Jim K

Does anyone know if, other than the seat, headrests, steering wheel, and shift boot, any other interior surfaces are leather? Or are they vinyl? The sniff test seems inconclusive.

mikey100

Why not simply ask your dealer ?

Is this to difficult ?

Seems like if you really care about the answer, this is a much faster way to obtain a QUALIFIED (ie, correct) answer.

Mikey Lulejian
On beautiful Lake Oconee, Georgia

Kar don

The sniff test? Thats a new one.

Easy answer. If the leather color code begins with an 8 then its only the seats and door panels. If the leather color code begins with a 5 then the dash, shift boot, door panels, seats, everything is covered in leather.

Jim K

Thanks to Kar Don. Re: friend from Georgia -- well, of course I asked, but the dealers rarely know the answers to these questions. Mine is one of the largest in Northern California and they said they'd have to call Mercedes. The M-B fanatics on this site know more than the people in the business, I've found.

Untertürkheim

With US dealers that is very easy to accomplish. I would highly suggest the "Premium Leather" option. It is a small price ($1500) for upgraded upholstery and trim pieces.

Jim K

Every year the content of these options change. I already have the car. It does have the premium trim option but for 2009 this appears to only include better leather, and only the seats, steering wheel, & shift boot. You all have greater faith in the dealer knowledge than I do. I'm not faulting them because the factory is always making revisions, sometimes during a model year. On my 2009 SL 550, for example, it appears the dash top is vinyl with fake stitching. Of course, if I had ordered the AMG the whole interior would be leather, but I've yet to learn of a metropolitan area in the U.S. where the power of an AMG model makes any sense whatsoever, especially when one factors in the price differential. Thanks for your input.

Kar don

did you see the color code on your window sticker Jim? FYI steering wheel leather typically stays the same regardless of seat material.

Kar don

Well I just looked at an SL550 with black premium leather code: 801. This means the seats and door panel trim are the only ones with the premium leather. code 501 would mean full premium leather treatment (seen usually on 600 and up or some designo models)

Jim K

Kar Don, you are correct. The "Premium Trim" option on my SL only means better leather on the seats, headrests, and leather/wood steering wheel and leather shift boot. The SL600 is the model in the U.S. that has nappa leather all over as standard. In other markets such as Europe, there is an "Exclusive Leather" option that puts nappa leather on all surfaces--but we can't get that here, at least in this model year on the SL. I appreciate your knowledge and thanks for the input. Regards.