[petros15978]

I think that we should all post the pics of our cars' seats, under normal wear and tear. Pics should state the material, leather, cloth or leatherette as well as the age/mileage of the car. I believe this can be really helpful.

[AlexM]

You will have to wait at least a year or two so there is some time inbetween to see which material got beat up more.

[F32Fleet]

Originally Posted by AlexM

You will have to wait at least a year or two so there is some time inbetween to see which material got beat up more.

+1 E90 hasn't been on the road long enough for one to come up with an accurate determination of which is wearing better.

[petros15978]

However, browsing through the interior pictures thread, it was more than obvious that lots of front seats were getting deformed and full of "wrinkles" due to the drivers natural body movements i.e. getting in and out of the vehicle. That's the kind of deterioration I am looking for.

[BK]

I bet the sport seats wear worse if you're a fat guy. They hug me pretty good, and I'm fairly normal sized.

[Vector Pilot]

Having had cars trimmed in leather and leatherette ... Here's my experience, unless you are prepared to treat leather, a natural-organic material, on a consistent basis, (I mean every week) it will break down, in some cases, wrinkle and crack. However, leatherette, a more durable material, will remain and appear the same years later.

[DFW_M]

So, just about hitting a second anniversary on my e90 + ZSP, leatherette.
1st year I was at 255 lbs, 2006 and on at 200 lbs

The seats (and everything else) absolutely look like the day I picked the car up from the dealer in May of 2005...

[krafty04]

Originally Posted by petros15978

lots of front seats were getting deformed and full of "wrinkles"

I noticed that on pics that were of cars 1 day old. They were all leather and thats why my order is "leatherette."

Our 04 had leatherette and it was new looking the day we sold it two years later. It doesn't wrinkle like the real stuff and much easier to maintain.

[bailey544]

Since leather has some wrinkles from day one, that might help the aging perception. My last car had super smooth leather and after 4 years it looked sort of creased rather than wrinkled. That stood out compared to less-used passenger seat. BMW leather looks thicker than some other cars I've seen. I do not have enough months yet to better assess durability.

Main issue with leatherette is lack of color choice and missing other premium package items if those are desired.

[Mr_Devereaux]

Originally Posted by petros15978

I think that we should all post the pics of our cars' seats, under normal wear and tear. Pics should state the material, leather, cloth or leatherette as well as the age/mileage of the car. I believe this can be really helpful.

I had my 325Ci with leather seats for 3 years - and they still looked new when I wrecked her. I certainly didn't treat them every week (more like twice in the 3 years with Masterguard).

[txusa03]

I think some of ya'll also forgetting about mileage. You can have a 2 yrs old car with only 12K miles vs a 2 yrs old car with 35K miles. There is a big difference in wear and tear when you hardly ever driven the car vs someone who spent alot of time in the driver seat driving around (like me ).

Let me also just say that the real and fake leather theory might be true but I am telling you, my leather seats are still very much almost like showroom new. Had car for 23 months with 35.5 K miles. I only treated the leather twice since I had my car (basically once a year). I dont know if ppl are dirty/filty in general but it is not that hard to maintain leather. Well, I do have blck leather so that makes it a whole lot easier to maintain. But I have seen folks with lemon leather say it is not that hard to maintain lemon.

Dont let me whip out my digi cam to proof to you how nice the leather seats still look.

Peace out.

[Chi-town330]

My 1990 535 leather looked great when I sold it in 2000 with about 90,000 miles. And almost its entire life was spent in the hot south (black leather on black car - but windows were tinted). A few wear marks on the left side of the drivers seat where I would slide in, but nothing much. And I think I treated the leather about 4 times total. (yes, I am much more diligent these days....).

I loved that car.....

I know it is a different car, different leather, blah blah, but I have never once worried about the leather in a car, and have had many.

this is just a question.....wouldn't one think that for fairly loaded versions, Leatherette is going to hurt resale values? I can see a base version car with Leatherette doing well on the market as it can be offered at a low price point to appeal to the very price-sensitive shopper. But once a car is loaded up with options, and has higher price, wouldn't the average consumer want leather? I would.

Then again, half of the "average consumers" looking at the car probably wouldn't be able to tell its not leather anyway

[DFW_M]

Originally Posted by txusa03

I think some of ya'll also forgetting about mileage. You can have a 2 yrs old car with only 12K miles vs a 2 yrs old car with 35K miles. There is a big difference in wear and tear when you hardly ever driven the car vs someone who spent alot of time in the driver seat driving around (like me ).

Let me also just say that the real and fake leather theory might be true but I am telling you, my leather seats are still very much almost like showroom new. Had car for 23 months with 35.5 K miles. I only treated the leather twice since I had my car (basically once a year). I dont know if ppl are dirty/filty in general but it is not that hard to maintain leather. Well, I do have blck leather so that makes it a whole lot easier to maintain. But I have seen folks with lemon leather say it is not that hard to maintain lemon.

Dont let me whip out my digi cam to proof to you how nice the leather seats still look.

Peace out.

I may not be driving it too much (12k miles in 2 years) but I sleep in it!

[STE92VE]

[txusa03]

Originally Posted by dr325i

I may not be driving it too much (12k miles in 2 years) but I sleep in it!

I thought that was a given with all bmw drivers.

[txusa03]

Originally Posted by STE92VE

I can tell that your car has genuine leather...

[Lassaxi]

Originally Posted by STE92VE

Is that leather or leatherette? Oh wait- I see the stitching now...

[DFW_M]

Originally Posted by txusa03

I thought that was a given with all bmw drivers.

must be a lunch break down in Houston

[txusa03]

Originally Posted by dr325i

must be a lunch break down in Houston

[Rover]

I had leatherette (sport) seats in a recently traded 2001 325 coupe...with 120,000 miles. Literally no wear.

They supposedly aren't as comfortable in the heat as leather....but I found them to be just fine at 100 F temps.

Unless you have the leather and leatherette side by side....most people wont know you have leatherette.

So....my new 2007 328 coupe has leatherette sport seats.

[DFW_M]

Originally Posted by Rover

I had leatherette (sport) seats in a recently traded 2001 325 coupe...with 120,000 miles. Literally no wear.

They supposedly aren't as comfortable in the heat as leather....but I found them to be just fine at 100 F temps.

Unless you have the leather and leatherette side by side....most people wont know you have leatherette.

So....my new 2007 328 coupe has leatherette sport seats.

I'd trade the leather seats for twin turbos

[txusa03]

Since I had my camera out, might as well documents the wear and tear thread. I am only 140 lbs at the moment for now ( ). The blck leather do wears well. Sometimes I wonder if it is leather or leatherette. Maybe the dealer pulls a fast one on me and tells me it is leather

Oh, the ads is there to show that this was taken recently (yesterday to be exact). See my previous post (#11) for more detail on my seat and mileage.