How many of you have been facing this decision: leather vs leatherette in your BMW. I have always been debating between the two options, or most recently, cloth. Each time, I ended up choosing leatherette before leather due to several factors: cheaper, I was leasing the car for two or three years and last, my significant other, is against leather products.
But before we go into the pros and cons of the two interior options, I want to let you know that we will not turn this conversation into an ethical one and an animal welfare topic. I completely understand everyone’s point of view, but this article is not about that.
Leather
Advantages
- a higher resale value for your car
- it “breathes” better
- it becomes softer as time goes by
- it’s a clear indication of luxury in a car
- a unique smell, pleasant for many
- more color options and types of leather
Disadvantages
- more expensive
- wears out faster
- the maintenance on it is costly and time consuming
- not the best choice if you own a pet
- it scratches easier
- it cracks faster
- it feels colder in the winter
Leatherette
Advantages:
- cheaper
- almost same look as leather
- wears better and can be kept in perfect shape for many years
- easier to clean and maintain, wiping it down with water it’s enough sometimes
- no need to worry about resale value, only if you’re leasing the car
- pets friendly, not easy to scratch or crack
- BMW’s leatherette is one of the best out there
Disadvantages
- it doesn’t feel as good as leather
- in the heat of summer, it feels somewhat rubbery and sticky
- no resale value
- considered a downgrade by many luxury cars consumers
Anything else that I have missed? What did you order and why?
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40 Responses to “Leather vs Leatherette – What would you choose?”
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In Europe there is only leather (;
^ False. Europeans have a fabric upholstery option.
Is your significant other a Vegan, Horatiu?
Count my vote to leather and leather only. I don’t want plastic seats in my BMW, regardless of how “leatheresque” it is. I don’t want cloth seats in my BMW either. It’s a BMW, not a Volkswagen. I want to park my ass on some dead cow.
If I move to an E90, I’m considering leatherette as I want to get a dog once tax season is over…but I do agree that it kills resale and doesn’t feel the same.
@Gragop:
Dude, just get a seat cover or something. Don’t get the plastic seats. My dad just picked up a Touareg with VW’s “Vtex” pleather. It’s horrible stuff. Has the look, smell and feel of a pool float.
I choose leather in my 1-series because I wanted Coral Red. Would have preferred the euro fabric/leather combo, however because fabric is so much nicer in hot climates. I miss the fabric seats in my 03 Cooper S.
The last two cars I traded in (MINI), (VW Passat) had leatherette and on both options lists for the appraisal leather was written down by the person looking it over. Most people will not be able to tell the difference unless they have one. My E90 has just about every option except leather mainly because of the wear factor. My dog would just scratch it all up. And at the end of the day I just wipe it down and done.
I once had a car with Denim trimmed seats. Seriously the front seats, the rear seat, all Denim – I’d take Leather or Leatherette over that! It was a Peugeot 106! After that I had an E28 5er with Cloth – they were soooo comfy. The E24’s got leather, the drivers seat is a bit ef’d, but the rear seats are mint and do look great!
Leather’s over-rated in my opinion, I would’t wear leather trousers, so I’m not sure why I’d want leather seats in my car… having said that leatherex is horrible on hot sticky days…. dunno… leather I guess, for re-sale.
@The Lee: yes she is
@Horatiu B.:
Good luck, man. I know that’s a tough road to walk, one of my ex’s has a sister who’s Vegan and it was hard to go anywhere for dinner when we would hang out with her.
@Horatiu B.:
I respect that she’s at least following her morals to the letter, unlike a lot of “vegetarians” who seem to just be doing it to fit in with their friends.
At the same time, that kinda sucks. No leather shoes, no leather wallets, no duck breast (mmmmmm), no steak, no Jello…
Can someone tell me what the arm rest in the E46 coupe/sedan is? Because my seats are in good shape(I condition and clean them once a year) but my damn arm rest wore out within the first year and a half of ownership. The area just where my elbow seems to rest is worn down and the gray of the “leather” loods faded and cracked.
I had leatherette in my e46, and leather in my e90 and e70…to me, leather is the only way to go if you like to spoil yourself. BMW’s leather is top grade and I think its the finest on the market of premium autos. Leatherette is perfectly fine if you’re trying to reduce price or payment. Nobody ever even noticed that my e46 wasn’t true, genuine leather.
@BMW Sales: So BMW also apparently has the best Leatherette on the market too?
Leatherette all the way! No one has ever been able to tell the difference when riding in my car. Feels good, less death.
@harma41:
No, it’s the same amount of death. You’re just lowering the demand for a certain byproduct of the beef industry, which helps to keep leather costs down for the rest of us that prefer everything be draped with dead cow skin.
Ok guys, I said no discussions off topic, no talk about animals or anything. It’s a touchy subject and it’s not the main topic here
Because leather wears more and absorbs liquids, smells, etc, I think it generally depreciates the car faster unless you take absolutely meticulous care of it. The pleather feels *pretty* good, and there are different grades and of it (down to outright vinyl). Pleather would be ideal for me if only it breathed better; car makers really need to ventilate their seats (heated seats without the heat).
Horatiu, do you break down and have ruth chris binges occasionally? I know I would.
