Does anyone have pictures of the gray leatherette interior? The picture on the mini configurator is hard to tell.

 

Find the photo gallery of a user named speed_racer over on MINI2. She has pictures of her new MCS with this interior in there. Looks quite nice. I would have liked to have had it, except that I think it would clash with the HB interior on my MCS.

-mike

 

The gray leatherette is awesome! We got it by mistake and it is the dogs dangles.

-Dave & Stacy

 

Dave & Stacy

Can you send any pictures of this, including the door panels. I am still debating this combo, but from the mini configurator the door panels appear to be very light gray, the same color as the gray insert, and it looks awful. I have seen a photo of one light gray interior and it had the darker gray door panels. So I am getting some confusion. I in no way want the lighter gray panels. I have also heard that it is different for hardtops and convertibles. Can you indicate if you have a convertible.

 

It does look real nice, I wouldnt ming putting these in my '03.

http://www.mini2.com/gallery/personal/picture42991.html

 

Me tooI like that
Love the Leatherette:smile:

 

i ordered the same interior except i got the anthracite headliner. i cant wait to get my car.

 

The posted link is exactly what ours looks like (except we have alloy patina right now...soon to be anthracite).


-Dave & Stacy

 

I am assuming some people received their mini with the gray leatherette by now. there seems to be some confusion as to the interior with some discussions going on over at Mini2.com. Are the door panels black or gray? I have seen pics of them both ways. The Minusa configurator shows gray. Which one is right for option code K7TV? Thanks.

 

I saw the gray leatherette in person at Prestige MINI, the door panels are in fact, Gray.

 

I've never, ever seen a Gray interior.....ever.......and I've seen LOTS of MINIs. Love to see some pics, too.

 

I have the grey leatherette interior and i have black door panels. I also have the anthracite headliner which may be the reason for the black door panels.

 

The Online Configurator is wrong! It states that all of the hardtops come with gray door panels (and the convertibles come with black door panels), but that's not true. Here's how it really works:

MC & MCC = GRAY door panels

MCS & MCSC = BLACK door panels

I looked into this long and hard as I wanted the gray & black leatherette seats but not the gray door panels on our MCS. Well, when the car came in, that's exactly what we got (i.e. gray & black seats with BLACK door panels). Our dealer also had quite a few MC cars on the lot with gray leatherette and they ALL had gray door panels. They look good too, but I really wanted the black door panels since I think that the gray will get dirty easy.

Anyway, here are a couple of shots of the interior of our new 2005 MCS with the gray & black leatherette and the BLACK door panels:

 

Hmmm...ok, this makes sense, but...it's best to ask your MA, and hopefully they will have a good idea, though they are not always dependable on this stuff. I too am looking at getting the Gray Leatherette, but it'd look much better with black (DARK gray) door panels. I was going to go for Black Leatherette in my second MINI order, as I have Space Gray/Black Cloth in my current CVT MC, and I wasn't too happy with the overall durability of the silver gray cloth in particular. I HAD ordered all black cloth, but that option no longer exists in the USA with sport seats, which was a big surprise to me...when I picked up my MINI! *sigh* (Nice of my MA to not bother telling me, eh?)

While not durable, the Space Gray/Panther Black Cloth color combo really looked nice...when new. I liked the idea of getting a dual tone interior again, but without spending anymore money than I already am for a supercharged MINI. The Red Cloth/Black Leather combo is nice, but too much on top of what I've already got optioned, plus it doesn't really go well with Liquid Yellow. The two tone all leather options don't go all that well either, except for maybe the blue/black. Either way, the leather seems too much, compared to the look, feel, and durability of the leatherette.

Thanks for the info and the pics. Nice looking cars you've got there.

 

Actually, the red cloth/black leather combo goes GREAT with the Liquid Yellow I have an '05 LY/w (w/checquered flag roof) MCS with this exact option. When driving or riding in the car, I cannot see the outside colour of the car, so it's great to have some colour (yellow panels would be too tense for me) inside the car...the red actually looks a bit muted (almost a light burgundy). From the outside looking in, the combo looks brilliant and I've had many comments (at the dealership & around town) about what a fantastic colour combo it is.

