vdubpower

whats the difference, more importantly why the hell dont merc have top of line leather ina 100000 car,

bloody ridiculous

Nevada Jack

The standard leather is an excellent interior (and probably superior to top of the line leather in many cars) but the upgrade to Premium makes it nicer. I think the Premium is a bit softer and perhaps somewhat better looking. Perhaps someone can define the exact difference. I have the premium in mine and it is NICE.

If you don't want to spend the extra grand or so, then the standard leather presents a great appearance and is certainly in keeping with a great luxury look.

Strictly a buyer's choice and preference...

vdubpower

do all the models have the same leather on the door panels or is tha also made premium

please tell me there is no mb freaking tex in a 100000 car,

Kar don

dont get upset. The Premium upgrade is WELL worth it. You get semi aniline leather which is higher grade than nappa... very soft and thick. The standard leather is similar to the std leather on the V220 S430. Grainy but soft.

vdubpower

our w220s regular leather actually is pretty decent. its a non ventilated seat. I wonder if that makes a difference

i drove a w221 again today, car seems real big. and the leather is dry, i think is a good way put it.

Ashkan's C43

what is the best leather possible to get in cars?

MrMBenz1

I have premium leather in my car, and I would say it is well worth the up-charge. The difference from the standard is that it is much softer and does not show any grain. I'm sure either choice is of high quality. As far as the "best" goes, each car manufacturer establishes what they consider to be top of the line, so it is difficult to compare amongst the different makes. Many argue that the hides used in Rolls Royce vehicles, perhaps Jaguar as well (Conolly?) is the best. Regarding leather on the doors, outside of Europe where they offer Passion Exclusive leather trim, or Designo, I don't believe MB uses leather on the S550 door panels, only on the arm rests. Very sad, although not enough to warrant an upgrade to the S600 for me...

NZ_Benz

Wounder which one has the longer life. Oh and nevada jack, watched the topgear review of the 221 the other day, every bad thing I have said about this car I take back even the steering wheel looked good on the Tv compared to the photos.

Nevada Jack

That was a great review...the last scenes of the "power slides" were really impressive. How many luxury sedans can perform those moves?

I am totally taken with the car...the way it handles and looks is just tremendous! Glad you now agree...:-))))

NZ_Benz

It really is the car of cars, I was such a non fan of the 220 I tared the 221 with the same brush, BTW was impressed that the w140 took all that concrete. No the w221 is a real S class.

Wanna swap?

georgl

There are three different leather qualities avaible:

Standard: with "structure" (which is artificial), not very soft

Passion (US: Premium?): without structure and softer. They say it's anilin-leather, I think it has something to do with the production process. Maybe a little bit better than it's predecessor. In the Maybach it's called Grand Nappa

Designo: I'm not sure about the leather quality itself (just passion?) but it is handled by MB in Germany and the quality of the stitches is better.

Connolly and Roser don't exist anymore, most high-end-cars (also Bentley and Rolls) have leather made by a company in saxony.

WSH

Haven't seen all the '07 iterations yet, but I'd bet the marketing dept will (rightfully) insist on gradations of qualities (and quantities) of leather btwn 550, 600, 55 (?63) and 65.....as prices go from <$90Kish to $200Kish....lots of margin for more than 3 grades of leather, given wildly different buyer demographics, both economically and age-wise.....

georgl

Sure, they've found out that even S550-buyers are not willing to pay for highest-quality leather but are mostly satisfied with cheaper leather instead of using only leather in one quality and selling cotton as standard.
Designo/Maybach-leather, made in Germany (I think the cows are from south-Germany/Alps) and handled in Germany, which meets highest quality standards is too expensive even for the ordinary s-class.
I think I was wrong about the Maybach-leather, I think it's more likely designo-quality instead of passion!?

I've found a video, which shows how sophisticated production technology becomes, when you don't just outsource production to eastern-Europe or Asia:

http://www.kuka.com/NR/rdonlyres/7EC...C/0/L_R215.wmv (sorry for the bad quality)

http://www.kuka.com/en/solutions/sol...eat_covers.htm

WSH

Most buyers aren't discerning enough to differentiate leathers and other interior finishes...

'07 S550 costs ?$5K less than S500 of 15+ yrs ago....MB needs to decontent somewhere when buyers clearly expect no price increases and where competing cars, incl AM/B/BMW/Lexus, etc have various cheap/cheap-looking touches or lack of technologies when one compares closely.....

Plus, $100K price gap btwn 550 and 65 demands visible differences in interior finishes, given identical exterior, except the V12 badges.....