leather is softer than leatherette

 

I am not sure if I have leather or leatherette in my car. The interior is the HELLBEIGE (sand yellow) one. It doesn't look like real leather to me, but then again it looks the same as in other BMWs I've driven in. How do I know for sure?
Thanks.

If you can't tell by feel, then smell.

 

by look: leather has double stictching, leatherette has single

 

if it's cracking then it's leather.. :-D so the myth goes.

 

ics:

 

leatherette seems more durable whereas leather will soften and exhibit more wrinkling over time.

 

The first time I saw the "leather" in a BMW I thought it was just poor quality leather. I've seen the exact same thing in other BMWs (two 328i, onincluding mine and I just now realise all of them had leatherette. So I guess real leather in BMWs isn't very common?

 

ics:

kinda a bad example but this is leatherette (single stitching)

 

You could have both like me. One side of my fold down back seat is leather, the other is leatherette. The rest of the car is leather. :dunno:

Steve

 

The first time I saw the "leather" in a BMW I thought it was just poor quality leather. I've seen the exact same thing in other BMWs (two 328i, onincluding mine and I just now realise all of them had leatherette. So I guess real leather in BMWs isn't very common?

Poor quality leather? You must be talking about the real leather that comes in the 3 series, which is total crap.

The leatherette, in contrast, looks and feels like a very soft plastic. The most obvious defining features are single stitching and a very smooth/flat, and rather artificial (read: perfect) appearance. It's far more durable and always looks better than the real thing, but doesn't breathe as well (can be bad in summer if you don't cool the car off first) nor is it as soft.

Quite frankly, being who I am, I'm not much a fan of leather in cars. It usually ages poorly, requires constant upkeep (to at least slow the aging process if not outright prevent it), and doesn't even feel that good. I want to be held into the seat and not worry about getting water or anything else on it...not feel like I'm floating on a cushion.

As such, I prefer synthetic suede/alcantara, a stiff/durable durable cloth (BMW style...check out an E36 318 to see what I mean, not the cheap fuzzy stuff that most Japanese, American and Korean cars pass off as "cloth"), or leatherette.

 

Here's a nice up close look at the bottom of my driver's side (leatherette) seat:

 

so, as a potential buyer, should I go with leather or leatherette? I'm more concerned cause I have a dog and I might have to take him in my car as well)
So, which one do you think it looks and feel better? Thx

 

Resale, you want leather. If you don't care about resale as much, then leatherette if you have a dog.

I have leatherette too. Didn't feel like paying $1500 for leather that should have been included free, especially when it was as crappy as the kind BMW likes to use.

 

so, as a potential buyer, should I go with leather or leatherette? I'm more concerned cause I have a dog and I might have to take him in my car as well)
So, which one do you think it looks and feel better? Thx

Most people can't tell the difference between real leather and leatherette in a German car (although after about 50,000 miles the leatherette will still look new, while real leather will show signs of wear).

Also, in many cars, only the seating surfaces are leather. The seat backs are often leatherette.

Unfortunately, natural brown is only available in leather.

 

so, as a potential buyer, should I go with leather or leatherette? I'm more concerned cause I have a dog and I might have to take him in my car as well)
So, which one do you think it looks and feel better? Thx

Looks: Leatherette
Feels: Leather
Value: Leatherette
Durability: Leatherette

If you get water on leatherette (being that it's a synthetic plastic), it won't distort or shrivel. Just be careful not to damage the stitching or let water leak into the padding underneath. You can also get dirt on it without worry (very easy to clean), and there's absolutely no need for maintenance and conditioning aside from the occasional cleaning. Hell, I haven't thoroughly cleaned my seats in nearly two years and they look and feel just fine, same as they always have.

Not a hard choice in my opinion, especially with what BMW charges for their leather.

As far as resale value goes, I haven't seen anything to suggest that the leather would affect value any more than a couple hundred dollars at the most. It certainly seems to have no effect on pure desirability...most people, as stated above, can't tell the difference. If it were that easy, would this thread even exist?

 

Give it the fire test. :evil: If burns right away is letherette. Leather will take longer to burn.

 

I am not sure if I have leather or leatherette in my car. The interior is the HELLBEIGE (sand yellow) one. It doesn't look like real leather to me, but then again it looks the same as in other BMWs I've driven in. How do I know for sure?
Thanks.

you should be able to the leather

nothing like cow skin in my car oh yeah

 

you should be able to the leather

nothing like cow skin in my car oh yeah

You wanna quit posting that with every post you make?

 

I am not sure if I have leather or leatherette in my car. The interior is the HELLBEIGE (sand yellow) one. It doesn't look like real leather to me, but then again it looks the same as in other BMWs I've driven in. How do I know for sure?
Thanks.

To test for real leather all you have to do it push your finger into the material. If you see wrinkles then it is real leather anything else would not create wrinkles around your finger.

 

ok

You wanna quit posting that with every post you make?

ok