@Doug:
I love the perforated seats on mom’s E60 and our old E65, felt great and breathed much better. It seemed like they didn’t show wear and tear as much as non-perforated/ventilated seats either.
@Horatiu B.:
I completely missed that part of the post. My apologies, Horatiu.
>^ False. Europeans have a fabric upholstery option.
Of course there is a upholstery option but isn’t Leatherette. In Poland f.e. BMW without leather isn’t true BMW
and I think it is ok thinking. I love leather in E39…. (i havent E60 ;p)
@The Lee: No worries, I just want us to stay on track here cause otherwise….I know where the discussion will go..:) been there
Here is what I like about my leatherette: I can put my 85lbs dog on it and nothing will happen to it, no scratches, not much wear and tear. But, I do miss sometimes the leather feel, a little softer, especially if you drive long distances.
But leather it’s a pain to maintain, I remember spending money on all those “special” solutions and it would still crack.
@Horatiu B.: Do you have leather in your E90 or the X3?
@Gragop:
Gragop: does it actually ventilate the seats through the perforations? With a fan I mean.
@Doug:
Our E65 had the actual ventilated seats which is a very nice feature(the massage feature rubbed your ass and legs and that just felt awkward) but my ex’s mom’s E65 didn’t have it and it makes a big difference in terms of comfort, especially during more extreme climate changes like Summer and Winter. The massage function was only nice for long car trips where you didn’t get out of the car much and your legs needed circulation.
Mom’s E60 just has the leather seats – which I believe have perforated leather, I could be completely wrong on that because it’s been a while since I’ve riden in her car but I know that the leather feels much more supple and comfortable in her car over my E46.
I’d prefer the velvet (do not know how it is right in English) or alcantara.
I’m not picky on that, as long as it has heated seats, I’m good.
Are leather / leatherette the only options in the US ?
In Europe, we don’t have the leatherette,
but a choice of – fabric, – fabric / alcantara (f.e. sport seats),
- alcantara / leather, and leather in different qualities.
The “basic” leather for example for E90 is “Dakota” leather,
more expensive is the “Walknappa” leather.
Next to these 2 list choices, there is BMW Individual leather, called “Merino”.
@Ignace:
I know BMW grants US customers some “Priority 1″ options in the US for certain leather colors on the 3 Series but we don’t get higher quality leather without upgrading to an M car or higher Series.
That said, we only get Leather and Leatherette, though on the E46 Performance Package the base trim with the package was cloth inserts in the seats trimmed with alcantra around the seats. So, the US has had cloth seats recently(within last 5 years) but typically you don’t find a whole lot of E46’s with that option.
@Gragop: Both have leatherette.
Anything beats the cracked worn out uncomfortable heat scarred leather in my e36 convertible
But if and when I order a BMW brand new, it will have leather. Not a question or so much as a second doubt in my mind. Besides, my BMW isnt going to be used for hauling pets around anyways. Thats why they have beater cars like civics.
I have a BMW with each, hubby has leather, and I have plastic. I’m kinda messy so the leatherette is great. I don’t like cloth since it wears harder plus captures a load of pet fur. EVERYONE thinks the leatherette is real leather and they look at me weird when I mention it’s fake.
Plus, I don’t like the look of leather after it is many many years old and it becomes shiny and hard. The only way I’d go with leather is if I wanted one of the unique colors like the brown or red not offered in plastic.
May be weird, but I use the BMW leather cleaner on it–it keeps that plastic very nice and cleans it especially well. Not sure if it hurts, but so far it looks nice and clean like the day I bought the car.
…in addition, I’m currently looking at other brand vehicle options and wonder why they don’t offer leatherette, I love it so much. I don’t want a cloth that stains, wears, catches fur etc. I don’t want to get anything other than a BMW, but financially it may have to come to that.
Leatherette is a complete joke. Feels like vinyl.
Well I got the leatherette in my new 3 series I have to say I wish I had gotten leather it makes me sweat not good. I had to put a towel down towel down to sit on the seats. And the leatherette is really not as comfy as leather. It does do well with pets just wipe it down if it gets dirty LOL
I live in Southern Cali so lather is out of the questions, here summer days reach the 100 mark, leather is a back killer. Some claim resale value how about driving the thing for 5 years or more pure back punishment, only my opinion but i think leather wears out too fast, just look at a 5 year old bimmer, leather looks ugly most of the time. one really must pamper that leather if you really want it looking good. bottom line leather is pure punishment on your back. If i lived in places like Washington State then i will consider heated leather seats.
The wife’s new Jetta came with leatherette i asked for her imput she said she like’s it better, we took a long trip in the Jetta it felt very comfy this is the first one we get with the stuff so we’ll report back in 150K miles. leather wears out too soon especially in Japanese cars. By the way we know people who own Japanese cars with leather seats those people had ripped seats at the seams at about 30K miles the manufactures did not take any responsibility to correct the problem. Germans seem to be way better at it they been using leather on their seats far longer than Japs. I cannot comment on American made cars their leather seats seem more plastic than genuine leather.
What do you think about redwood lounge leather seats in a CooperS? Those are the pleated leather seats with piping. I’m thinking about resale here.
(Redwood lounge leather is like a deep Sienna red, not chili red, trimmed in black piping)