Irish

Can anyone share with me there own experience and opinion of choosing one over the other; MB Tex or Leather. What will last both?
I usually keep my cars for at least 10 years and am quite meticulous. However i do have children 9 and 11 and a wife who isn't.
Thanks.

KrustyKustom

MB Tex,


Go look at 5 year old used ones and you will be convinced..


Mine is 3 years old and looks showroom new, 5 daughters.

Irish

Thank you.

BlownV8

My MB Tex is over 7 years old and still looks brand new.

Irish

Thank you.

bselph

Tan Leather in my 2008 GL with 180,000 miles looks great. I am meticulous also and clean/condition it regularly. I want seats that breathe. I have also heard that new denim jeans will stain MB Tex.

Irish

Wow a 180,000 miles, nice. What kind of regime have you kept up with to maintain the leather? how often and with what do you recommend for cleaning and conditioning. Are the seats showing signs of cracking and wear? Do you have light colored seats, beige/ tan? I still wonder if the blue die from jeans and the purple from my scrubs will stain the seats. I saw a few pictures of other cars where it appears the leather has stretched out and pillowed on the door and seats. Maybe they were very old models or not the quality of leather now. If i decide to go with it, it will not be the designer series. I have boys, I don't want to kill them if they damage the leather.

BlownV8

If you are worried about wear, get the MB Tex. Leather can't even come close to the durability. The only way leather can look like new at 180k miles is if the person driving is very light and wears clothes that are very soft. Even then, it still won't look as good as the MB Tex.

YodaSyrup

Have had MB Tex and BMW Leatherette - both look like leather, require little to no maintenance, no worries (damp kids' bathing suits), durable and in the end, everyone thinks it's leather anyway.

43221B

I had mbtex on my 09 GL and loved it. Looked better than it did when it was new when I traded it in at 70k+ miles. Having said that, my 14 GL has the multicontour seats with leather and ventilation. There is no comparison with respect to looks to the X166 with MB tex. The seats look softer and of a higher grade than the ones with mb tex. The multicontour seats are also significantly more comfortable than the standard seats. If you can stomach the extra money, buy the leather/multicontour seats on the x166.

sak335

I've never owned a vehicle that didn't have leather and I've never had any issues with leather, but I take very good care of my vehicles. I'm sure MB Tex is a nice product as it has been around forever, but I like the look, feel, breathability and hell, the smell of leather.

I use Lexol products, but Leatherique is also well regarded. Lexol has a cleaner (orange bottle) and a conditioner (brown bottle.) I get a big bucket of clean water and a micro-fiber cloth and wet it in the bucket. Then I spray the cloth with the cleaner and clean each leather surface (seats, door cards, dash, grab handles) thoroughly. Then I rinse the cloth in the bucket and go over the surface again (I do these one at a time) to get the cleaner off. After I do everything, I get a clean bucket of water and go over everything again.

Once it dries, I get a new cloth and spray the conditioner on it, and go pretty heavy with it. I prefer to let it sit for 30 minutes, or preferably, overnight. If I only let it sit 30 minutes, I wipe it down again, but if I let it sit a lot longer it's not necessary. My leather is butter soft. When I sold my 1996 M3 last year, the leather looked new and it was a daily driver for 13 years and spent 2 years as a track car.

N_Jay

I love the MB Tex on my E (It is perforated), and I like it on the GL (Non-perforated).
Both have over 100K and look almost new without maintenance.


Our Range Rovers had excellent leather, but required care to stay as nice looking as the MB Tex and eventually showed some creases and some color wear through.

43221B

I recently rented an X166 with MBtex that had about 35k miles on it. I was very surprised in the appearance of the MBtex. It had a shiny fake look to it. In my X164, the MBtex became more indistinguishable from leather the older it got. Perhaps Hertz uses some sort of terrible cleaning agent on the seats or perhaps the MBtex is different in the X166 compared to the X164.

N_Jay

I would suspect a poor choice of cleaner.

Irish

This is just where I am at in making my decision. I will be getting the multicontoured seats/ but I keep going back and forth with getting the leather and the ventilated seats or the Mb Tex. I have two boys, but are quite considerate. I don't know . The other rub is that OI prefer the Walnut Burl wood trim and the only way to get it is with a leather package. Advise. How many miles is on your 2014?

43221B

I've got 4000 on mine. Absolutely no wear on the leather yet. I had the same dilemma with regard to the wood trim. The burl is IMHO far better looking than the ash grain or whatever it is. Plus, the cupholder cover is plastic instead of burl if you don't get leather. I'm telling you, leather, multicontour seats, ventilation, burl, AND wrapped lower dash make the enterior look totally different than the interior with MBtex particularly in black. The contrast stitching is stunning. I didn't like spending the money but I'm glad I did. The wrapped lower dash is about a $400 option but looks like a $1500-$2000 option. At night, the ambient lighting illuminates the stitching on the door panels and dash. I don't think I have ever seen it in pictures but it looks amazing.