Estoril Blue 4.8is

[gruppeM3]

Originally Posted by Ricky Bobby

Totally unrelated, but one of my best friends is a master tech at the local Lexus dealership, and he actually told me that its possible in a couple years that Lexus might not offer traditional "real leather" on a lot of its models, even the higher end ones.

The thought process behind this is 2 things. 1) The new "leatherettes", vinyl seats, faux leather, whatever you want to call them are starting to look and feel closer to real leather than ever before.

And 2) It's all about longevity of the interior. 100% real leather is a maintenance, as far as keeping grime off the seats, conditioning it to keep it supple, etc. Most people on lease or whatever barely vacuum their interiors, you expect the leather to be in tip top shape? Lexus in this case wants an interior that is durable as can be, so that it adds value to the second owner, CPO buyer, etc a couple years down the line.


I'll remark on this, my X5 seats are 10 years old and 69k miles, and they look just as good as my wife's Toyota Rav4 real leather seats, and she has 35k miles. Actually, the thigh bolsters on my car look better, you already can see plenty of wrinkles on hers from getting in and sliding your thighs across the bolsters.

And my buddy says that is the number one reason they are looking to fade out leather, because after a couple years the seats just don't age well, even with proper care ( you can't expect to tell someone to not slide their thighs across the bolster to avoid wear marks and wrinkling of the leather)


Good luck on your order though, hope you ordered M-sport! Still pissed that you still can't get a proper manual trans with the new diesels, I thought that might be a replacement for my X5 someday.

I agree with what you said but I still like the feel of leather. The sensatech that BMW offers now looks like leather. Although it doesn't feel like leather once you sit on it. I will say that it has come a long way though.

As for the diesel, I am going to order M sport. That's what I have on my current 2011 335d. I am going to order it in Mineral grey, saddle brown leather, M-Sport, Premium package, navigation, technology package, cold weather package, and I think that's about it.

I too wish they offered it with a manual transmission. More so on my 335d as that thing has loads of torque. Imagine 435 ft lbs of torque and a manual transmission

The new 328 diesels on the other hand aren't really too powerful. Would still be fun with a manual trans but not as much. Plus I'm getting this car for economical purposes. That 45 mpg sounds great

[Ricky Bobby]

Originally Posted by gruppeM3

I agree with what you said but I still like the feel of leather. The sensatech that BMW offers now looks like leather. Although it doesn't feel like leather once you sit on it. I will say that it has come a long way though. Oh I love the feel of leather too, don't get me wrong, that's why I was sharing my story about my buddy who has some info from what Lexus is planning. It makes sense bc the leatherette/sensatech etc is much more durable, but for someone like you who takes care of their cars, its an added bonus for real leather, whereas some don't care whether v-tex or leather as long as they can afford the lease payment on their 328!

As for the diesel, I am going to order M sport. That's what I have on my current 2011 335d. I am going to order it in Mineral grey, saddle brown leather, M-Sport, Premium package, navigation, technology package, cold weather package, and I think that's about it. M-sport, mmmm, can't wait for pics.

I too wish they offered it with a manual transmission. More so on my 335d as that thing has loads of torque. Imagine 435 ft lbs of torque and a manual transmission You're not kidding my friend, when the 335d's got out all I could think about was roasting tires with a stick and that torque! Then I was disappointed. And now again on the 328

The new 328 diesels on the other hand aren't really too powerful. Would still be fun with a manual trans but not as much. Plus I'm getting this car for economical purposes. That 45 mpg sounds great Agreed, 45 mpg is going to be awesome! Although I beg to differ bc of the lesser power that it wouldn't be fun to drive with a stick. I drove a 2.0 TDI VW a couple years back with a stick that was a blast to drive (I think 140 hp and 236 lb ft?), and those were getting mid 40s on the highway too (still do as far as I know the engine is the same since 2009 or so)

See above and best of luck with your new ride!