I'm doing my research before purchasing my first Mini and this forum is giving me a wealth of information. I'm looking to purchase a used R56 and most have leatherette. I have no experience with leatherette, only leather. Should I hold out for leather or is that just not that important?

 

I owned a leather car once, never again. After a few years the leather was like saggy and out of shape, just from being a natural product. It stays colder and hotter longer and does not breathe. My wifes car is over 3 years old and the leatherette still looks like new.

 

I suggest not getting overly focused on what the seat material is. The most important consideration is to sit in the seat and see if it is comfortable to YOU.

I ordered my R56 with the cloth sport seats. They breathe well in both hot and cold weather (although I also have the heated seat option). The bolsters are just a bit too snug for me - but I have a cushion I use that makes it much better for me for long trips.

When the time comes to replace my current MINI I lean towards something cloth for the central seat surface. However, I’m going to sit in as many different types of seats as possible to find what seems to fit me the best.

 

Another + for cloth.

 

Really interesting! Thanks. I've had leather for years in a number of cars mostly because I prefer wiping down my seats to vacuuming them. Kind of like preferring wood floors to carpet. I wondered how leatherette did as far as holding up to wear and staining, not that I stain my car much! I also have to deal with heat so I just assumed synthetic breathed less than natural, but it sounds like I might be wrong on that. I will definitely check out how comfortable the seats are since I hope to make this car my DD.

 

Something interesting to note - the seats are slightly different between Lounge leather and leatherette R56's. The Lounge leather seats are slightly less body-hugging than the leatherette ones, but not by much. If I could I would probably get leatherette next time for longevity, ease of cleaning and that slight extra bolstering.

 

I prefer cloth and I have to put up with leather in my MC40.

I tend to sweat with the leatherette...

 

No, you're right on that. Leather breathes, vinyl ("leatherette" / naugahyde / whatever pretty name they want to call it) does not.

If you live in a hot climate, cloth is definitely the way to go if you can find it. Leather second, leatherette a distant third. Here in Houston if I were to buy a car with leatherette I'd be mentally factoring in the cost of replacement upholstery.

 

My experience with Leatherette was not a good one. While it looks great for a long time, it does not breath. Leatherette retains heat, while great in the winter, not so great in the summer. I was glad to get back into a vehicle with leather.

 

Leather will breathe while vinyl will not. However, in the two previous cars I had leather in the first one and fabric in the second one. My present MINI base hardtop has vinyl. It was 106 degrees today in Tucson and since all three cars had a/c none of them caused me any discomfort. I do prefer the smell of leather and the way it wears.

 

My R53 Checkmate has leather with cloth centers. I tend to sweat and the cloth gets dirty fast, and now has stains I have not been able to remove.

My R59 Roadster has the leatherette.

The wife has full leather seats in her Audi.

Cloth is the hardest to keep clean but is the coolest. Leather and leatherette are equally sticky, but the leather requires more care for it to last.

I prefer the leatherette. Brain dead easy to care for, looks as good 5 years from now as it does today.

 

The most used leathers in cars are very cheap and of low quality.You can not expect to get a decent leather for 1.000 $. Top quality costs a lot more.The best ones have perforated leather. I bought the lounge but it's much to early to say anything.

 

I used to sell designer leather clothing in a former life (the stuff you see on catwalks) and I can attest to the over all lack of "quality" found in my wife's Audi or my R53. However there are different types of leather for different purposes. Motorcycle jackets are made out of thick calveskin instead of soft lambskin for the obvious durability reasons.

Side note, I'm dissapointed in the low quality of leather used in my JCW steering wheel, surface dyed instead of drum dyed. Only a few weeks and the white is showing through around the stitches.

I'm smacking my forehead because I didn't think of this sooner. Anyone know if Katzkin or other aftermarket installers use better leather?

Good quality leather might be enough to offset the additional maintenance, but the quality that comes from MINI is not worth it IMHO.

 

We get what we pay for.if you buy a Jori made set of lounge chairs the top leather quality will be a supplement of 20.000$.

 

I've had great experience with leather seats and have experienced cracking in one car but that was when it got close to 200k miles. I haven't done cloth in a long time, especially after my husband's hair gel completely gunked up the headrest on the last car with cloth. I haven't found a Justa with leather yet, mostly they're leatherette. I may need to compromise or this car search will last forever. I'm not exactly sure why leatherette seems so popular these days. I thought maybe I didn't understand the benefits versus leather other than cost.

 

I prefer the leatherette. Nowadays, especially in MINIs, it is really high quality and looks/feels great. I lived in Houston for 6 years with leatherette in my MINI and never had any issues with overly sweating. I had tinted windows and kept the sunroof shade closed in the Summer with the zippee shades in.

In all I'd say it depends on your preference, how much you sweat and how easy you want it to keep clean. I dislike cloth as it absorbs all the sweat/odour people complain about with leatherette/leather and leaves stains. It also doesn't look as nice IMO. I'd rather sweat a little and be able to wipe it off, but honestly I haven't had this issue enough to make it annoying. I now live in Seattle and it was great having leatherette with the rain/mud as it just wipes clean.

 

The stuff that passes for leather these days is a joke. I don't really care for the leather in my R53 and I kind of wish it had leatherette

 

I hate my r53 leatherette seats, I wish they were real leather. The leatherette I had in my 3 series was 100x better, this stuff dents and gets deformed quite easily.

 

I don't mind my leatherette, except that I wish it came in more color options. The real leather seats I've seen in Minis have seemed to look a bit shabby rather quickly, and I can't imagine my fat *** helping there.

Sent from my phone using NAMotoring, which is why I've probably mistyped something.

 

black plastic seats is a BAD memory from my 1966 Mustang convert'


HOT HOT seats


I saw an improvement in the quality of the materials between my 2002S with Lapis Blue leather and my 2007 Tuscan. After 2 years my Lapis showed BAD wear on certain points of the driver's seat. (wear is not a warranty issue) My 2007 seats looked as good at 7 years as they did on day one ... granted I cleaned them and used a quality treatment product.


The all leather Recaros in my current ride were quite a dollar plus up so I certainly expect them to wear well


ALL my leathers have been WAY more comfortable than any plastic seat cover over the years and much more cleanable than the cloth I had in the interim.

 

I like the way leather feel - luxurious. But leatherette quality has improved alot. It can retain more heat than leather but that's why we have AC. And with the the low maintenance and still looking like new through years of abuse, I'll take leatherette over leather from now on.

 

Honestly, you can get higher quality leather, for less money, by taking your cloth or leatherette-equipped car to an upholsterer than you can get from MINI directly.

Sent from my phone using NAMotoring, which is why I've probably mistyped something.

 

It would be nice, but MINI on the first gens glued the foam to the covers.

 

My experience has been that the leatherette is hot even with the AC.

 

I did not know that. True in the second gen too?

Sent from my phone using NAMotoring, which is why I've probably mistyped something.