Zavato

I'll start-

MB Tex

No regrets, and no passenger not knowledgable in all things MB has ever suspected it is anything but leather.

thefisch

Leather but that's because it is standard on the E550. My coworker has the tex on his E350 and it's fine to me except for no vented seats. Those are a must for me in FL. With the humidity, you need every advantage you can get.

Youngd

MB-Tex here. Other than a tear in a seam I am satisfied. Dealer replaced the cover with no problem.

g4benz

Leather here. Many people have experienced the seams of their seats tearing with MB-Tex it seems. I always thought that vinyl is more receptive to wear and tear than real leather.

mr e350

MB Tex have no problems and easy to keep clean.

AnirInTexas

I have leather and so far not any issues. It looks like it was back in 2011.

badbenzz

Nice Autopreme mats got them myself

CarolinaBluetec

Both. leather in SLK and MB-tex in E. Both are fine

Peachy

2010 E550 P2

On my "Vehicle Master Inquiry" it says: Upholstery 201-Black Leather

I thought for a long time it was MB-Tex since there was no smell and it isn't supple at all. But I guess it's leather.

El Cid

MB Tex and after almost six years is in great shape it. Love it compared to previous cars with leather.
Incidentally, there will be a fire storm over this thread.
I do use Vinylex by Lexol 2-3 times per year on it and all other plastic/vinyl surfaces.

Tmbenz

2016 e400 coupe
black leather

looney100

Similar to CarolinaBluetec, we've got both MB Tex is my wife's E250 and leather in my E63. The MB Tex is good quality and fools most, if not all passengers, but the leather is a touch above.

sleeperZ96BT

Leather in my 2013 E550, MB Tex in my wife's 2014 GLK 350. I prefer the Tex to be honest.

Raymond Lee

MB Tex has been good but in recent years its quality control has not been good. Old days MB Tex lasted for ever looking like new but today I am not sure!

thefisch

Yeah, it's not supple or soft like the upgraded leather option (forget what it's called). But mine still looks great and is hardly showing any cracks after 5.5 years so I guess there are trade offs.

I find the tex a little softer by comparison to my 'regular' leather. I'd be fine with that if they had it with the vented seats.

LINKBXQ

Leather which is standard on E550. After hearing about the tearing issue and went to look at a car but couldn't test drive it, because it was sent to the dealer to get the mx tex fit for tearing, it really turned me off of it. But I am also kind of old school and just prefer real leather anyway so I am bias there.

The G Man

I hear that a lot, but most of our passengers suspect its not leather the first time they sat on it, although most of them say it is high quality vinyl. Even my wife who is not really into cars can the tell the difference.

El Cid

Everyone who has ever riden in my car believes it is leather until I tell them differently. This includes "car guys" who have cars with lether.

jahquan3

^This

I use my vented seats every day of the summer. It's essential to me even though I wish it was a tad bit strong.

TSchuettinger

Usually if I get into a car that has an upholstery that looks like real leather or is real leather, unless I smell leather, I assume it's vinyl. I've been looking at cars the past couple months and there were a few brands that claimed their seats were genuine leather but I couldn't smell it. Audi, no leather smell, just new car, BMW, no leather smell, new car again, Cadillac, no leather smell, new car smell, Jaguar, no leather smell, new car smell, volvo, no leather smell. Only brands where I could smell the leather were Acura, Mercedes-Benz, Lexus and Infiniti.

The G Man

Most car manufacturers are shifting to interior materials that has low VOC, less smell. The new car smell might be a thing of the pass pretty soon. Most of the time, the grain of the material is a dead give away. On high end leather, it easy to tell the difference because the high end leather is much softer. On low end leather, it a bit harder to tell the difference.

TSchuettinger

I heard about them reducing the new car smell but. But it still is very much there. One thing I noticed is the cars I saw where I couldn't smell leather had no perforations.

PigPen

I’ve had my ’16 E350 for about a month. This is the first car without leather seats I’ve had in about a decade. I find the black MB Tex to be sticky and uncomfortable to be honest. It hasn’t helped that So Cal has been on a bit of a heat wave. I’m hoping it get’s better in cooler weather.

Still very much love the car though.

BlankProc

Tan MB-tex in 2016 E350. No quality issues, no stickiness (I live in Atlanta, super hot and gross all the time) and one of the best cars I've ever owned. Fall in love every time I get in.

Ejbrock

Ejbrock
Leather on both cars.