Hi all:

I've been doing a search in the last hour or so, so either I'm not entering the right keywords, or I just don't know how to search ., so forgive me..

anyways, How do i tell whether I have the leather seats or the leatherette seats. I've been looking at pictures all over NAM but they look very similar..

Also, how can I tell if I have the regular or sport on my MCS...

Just a new MCS owner, so please bear w/ me..

thanks

///Gil

Leather is perforated.

My leather isn't perforated, unless they are extremely tiny perforations.

Uh, no. At least not in my '04.
Giveaway is the rear seat. The leatherette will be very smooth (taut) at the margins, while the leather will have a bit of a 'gathering', esp. in the middle. In the front seats, the seat bottom will often be stretched out a bit, but not always.

Gil,
Leatherette is vinyl so if you have something wet and touch the seat it wipes right off but with leather if it is wet it soaks in and saturates the leather for a time until it evaporates.

Leatherette has smooth man made seams. Leather has stitches at the edges that are easy to spot. Leather can be smooth or have perforations.

The back seat is more padded with the Leather option than with the Leatherette.

All MCS come with sport seats.

Isn't one of the key differences the existence (or lack) of lumbar support?

Unless I'm mistaken, you only get lumbar support adjustment when you buy the leather.

Yes, and I've the sore lower back to prove it...expecially on 3-4 hr cruises.

hs

Duh, brain fart.

well i do have the lumbar support so I must have the leather seats then....

I wonder if this happens to leatherette seats, where my *** touches my seat are these things that makes my seats look old.. hard to explain.. in other words, it looks as if it's gotten stretched.... i hope im explaining it properly..

///gil

since i have an MCS, i must have the sports seats, i wonder what regular seats look like

look for the wear & tear http://www.gbmini.net/mtblog/archive...ality_le.shtml

(half) seriously, as someone mentioned, look for the lumbar control **** on the inside part of the seat, only the leather seats have this.

The regular seats that come standard on the MC do not have the larger side bolsters on the seat bottoms and the seat backs. The bolsters on the sports seats hold you in better when going around corners. I have the standard seats but I wish I had gotten the sports seats. I think the sports seats look better, plus I like the extra support they offer. I do find the standard seats comfortable, but I often have to brace my left leg against the driver's door when going around corners, which I'm sure would not be necessary with the sports seats. I guess the only plus I can think of with the standard seats is that they may be easier to get into since they don't have the bigger side bolsters.

My other car is a Pontiac GTP, with tiny little bolsters - and I use the term loosely. Once you sit down, they go away, pretty much just padding. Anyway, the seats themselves are designed as crap. They don't hold you in at ALL. Even when it was new, they had no grip, but the material (charcoal leather) was very nice. Not glove soft, kind of in-between the typical American luxury leather and the typical harder European leather. Well, the material started to rip, crush, harden and deform after 100,000 miles. Now it's as hard as a rock - litterally no flex in the driver's seat at all, and it's flat. It's like sitting on a hard wood chair.

When I got the Mini with the sport seats it was like getting into an F1 in comparison! They were on the edge of being too constraning, but after I got through break-in and was able to more fully utilize the car, they became my new best friends

Over the past month I have become 100% accustomed to them, and they feel like they aren't even there. All I notice is that I don't move while driving - very nice

The first thing I noticed on our new Turbo Beetle was the seat feel. They *looked* comparible to the Mini's, and certainly have a beautiful finish and glove-soft leather. However the function of them leaves much to be desired. Now, when I go from the Mini to the Beetle, my lower back hurts from the lack of lumbar - although the Beetle has fairly typical support. The bolters, like my GTP are only for show - you slide all over the place compared to the Mini. The thigh support doesn't fit me quite as well, there are a couple pressure points that would be a bother over long distances.

Before I took delivery of my S, I had only driven the Dealer's demo which had the standard seats. At the time, they felt good to me, they were a little better than my GTP - I would say right on par with the Beetle seats. Now, having experienced the sport seats, I can say the difference between them is large, and the sports are the only way to go in a Mini.

This is easy!

If you are looking at a car that is not brand new, the leather seat cushion of the driver's seat will be all stretched and wrinkly and puckered because of the rather cheap material they chose to use.

If the driver's seat cushion looks like brand new even if it is a used car, then it is leatherette.

Looking back, I wish I had gotten leatherette instead of this wrinkly cheap leather!

Doesn't leatherette smell like modelmaking glue and leather smell like last night's cigars?

My sister (mother of 4) told me that children's vomit wipes cleanly off of leatherette but stains leather.

I've had my MCS with Lapis blue leather since Feb 03' and the driver's seat leather is doing quite well. Maybe not perfect but no stretching, wrinkling, or puckering at all. I think the materials might have improved or there are inconsistencies between lots of materials.

I do regularly clean my leather and condition it once monthly. I have worn a bit of the driver's side bolster and had the dealership perform a re-dying of the bolster to reduce the premature cracking/chipping of the leather- it was small but starting. They sanded the leather to smooth it and re-dyed it to match the color- looks OK.

Leatherette doesn't show wear. It doesn't have a leather smell. I wonder if looking at the headrests would make it easier to tell whether leather or leatherette.

Heck, if it is this hard to tell then get Leatherette- it's a no cost option that is durable and can fool just about everyone but a die hard MINI nut!

That's part of leather, as it ages and softens it gets creases in it. That 'look' is just the look of natural leather as it ages. Nothing wrong.

- John

Leather is softer and looks nicer.. You see the difference immediately.

If the leather is not first quality instead of gettinng better with age ( the old but cool look) stains esaily and after a while doesn't look so nice. The same is with a good leather couch and a cheap one. Often, to save money - leather is expensive - the good leather is streeeeetched too much and tends to rip easily - seams falling apart etc.-

For a sportive, fun car as the MINI leatherette is fine, it cleans off easily and is tought. My GSD drools allover the car, expecially with the top down , but I clean it iff very easily.

I must say I saw an Electric Blue MINI at the Dragon with the MINI logos on each upper seat .. sweet really sweet: It was leather - I think.

MD STREGA2

Easiest way to tell. My cousin has leather, I don't.

Its just alot softer thats it.

My '02 MCS had plastic cow with the lumbar support. I think it depends on what packages is on the car.

if it's a used car, look for bum indents in the seat, and wear on the bolsters.