Leather will crack... IF you don't take proper care of it.

Leatherette, I've never heard of anyone having cracking problems with it. Maybe you're talking about old technology fake leather. This stuff MINI uses is NOT that stuff...it looks, feels, and wears GRRRRRRRRRRREAT !

 

The cloth seats (I have them) do not have a lumbar support adjustment. I know the leather do, the leatherette might also.

I have an eighteen year old car with cloth seats. They look great. Leatherette would probably have cracked and split by this time. Over time, leatherette drys out and becomes brittle.

 

You have an 18 year old car and the cloth still looks great ? Either you garaged that car or you don't have an ***. Which one is it ?

In 18 years, yeah, i think the leatherette may well have shown some wear. If I own my MINI for 18 years, I'll let you know. :impatient

 

Leatherette all the way. Cloth wasn't even a consideration.

 

Cloth seats are hard to clean if you go to the beach often. Sand + wet shorts = mud on the seats. Ouch. :p

 

I had leatherette -- vinyl -- in my CR/B 2003 MC and liked it a lot. Nice looking, easy to clean, but a bit cold in winter and hot in summer. No maintenance as opposed to leather, which in my limited experience needs leather care applied to keep it from drying out.

But my experience with the leatherette wasn't perfect: at 43,000 miles the leatherette on the drivers seat bottom split in two places (and I weigh only 160 lbs so don't think I abused it). Seat bottom cover was replaced under warranty.

I wanted a little more color in my CR/CR 2007 MCS so I opted for the red/black leather/cloth. Looks quite nice, but I don't know how it will wear. I think this is my first car with cloth seats.

 

My order is about to go into production, but I'm thinking of changing to cloth, because I think it looks better than the leatherette - I like the idea of an all black interior, with as little gray as possible. Plus, I live in New Mexico where it can reach 100F in the summer. Would those issues be enough to change anyone's mind?

When my wife ran her hand over the cloth seats, said she it felt sort of strange (slick but scratchy?) due to the material and weave. Does anyone regret getting cloth?

gl

 

over 100 degrees here in atlanta today

no regrets I got cloth

 

My SO and I have land down in your beautiful country, plus I have family all over the South/Southeast. I plan on motoring with Tawanda for many years in that territory in hot weather. Absolutely, my choice of cloth played into the heat decision.

Yep, it's somewhat "scratchy" compared to Honda mouse fur interior (I LOVE my Honda...no slam). But, our 97 CR-V had cloth, and when we sold her at 125,000 miles, the buyers said, "These seats look new." IMHO, it's how you take care of cloth

 

Wow, if I had thought about it that way I would have gotten the cloth Have the leatherette because I just couldn't convince myself to go for the leather that I thought I wanted for cost reasons. Haven't regretted it once. It's held up well - even in my convertible in West Texas summers.

 

Cadfael,

First, I want to say thank you for what you do for our troops. I come from a long line of military (myself included). My sincerest gratitude to you. I teach students at Ft. Lewis, most of whom have a parent/parents deployed.

I'm just yanking the "leatherette chorus" around. Truly, I've nothing against it. I spent many years of my teen-dom in Lubbock (Reese AFB), and the cotton, lizards, and HEAT have informed many decisions in adulthood.

 

Well you right, it doesn't crack. But it sure will dry rot, tear, rip, snag, fade easier, discolor in the sun due to body oils, etc. Just take excellent care of them and you shouldn't have too many problems in the long run.

 

Have you seen the gray on the leatherette? It's very dark so it doesn't disrupt a dark interior IMO. I think ti really depends on your needs, for me I want something that is easy to clean and esay to keep looking good so I went with leatherette. Everyone who sits in my car thinks it's leather.

 

One of reasons i switched to Leatherette is that the grey on the seats match the dark grey door arm rests and the underdash part, where as the cloth has a checkered pattern on it that matches the stock check aluminium interor trim. I chanced that trim to piano black.

 

just not true

the seats in my 1974 2002 were installed in the mid 80's and still look new

I've had nothing but bad luck with "leatherette" in bmw's, and the real leather in my wifes X5 looks old already

 

I ended up with the leatherette. Not sure how it is since I am still waiting for delivery.

What I do know is that the BMW leatherette is really good, I had it on a 3 series I recently sold and there were no signs of wear at all.

But on my Mini I took what was available within a few weeks timeframe, could not wait the extra month or 2 for a special factory order. Managed to find one on the boat taking its journey across the Atlantic that met all my requirements but with one or 2 extra options.

 

I absolutely love my leather seats. Yes, you do have to take care of them, but it is a part of my cleaning routine. If I had to choose again, and not go for leather, I think I would go test drive like cars with different interiors, and buy the one I was attracted to first. Personally I really like the look of the cloth seats, but that might not be for everyone. If you dont like what you end up with, there are some fabulous looking seat covers on the market made especially for the MINI.

 

Cloth seats were not available when I ordered my 2006. I ended up with leatherette seats. It doesn't seem to matter because within a few months I installed Wet Okole seat covers. They are fantastic!

 

We have an 03 MC and an 04 MCS both with cloth. No regrets. No stains. No fading. No problems. The MC is a daily driver. We don't have a garage, both park on the street.

 

We had to sell MIB as a part of our divorce. Although I ordered MIB with leatherette, Carmax said it had leather and thus gave us more when we sold it to them.

 

The leatherette is actually naugahyde. From the hydes of naugas.
These are naugas:
http://www.rathergood.com/moon_song/
The cloth seats are better for sittin' on but the naugahyde lasts forever, always looks good, and fools most of your friends and everybody at work into thinking its leather.
Me? I vote for low maintenance on anything that has contact with bodily fluids. Just think about all the butt sweat that gets soaked up by the cloth. Like when you bring the car in for service and 12 different dudes sit in it and drive it around, all of them doing a hard day's work and sweating from their buttocks.
Nasty.
And it never ever comes out.
Is that what you want to sit on? Huh?

 

Leather, leatherette, or cloth didn't matter to me cause I knew I was gonna slap on some Wet Okole seat covers so wouldn't have to worry about stains, spills, tears, etc..all of which either options would have to deal with. After all, if people are so inclined to slap a clear bra on their Mini for protection, why aren't they wantin to protect the interior either? That's my thoughts anyways.

 

I considered all three:

Leather - too expensive. Not well made. All eather seats are not the same, and all the Minis I've seen with leather already seem puckered. My last car had lether, and the driver seat looked completely different from the passenger seat after very few miles. They should make the seats interchangeable, so you could rotate them every few thousand miles.

Cloth - After owning a black car in Florida, I was going to stay away from leatherette. But the cloth on Mini seats is like wetsuit material. You rub your dry hands on it, and the dry spots catch on like velcro. The pattern of the fabric is also kind of cheesy (like the standard dash that had to go).

Leatherette - With the subtle two-tone color, and perferated panels, I have no complaints about these seats. They're not sticky like leatherette used to be. I've been through some hot days and haven't suffered at all. I have the winter package, so will know in a few months if that cold plastic feeling in low temps will be a problem. It's too bad there's only the one color choice, though.

 

Yeah, Baby... if I could get the leatherette in CHILI RED !!!

Not for the CR Cooper, that would be a bit much. But for the JB MCSC. Sweet.

 

The cloth was not available when I ordered my Mini last year, so I ended up with leatherette. I was in Texas then, and Utah now. That leatherette is HOT and makes you sweat.
I do like the ease of cleaning the leatherette, I must admit.

I'm looking for some seat covers for a 2006 MCS if anyone has any recommendations.