Colour is such a personal preference, but from a design standpoint (and I'm a graphic designer)...this combo is smokin'.

 

I'll let you all know and have lots of pictures, what a current build grey leatherette interior looks like on a MCS, in a couple days when I pick mine up! As far as I know it should have the black (dark grey) panels. I also have the HP interior.

 

Currently I have the black Kaleido Cloth in black on my '03, it looks great (I think sometimes the leatherette is just too "blank" of a look...), and has held up very well, & cleans well. But for my '05, which I should pick up in about a week, it was no longer available, (I feel a big mistake on management's part, I suppose it just didn't sell well? but the red is still available... ?), and, neither was all black octagon on sport seats, (why??). I'm apprehensive now, noting the commentary in this thread about the space grey cloth lack of durability. I've invested too much in a heavily optioned vehicle to have to confront this and I'm not happy about it.

 

I'd wondered about that. As I recall, years past, you couldn't even get a red interior with a Liquid Yellow MINI. When I saw that had changed, as I was configuring my latest MINI, I seriously contemplated it. However, I'm leaning towards getting the Gray Leatherette (or gray/black actually) with the yellow dash, and the Anthracite Headliner option. It's a bit different from my current Anthracite Headliner with Anthracite Dash, but it looks pretty nice...as long as the door panels are "black".

I would've been more tempted to do the Red Cloth/Black Leather interior option, if the door panels would still be red like they used to be with the red upholstery option. I don't know why they dropped that, as it seemed pretty fun, and looked particularly classy with exterior colors like Dark Silver. That's one I'd do regardless of red door panels or not, but that'd ad a whopping $1,300 to my MSRP, and I just don't want to make paying for my MINI as much of a chore as my first one has been. (Thank God for our high resale values though, knock on wood, as that's what is allowing me to do this change...before the MINI goes through it's '07 design changes.)

 

Which upholstery option did you go with? Did you still think you could get all black cloth sport seats? (Yes, it is a shame that's no longer available.) Or, have you ordered the Space Gray/Panther Black cloth combo?

Assuming you've gone with the latter, you can always just get seat covers right away (be they MINI ones, or some other type), or you can check in right away with those out there desiring to do a swap. Swapping seats with another MINI maniac can be difficult to arrange, but I'd considered it...until I just decided to upgrade to an MCS. You also might want to check into, right away, seeing what forms of seat protection treatments are available, such as 3M, or even something more "intensive".

The seats are not bad, at least not right away. The color combination looks good, and the cloth feels nice, but... It's very much more prone to damage and staining, in my opinion. Others may disagree, including yourself...once you've had a chance to check 'em out hands. If you are seriously doubting the durability of the Space Gray/Panther Black cloth interior, well...you can always just take a pass on buying the current MINI you've got arriving soon, and order from someplace like Classic MINI in Ohio. Their delivery times from order are in the 2-3 month range, with no premium. That's what I'm planning on doing. I'll just fly out there, and drive the car back, thus saving on some shipping costs.

Normally, your deposit should be refundable. Your dealership will have no problem selling that new MINI of yours, I assure you. At least take a look at the car when it shows up though, because you may love the upholstery, and be perfectly willing to go out of your way to defend it from all the elements. With my first MINI, I had already given up my prior lease vehicle, so I felt my options were very limited at the time, when my MINI showed up with the "wrong" upholstery. You may have more flexibility, which is always a good thing to have.

 

All the choices given to us is great- but I just wish they could be stable for a while, it is a little frustrating to see the specs change just over the few weeks that you have a car on order. I've seen more than one post regarding the space cloth on this site, and I'm puzzled as to why BMW hasn't resolved this issue having 3 years to work on it. I'm pretty unhappy right now...

