it a lot harder to find one with real leather for someone that is looking for/wants it. And usually people expect MB to all have real leather so that's another reason why it's easy to pass it off as leather to unknowing customers.

MinnBobber

I love leather seats but IMO the quality of MB leather seats has been going down down down. Their first level up from MB Tex leather used to be decent but it is getting more industrial all the time. It's like sitting on a football, hard, no nice leather aroma etc.
When you move up to their top grades, it is very nice but talk about highway robbery, the pricing gets insane.

Even their first level leather pricing is nuts. From the E350 build sheet:
"Black Leather$1,620". Big bucks for so-so leather quality and only on the
seat surfaces. They just got too greedy on their pricing.
Your opinion may be different.

mrjoed2

Agree 100% Was a primary reason I scratched the E550 coupe off my list. The so called standard "leather" was a joke- hard as a rock, no leather aroma, lousy texture. And this was a $60,000 car. I paid more for a BMW with Nappa leather on all surfaces, but worth every penny IMO.

stale-bread

I agree with you as well. The leather in my E550 is stiff and barely retains its leather scent. The Nappa in my BMW was far superior. One thing in MB's defense is maybe it has to be a bit tougher due to having the ventilation? My 650 did not have this option.

mrjoed2

My '14 BMW 650i has ventilation & heating. I don't think it makes much difference. It's the type/quality of the leather involved.

KEY08

The days of the 1980 Berman Leather smell is gone. That smell in cars is particularly annoying. I buy the leather for the feel and comfort. Maybe it is not plush enough for some of you, but it is a car, not a Barcalounger to me.

mrjoed2

Nappa leather does have a noticeable aroma. Still take the smell of leather over petrochemical products any day.

Wrecked Em

I got burned when I ordered my Nissan with leather. I didn't realize it at the time, but they did the scumbag move of leather seating surfaces with the rest a very convincing vinyl match. Well after 10 years, and 100k miles, the leather looks as good as the day I bought it (with zero maintenance), while the vinyl looks shiny, cracked, and basically like garbage.

Only now reading this thread, it sounds like the 350 I ordered 2 months ago (specifically to get leather), might put me in the same situation. This might actually be a deal breaker. I guess I'll decide when I see it this weekend.

MBtex is the cubic zirconia of auto seating. It might impress a tramp in a dark club, but it's never going to get you married. Perhaps that's the intention...

mrjoed2

Very nicely said. Instead of putting real leather in many of there $50,000 + cars, MB spends their time trying to perfect this petrochemical crap to imitate the real thing. And of course the other intention is to reduce their costs by putting in plastic seats, and boosting profits , hoping unsuspecting buyers will be too glassy eyed over the 3 pointed star to notice!!

KEY08

Just so there is no misunderstanding, I only buy MB with Leather interiors. My comment was for those who indicate that since the MB leather has little aroma they will opt for the MBtaxi. I personally do not like leather that smells and smelly leather is usually cheap leather.

El Cid

I bought the most expensive cars Mazda, Toyota and Nissan sold in the past and they came with leather. After about 3 years, the leather began to crack, split and fade.
MBTex and Leather are like anything else. It is up to the person as to which they prefer for their needs. Neither is better than the other.

mrjoed2

Disagree completely on the smell issue. I have sat in Aston Martin's, Bentley's, Ferrari's ect at car shows - all have full leather interiors and the leather smell is quite evident. Certainly these cars are not using cheap leather. I say the opposite - little aroma is cheap leather.

schorert1

I've smelled cows at a farm. MB tex doesn't smell like that.

keep this thread alive forever! eclassy, cue Dafoe!

KEY08

Apples and Oranges Mr. Joe. The leather in exotics, including Lamborghinis is not what we are discussing here. If you have ever seen a driver's side bolster in any one of those exotics, they are trashed after only 10,000 miles or so. That leather may be cushy and smelly, but it would not be recommended for any car that sees "normal" mileage of say 12-15,000 miles annually.

My Driver's seat in my E500 at 97,000 miles before I traded it.

[IMG][/IMG]

Airmousam

Key, looks great, btw is that Corinthian leather? Have not seen this in years, love the body roll on mountain turns...

Arab_Homie

For a car I use all the time to haul and have animals in, I prefer mb tex. I have Nappa in my C55 (designo according to data card, not sure about that) and I live how it feels and smells. It's not shiny like our w140 leather it's more like matte black with a light sheen to it. I hate shiny leather. Only thing is it's showing crease lines on sides after only 45,000 miles. And I'm a kinda small guy I'm prob 130 lbs so I can only imaging a bigger guy with Nappa

E Classy

mrjoe hates mbtex.
mrjoe loves nappa leather.

pmm

[QUOTE=Arab_Homie;5926693]For a car I use all the time to haul and have animals in, I prefer mb tex./QUOTE]

I also have teens.

mrjoed2

Thank you- that says it all. I officially sign off from this thread as it officially has been beaten to death !!