when is leather not leather?

[mjrennie]

i have an 04 clk coupe. with black leather. or is it? it never has that leather smell and does not seem to be creasing up nicely as leather should.

i am increasingly suspicious of the stuff. if this is in fact tex not leather, i will have em for mis-selling! says black leather on the details!

any simiar gripes or is this just a case of cheap leather.

 

[Sanny]

I have always found the leather on Mercs to be poor quality compared to say BMW/Lexus/Jaguar.

I currently run a new S, BMW 7 and a new ML. The S class leather is not a patch on the BMW which was soft and supple from day 1. For the ML I ordered it with alcantara which has a much better feel to it than the MB leather.

Purely personal choice of course.

 

[mjrennie]

thanks sanny. thing is, i got this bee in me bonnet...i have a car with tex not leather. how could i find out? perhaps go to another dealer and get them to check it out?

i had a tt with nappa leather and that was great. i also had an sl and the leather was brilliant. this stuff in the clk though, it displays none of the properties you would associate with leather, hence my suspicion. if i can prove it is not, i might be able to do something about it.

 

[Blobcat]

If you put your vin into the russian site it shopuld list out the interior. http://www.mbclub.ru/mb/vin/?lng=eng

I do not agree that MB leather is not as good as BMW/Lexus/Jaguar, mine still comes up like new after 107K miles and 5.5 years. Better than can be said of a Jag of similar age I know of my brothers BM and Range Rovers. All wearing badly and at less miles.
leather seat I know that's better is the La-z-boy I'm sat in

 

[Chris_J]

I bet your Lazyboy cost more than a Merc interior though is the fridge in it good?

 

[mjrennie]

well, i put the data into the search...and it is leather.

i was also interested to know my car has a sport suspension and other nice options i figured were standard!

 

[johnmc]

Some Merc's have words like this in the small print:

"Leather Twin: Parts of the cushioning are made with man-made non leather substitute". Straight from the E-Class web page at

http://www2.mercedes-benz.co.uk/con..._cars/e-class_saloon/models/options.0004.html

This is the leather used as the outer seat cushions of E-Class models, notably the part leather seats of the Avantgarde. EG: it's cheap 'cause it ain't real leather..!

Maybe you got something like this? If it's full leather maybe not. The Tex stuff is pretty rough looking, should be obvious.

John

 

[mioba]

Just a point to add.
Have you cleaned the "leather" at all, I may be in need of some rejuvination.

 

[Neil Plumridge]

If you look at the latest c-class brochure it refers to "man made leather". No idea what that is but it defintely doesn't sound like it's ever been anywhere near a cow...

 

[hawk20]

i have an 04 clk coupe. with black leather. or is it? it never has that leather smell and does not seem to be creasing up nicely as leather should.

i am increasingly suspicious of the stuff. if this is in fact tex not leather, i will have em for mis-selling! says black leather on the details!

any simiar gripes or is this just a case of cheap leather.

I think in fairness to Merc you should first check whether or not it is leather. Having owned a dozen Mercs over the last twenty years or so I've always found the leather remarkably hard wearing -like yours seems to be. We clean and feed the leather with proprietary stuff about six monthly, that's all. Seen several Beemers lately with the leather cracking up where the sun falls on it. Never seen that on a Merc.

 

[hawk20]

If you look at the latest c-class brochure it refers to "man made leather". No idea what that is but it defintely doesn't sound like it's ever been anywhere near a cow...

Just in case it helps anyone Alcantara is an amazing man-made leather 'substitute' (?). I put a query after substitute as some think it is even better than leather. It breathes, but you can spill coffee or wine on it and just wipe it off. It is not cheap. In fact it is dearer than many grades of leather and is used on Luxury yachts amongst other things.

Mercs "Leather Twin" is a very low cost option. Looks like leather but is vinyl covered cloth -not unlike dashboards are covered in. Taxis like it and some people with children. It is waterproof and good at taking kids spills or teenagers being sick after weekend binging! The Merc quality lasts an age and more. I rode in a cab in Europe with over half a milliom kms on the clock. Still original seats and looked good.

Many complain about the long list of options but it is does mean that most people can get what they prefer -and that should be a hallmark of any luxury vehicle.

 

[Blobcat]

Just in case it helps anyone Alcantara is an amazing man-made leather 'substitute' (?). I put a query after substitute as some think it is even better than leather. It breathes, but you can spill coffee or wine on it and just wipe it off. It is not cheap. In fact it is dearer than many grades of leather and is used on Luxury yachts amongst other things.

Not on the seats of Aristotle Onassis Yacht 'Christina'. They were of the sperm whale foreskin variety

 

[Blobcat]

I bet your Lazyboy cost more than a Merc interior though is the fridge in it good?

If I'd paid full price then yes it would have cost more than an MB interior. Cooler is not really a fridge as no compressor, however it does keep the beers cool. Although I use the massage and heat more often

 

[clive williams]

I used to be critical of MB leatherwork/quality until I owned the 500E, which on first inspection has the MB old fashioned hard glazed look. But I am totally reformed. Over the last six years and 125k mls (225K mls in total) the leather has taken a phenomenal amount of abuse and is still in superb condition - no cracks or anything. In contrast, the softer more fashionable leather in the barge (S210) is marked/ripped and is in no way as durable as it should be.
Some years ago I had a client who was one of the leading leather automotive trim suppliers and was sanctioned by Ford to supply leather trim worldwide. The leather they used was ultra soft high quality Italian hide but they freely admitted that the leather was for looks rather than durability.
Jaguar's and BMW's also owes more to fashion than wear characteristics and the ones I've seen with little over 100k mls do show their age.

Clive

500E
E320CDIT210

 

[davidsl500]

Not on the seats of Aristotle Onassis Yacht 'Christina'. They were of the sperm whale foreskin variety

Is that the ones where you stroke them and they turn into a complete 3 piece suite?

 

[RichHammond]

On the new C class the proper leather is an optional extra. The Avantgarde's as standard come with man made leather which has a harder more plastic feel, a member of my family has one. Ive just got an ML with grey Leather and its top notch real stuff.