Actually, the Kaleido cloth WAS a mistake, I was terribly upset, until I saw it, and really loved it ever since. I'm not certain why it apparently was just rejected by buyers. I even see that now, since the time I ordered just 6 weeks ago, the red is now gone as a choice as well. I just didn't want leather seats, and feel that cloth is a more practical choice with the 'must have' seat warmers.

Your advice regarding a scothguard-type treatment is going to be well taken, I'll do that ASAP, the idea of sitting on seat "covers" just won't do.

 

I can understand your feelings regarding seat covers, which I'm not all that thrilled with either. Seat covers I've used in the past tended to slide around too much under me, and that could get irritating fast. Fitted seat covers should have a much better feel, and there are plenty to choose from, some of which are in the all black cloth style, or even a pricey set from England in red and black leather for *gulp* about $500!

I din't go the Scotchguard route, though in looking back (I've only had the car a few MONTHS for crying out loud), I should have. There are probably better options than Scotchguard these days out there, and you could likely find out a lot with just a search here on these forums.

Yes, this crap that MINI is always doing with upholstery options is a real pain in the you know what. I wish they'd get their act together. At least in my case, if I go Letherette, I know I'll get some kind of Leatherette (all of which are ok with me now), even if they screw up, or something changes, or whatever. (Ok, that's not entirely true, I've heard of people getting leather, and paying for it, even when they ordered otherwise, so none of us are ever "safe" from such things.)

My MA, or MINI, or both, never bothered to tell me that my option had changed, and so I was never given a chance to change that option before it was manufactured. When I finally found out about this upon picking up the car, the dealership acted like it was no big deal, and that must have been what I ordered. And if it wasn't, oh well, I'd live. What bastards. I couldn't even get an apology from them, and yet they are my closest dealership, by about 50 miles, even though it still takes me 2 hours to get to them for service. So, despite hating them, despite the the service department actually being OK, I still feel bad that I take the car they screwed me over on to them for service. It makes me feel like they knew I'd be happy in the end anyway, since I'm still clearly driving in the same car they sold me on.

Nothing could be further from the truth. And thus, I'm ordering another MINI...from elsewhere. It seems silly, but with a car one puts so much trouble into configuring the way one likes it, from the options they make available to you, I don't think it's unreasonable for us to be bent out of shape by their lousy attitude.

Hey, you never know, they might further screw up your order to something you'll like better.

As to heated seats and cloth upholstery, I can see how you might feel that'd work out better than leatherette with that option. I do like my heated seats, but there are many out there with leatherette and heated seats, and they don't seem to be complaining. I've not always taken the advice and opinions I get here at this sight as seriously as I should have, but I'm learning to do so.

Right now, I'm wondering if I should get the DSC and/or LSD options on my MCS, and it's really driving me nuts deciding. Hopefully, I'll eventually get enough opinions here on the issue that I'll finally be able to make the right choice...for me. (You'd think I'd have it all figured out now that I'm working on my second MINI, but it just never seems to work out that way, especially when the options keep changing! )

 

I’ll post what I come up with as a solution, though I’m not pleased having to confront this. But if you are gonna spend hundreds of $ on covers, then an upgrade to the cloth/leather combination(s) would not have seemed such a financial stretch. Too late for that now. And who wants to order a new car, just to quickly add seat covers… ?

I will ask my MA if he has had any feedback. Fortunately they are close, (even tho I used to live right in town, now am still only 20 mi away and still work in town), charged no premium, and have been great to work with. I ordered my car on January 19, and it has already landed in NY, so the wait time is half what it was 2 years ago. Service is another thing, but that is handled by BMW in the next town.

I too have been finding lots of useful info within the postings from this site, with the participants seemingly always eager to assist or at the least, empathize... !

 

You cannot (legally) use seat covers with recent builds, as the passenger seat has occupant sensors for the airbags.

 

Like I said, I find in many ways this site is a source of much generously shared information... !

 

The occupant sensors are a pretty cool idea, sucks that it makes it so you can't use seat covers though