Re: Leather or Leatherette?

[Garson Sam <gksam@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Regarding this issue of Leather or Leatherette, I am a big fan of Leatherette.

Unless you plan to take extreme good care of your seats, leatherette is the 
more practical alternative.  Hard pants such a jeans (with those metal 
plugs on them) are bad to leather seats -- making scratch marks, 
etc.  Also, sitting in them a lot causes them to become creased.  All of 
these effects are much more noticeable on a black interior.

I have a 1994 318i, and many people mistaken my car for a 1996-1998 
car.  They always comment on how perfect condition the seats are.  I 
attribute this to the leatherette.  It is firm, and does not crease or 
scratch easily.  I even brought my car to have a sunroof put in, and the 
people there thought it was a 1997 (mine was the first used car they did a 
sunroof on..  the rest of the cars they work on are brand new cars direct 
from the dealers).  In terms of resale, this helps a lot -- since the car 
will look so new inside.

I do not think leather seats are a good payoff.  You pay $3000 CDN more for 
them, yet according to the blue books and such, when the car is used, you 
get $500 more back.  Add this to the fact that the seats will probably look 
all tattered, creased and torn, and the car will be hard to sell.  It is 
easy to sell a car if it looks mint condition inside -- since its a 
psychological thing.  People sit behind the wheel... and if they interior 
is all worn out, the car feels old to them.  Thats probably why all dealers 
say "good clean cars wanted".

Anyway, these are just my opinions... and experiences...    Most people 
think my seats are leather anyway.  BMW leatherette is pretty close to 
leather (the tough stiff type of leather).  MB Tex is not as easily 
mistaken for being leather.

I guess if you plan to keep your car for a long time, the chance that the 
leather will become all worn is much higher......

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