Well one thing my wife pointed out was that the E350 seats might not be that comfortable for a long drive to Vegas. Whenever we go to Vegas she wants to take the Lexus RX350 because she says it is a more comfortable ride. I don't get it, I think the seating in the E350 is very comfortable...

 

You are absolutely correct. Today both my MB's are leather because it is standard on those models. My two previous W212's were MB Tex and those seats looked like new when the cars were traded. It looks and feels like leather but is simply indestructible and does not stretch. I would not hesitate to get it again.

 

If anything, she could bring the seat all the way back to where it even touches the backseat. My wife does that on long rides. She sleeps the day away as if it's a free bed

 

My wife is afraid that will ruin the seat and/or the motors. I told her they are meant for a 250 lb man no problem and she weights less than 120...but she doesn't believe me!

 

I have both 528i and E350 BluTec. They are both good cars in terms of design and the looks but E is more pratical and economical to operate. After warrantee is over with BMW, watch out! With the E I don't have to worry!

 

Very, very bad idea. In order for the safety devices to function as intended (seatbelts, airbags Pre-Safe etc), the seat needs to be in an upright - not fully reclined - position.

I've seen too many accidents where people were horrible injured and killed because they were "out of position" when the accident occurred. Most of these injuries would have extremely minor had the passenger been in an upright position.

I cringe whenever I see a passenger either fully reclined or having their feet on the dash or a foot dangling out the window.

Fully reclined in a car is not good. Aside from submarining under the belt, the head rest will snap your head forward, you can whack it on the b pillar and the side bags will hit you in places you don't want to be hit.

Imagine where you knees go when the airbags go off if you've got your feet on the dash then imagine where the airbags go if you have one foot dangling out the window.

 

Totally agreed on the MB tex. I was pleasantly surprised with the one that came with my 350 and I haven't told anyone that it's not a leather. Nobody seems to noticed. I loved it!

 

My car's MBTEX is softer and more comfortable MBTEX that what was installed in my former 2008 C300. But my former 2010 E350's leather was real soft and more comfortable thn the 2012's.

 

MBTex is remarkably great. Only problem is that if you're truly sensitive to the smoothness of leather you'll find some coarseness in it, though even that's hard to find. And the leather option on E's is pretty rough and plastic-y anyway (not a big difference from Tex).

Actually the big downfall of it truly is that it smells horrible. After several months my E's would start emitting smells from all that plastic that have me headaches.

 

I'd like to participate.If I could be PMed that would be great.

 

I liked MB Tex too until I recently realized that I had two rips in it...one large and one small.The large one was on the seat portion of the driver's seat.A tear right across one of the stitch lines.Car's two years old,23K miles and I,the only driver,weigh less than 200 pounds.The smaller one is on the back seat,fairly small but very annoying.

 

I bought the E350 because of the option package P1 which contains everything I needed (i.e heated seat, backup camera, rear shade, and most important is premium sound). I spent months trying to buy the BMW 528i but could not get the color/options package I wanted. I wanted the premium package, tech package and premium sound on the 5 series but when I find the car, it had ton of other options which I did not want which could add up to $15K more. I did not like to do special order and I feel BMW was trying to make more money with the extra options.

 

I used to like BMW's until what you are experiencing. They're also mainly turbo's now and I'm not a big fan of turbos.

 

What is it about MBWorld where any thread that has BMW in the title always gets sidetracked on the merits of plastic seats?


Totally agree. However - funny that you never mentioned this issue when you had your E and sang the praises of MBTex.

 

Should be covered by warranty - at least the one by the seam.

 

I love how MB Fan-boys create excuses for MB-Tex. IT"S F-ING VINYL SEATS. There is no excuse for it in a $60K+ car...PERIOD

The only reason I have it in mine is that I would have had to special order a car from Germany with leather and I go a smoking deal on my E-350, so I live with it.

But it is downright embarrassing when people ask about it.

The moron at the dealership actually told me that the reason they use VINYL is because MB is keeping the price down on the cars to make them more affordable for their customers....I about spit out my free Latte when I heard that one.

 

It's amusing that you are complaining about MB Tex and you own a 05 Corvette. I would think you would be used to a crap interior by now.

 

 

Actually the big downfall of it truly is that it smells horrible. After several months my E's would start emitting smells from all that plastic that have me headaches.[/QUOTE]
This is true of every car made today. Not from the vinyl (MBTex) seats, but ALL the plastic used to manufacture cars. This is why it is recommended that during first few months of ownership, you open windows, sunroof, etc. as much as possible. This will eliminate the problem.
Part of the that "new car smell" is the plastic outgassing.

 

As to MBTex, it is high quality vinyl. Having had three expensive cars with leather seats, I can see many advantages to MBTex. In fact, I ordered my car and did not give a second thought to getting leather seats.
No regrets. Everybody who has been in my car assumes they are leather, remarks on how comfortable the car is and how nice the seat trim is. And these are mostly people who have luxury cars with leather seats.

 

Yeah, that's a good point....even Chevy uses leather as standard equipment.

You probably would not have seen that however....Hard to see the beautiful leather when I blow by your Porsche and have you wondering how that crappy chevy just made you look like a complete ***-hat.

 

You got free Latte at the dealer? Damn they only had coffee at my dealer.

 

It must be a ZR1 and even then that old tech probably wouldn't cut it. Who knows, maybe the C7 but doubtfull.

I would recommend you read Motor Trend's "Best Driving Cars". By the way the seats are superb.

 

Btw guys the survey is only for the people that got the invitation through the mail. This sucks.

 

Actually I'd always acknowledge it but was probably busy trying to defend said merits of MBTex during one of the many bashfests against it. Believe me, I hate a cheap material on the inside of an expensive car and will feel it's unacceptable, however MBTex never even reminded me that it wasn't leather unless I was focusing on the areas that really are chalky-plasticy (like the bolsters on all the seats, as the cushions are remarkably soft to where it's almost hard to believe they aren't at least some harder/durable leather product). If M-B can soften up those bolsters it would be very hard to tell when you're in an MBTex car.... until you get a whiff of it.

LOL. Good marketing tactic, but doesn't really work on a premium-priced car indeed. In reality it's more about cost-cutting which helps keep margins high on these cars. However, M-B has always been using MBTex since the beginning of time so it's no new method. And one has to agree that when you sit in 10/20/30 year old M-B VS a 10/20/30 year old BMW or about any American car with Leather, the Benzes interior will still look like new and the others ruined by this cracked up, oily, completely worn out leather.

IMO it's a give and take. My BMW has Dakota leather which isn't as soft and cuddly as Nappa leather (which is an option), but will outlast Nappa greatly. It is kind of like a mix between MBTex and Nappa in that it feels as durable as MBTex, yet still has a soft "real leather" texture/feel and of course smells wonderful. It's not as rough as MBTex but not as soft as softer leathers.

I'm hoping that this Dakota will also provide the best merits of both, i.e in years down the road modern Bimmer's with Dakota leather will have seats that still look like new, all the while drivers of the cars benefited from technically leather seats.