Anyone for leather?

Linuus

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Why mercedes?! Why u ruin your reputation... :/


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L John

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W204 C350 Petrol Elegance
My seats are Artico, well the bit I sit on is Artico but I'm not sure about the rest of the seat.
I'm getting it tested as I have a suspicion it's real leather.
Joking aside I can't believe Mercedes lawyer team thought it was acceptable to sell half leather seats as "leather seats" even if they didn't use the the phrase "full leather seats".

What is the cost of leather seats as an option? Surely a price high enough for full real leather with a hefty profit to be had.
 

A.J.

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UnMerc - 2020 VW Polo 2.0t GTi Plus, DSG. Flash Red, Traditional VW GTi Tartan seat trim.
Mine even says Grey Leather on the build sheet, but it ain't. Its AARRGGHHTICO ! :(
 

Submariner1

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CL500 2009 5.5
I started buying the exclusive leather option when I discovered that the about to be ordered SL500 £81K with lovely leather seats!
BUT the armrest ... yeah the bit your bare arm rests on was naff plastic crap!
And the only way to get leather there was exclusive ... actually I loved the workmanship
But thats not the point!
If you are speanding £81K ... dont those bastards realise the negative effect of cheating you out of 1 sq foot of leather!

And having seen inside the £1400 HK Amp ... my god the components look like the rubbish inside my first ALBA Amp when I was a student!
Alba ... being the first letters of Albania! No doubt.
And the fabulous ( cough choke splutter ) HK speakers .. look like £12 speakers in a Maplins project kit.

Why?
 

Craiglxviii

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970 Panamera Turbo; W221 S500L AMG Line, C215 CL500, W251 R350L AMG Line, plus several more now gone
Because the quality of the bottom end has massively closed up to the top end, for the perceptive ability of about 80% of the population, for most areas.
 

LostKiwi

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'93 500SL-32, '01 W210 Estate E240 (RIP), 02 R230 SL500, 04 Smart Roadster Coupe, 11 R350CDi
Because the quality of the bottom end has massively closed up to the top end, for the perceptive ability of about 80% of the population, for most areas.
Yes but when a pack of dogs is chasing you you don't slow down...
Why on earth cheapen the brand with fake leather and allow the chasing pack to get closer?
 

00slk

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2002 SL55 AMG, 2005 E320 CDi, 2014 SLK250 CDi, 2003 SLK200
Bit like my old Renault then.......Half leather :confused:
 

Craiglxviii

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Yes but when a pack of dogs is chasing you you don't slow down...
Why on earth cheapen the brand with fake leather and allow the chasing pack to get closer?
At work we call this “the race to the bottom”. What happens is, each manufacturer benchmarks every other competitor’s model at that grade. If one has successfully launched without a particular feature (or deleted a feature that customers don’t care about, eg cigarette lighter inserts in the 12V socket) then that becomes justification for all the others to do the same.

It isn’t what the whole point of enriching the customer experience is about.

My point about the bottom end of “quality” in its various guises closing up to the top end was more in the realm of quality per se across the various technologies, not between OEMs. Say, infotainment now. What a bottom end infotainment system can do now (GPS, streaming, Bluetooth, voice command etc) isn’t really much different to what top end ones can do. 20 years ago the difference was AM/FM vs GPS, CD, phone connectivity... a whole world of difference.
 

Submariner1

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CL500 2009 5.5
At work we call this “the race to the bottom”. What happens is, each manufacturer benchmarks every other competitor’s model at that grade. If one has successfully launched without a particular feature (or deleted a feature that customers don’t care about, eg cigarette lighter inserts in the 12V socket) then that becomes justification for all the others to do the same.

It isn’t what the whole point of enriching the customer experience is about.

My point about the bottom end of “quality” in its various guises closing up to the top end was more in the realm of quality per se across the various technologies, not between OEMs. Say, infotainment now. What a bottom end infotainment system can do now (GPS, streaming, Bluetooth, voice command etc) isn’t really much different to what top end ones can do. 20 years ago the difference was AM/FM vs GPS, CD, phone connectivity... a whole world of difference.

Yeah but, Alternatively one could inject a “game-changing”, Unique Selling Point, ..... bring back robust quality ... so things don't break so quickly.

That said, the new breed of brand ‘new ‘ mercedes owners don't care ... its all on credit ...
- there is no ownership bond, as with the cash buyers of yester-year.
And in fairness if its leased, its under warranty, big deal it breaks, drop car off pick up a loaner , no bill to pay !
So why should they care!

I genuinely wonder; in 6 years time, when the 2nd hand value of a Merc is peanuts, (especially the big ones, which will by then be seen as a “liability” not an asset) will the low residuals hike up the new lease costs, to an uncomfortable level, so uncomfortable that it matters?
Sound economics says it should!

But in reality, Probably not, as MB will just cut costs further to soak up the difference :(
For once I am not complaining ... I’m now on the other “Carpet bagging” side of the fence :)
I look forward to being able to pick up a 3 year old, sub 18,000 miler, mint S63 AMG Coupe for £30K :):):)
 

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