I installed after market leather (red and black in my chili red and white with black out windows) and I love it. The seat heaters are not as effective though as they were with the danged old space cloth! I wonder if there is any way to make them hotter? There must be something different when you get factory leather with heated seats. Anybody? Anybody?

 

Buy a couple of irons, install them upside down.....pretty lame but considering the amount of answers..... :smile:

 

I went with the space cloth and am waiting for my MCS to arrive, so I can't comment empirically. Theoretically, however, a number of folks on this forum responded to my seat heater querey long ago and the upshod was that the factory leather seats don't run as warm with the heaters as the space cloth. Still, a couple of members said they thought the heat via leather was adequate... turning up the heat would be interesting, let us know what you decide to do.

 

thanks for the response... I know it's the thickness of the leather, I was just hoping there was a way to turn up the heat. I was basing that hope on imagining that Mini had a way to make them warmer with factory leather. From what I'm hearing that isn't the case. They are fine, just not as warm as they were with the space cloth. It was a good trade off.

 

Between my previous MINI which was a 2002 Cooper and present 2003 Cooper S, I've owned both of these combinations: leather/heaters and (now) space cloth/heaters. Honestly, I could tell a significant difference after switching vehicles. The cloth seats hit up more quickly and may even be hotter than the leather seats, at least that is what my butt meter tells me. I was happy with the previous combo, but the space cloth and seat heaters is an even better one!