Has anyone noticed how the interior renderings of the Countryman on the Mini website aren't exactly the same as what you get in reality? Very annoying. I was going to go with the Pure Red Leather/Cloth seats until I saw what they really looked like.

Looks like they cut down on the amount of leather and red stitching (see pics comparison). It just doesn't look like it's worth $1000 (IMHO). I have promptly switched to the standard Carbon Black Leatherette (my car is still "on order" so the dealer let me make the change) and I saved myself some cash.

 

We considered the leather/cloth until we saw them and sat in them, and then also decided on the leatherette. No regrets after one summer and 1/2 winter (except for the missing lumbar support adjustment).

 

No lumbar support adjustment? That's a bit annoying, but I'm glad to hear you're happy w/ the leatherette.

 

I wonder if the Countryman front seats will fit the normal mini, gen 2

 

We have vinyl, sorry I mean leatherette, in the Pea (06 Cooper S). After 6 years and close to 80k miles it looks like new. Our dogs are in the car all the time. It's much more resilient than leather and it's easier to clean than cloth. The leather in my BMW 650i looks like it's gone through hell after having the dogs in there for 90 days while the CM was being made and shipped. It's typically not my dog car...

We ordered the CM with vinyl - oops here I go again - leatherette. While it looks better than the 06 version and does a fairly good visual impression of textured leather, it fails the "rub your hand and feel the baby butt smoothness" test. Hopefully it is durable. I don't miss the lack of lumbar adjustment; the default configuration seems to be comfy enough. The longest drive thus far was a 5 hour drive from Reno to SF via South Tahoe.

While comparing various materials, the carpet floor mats seem really cheap to me. The ones in the 06 are loop carpet and still look really good after 5 California rain free summers. Thankfully there are plenty of places to buy higher quality mats. Of more concern is the base carpet itself. Seemed really thin during the first cleaning. Time will tell how it will hold up.

 

There is a thread about the lumbar retrofit but I haven't seen anyone try it on the Countryman yet. It was by far one of the most useful mod i did to my Cooper hatch. I found a similar issue with the hatch cloth/leather combo. There is a lot more cloth in there than leather and even when you include the lumbar it wasn't a very good deal. The leatherette sports seats on the hatch look great and wear very well. Anyways it pays to look around and find the interior you are thinking about in person before you buy. The only option I ordered sight unseen was the chili red interior trim - which turned out to be a good choice.

 

I got my CM with the pure red leather/cloth seats without having been able to see them in person before I ordered them. In my opinion, the configurator pics don't do them justice. It was the first thing I wanted to see when the car came into the dealer. The seats in person look AWESOME. I can't tell you how many compliments I've had on the interior when people look inside. And considering that the main color of the seats are black, I was concerned with how hot they would be in the summer. They were not a problem at all. Just my 2 cents worth.

 

I ordered the needed parts to retrofit the lumbar support into my countryman. I did this with my old (now gone) MCS. Should be just about the same procedure from what I've read.

 

Getting back to the question . . . Those of us that have been folowing the CM from the get go know that this has always been an issue. Realizing that all monitors are different and, if you look at the printed page, all printers are different - you're going to get variations. Heck, even the samples at the dealership don't match the cars. Advice for the Countryman has always been - - - go out and look at them. Find your colors and options, look at them inside, outside, raining, sunny, overcast. I traveled to VA, PA, MD, and NJ looking before I made my decisions and had no suprises when Zaftig was delivered.

 

looks like the" reality "has cloth on the front most part of the seat where web shows that section as leather.... that is annoying...

Anyway, +1 for leatherette!!

 

Yup. Cloth in the front instead of leather, and the stitching isn't red. Not to mention the pattern in the fabric is identical to reality either if you look closely.

 

Can't disagree with that advice! My point is that it's not just a question of monitor differences, but the Mini site renders the interior objectively wrong by putting leather where there is no leather, and red stitching where none exists. That's not an issue with my monitor

 

Impressive commitment to the task - I similarly traveled to CA, CA, CA, and CA looking at options in addition to prowling NAM for help in decision making.

 

I could have stopped sooner, but every time I looked at the Pure Red it was different color.

 

I'm going with the new Recaro racing seats when I order my JCW Roadster next month. Just too good to pass up.