Dakota leather question.........

I tried out my friend's new Volvo S60 yesterday; it had much nicer leather than my F30 plus a really nice steering wheel.

BMW's leather is pretty firm and durable - thats the draw, not comfort. My wife's Lexus RX has soft, supple leather that you kinda just sink in when sitting. Not BMW however. The sports seats make up for it because they kinda lock you in but the regular leather seats in a 3 series is not impressive.

Originally Posted by hans007

and yes the audi seat did have the lumbar.

I was asking about your 3. My understanding is that when you get the sport seat, lumbar support is added only when you also get the premium package. I am curious about how important that is with the sport seats.

Originally Posted by bmw_or_audi

I was asking about your 3. My understanding is that when you get the sport seat, lumbar support is added only when you also get the premium package. I am curious about how important that is with the sport seats.

Opps must have read that wrong. I don't have premium on my 3. Not sure what in missing honestly. To he honest I never used it in the Audi so maybe its just me. I'm just under 6' pretty skinny and 32 if that matters. My father tells me all the time I'll care much more when I get older. I remove the lumbar piece on my work aeron chair....

Originally Posted by bmw_or_audi

I was asking about your 3. My understanding is that when you get the sport seat, lumbar support is added only when you also get the premium package. I am curious about how important that is with the sport seats.

it helps immensely...I have a base with premium, and the lumbar makes it quite comfortable (it's adjustable in terms of location of lumbar too).

only minus, that I miss from sport seats, is being "hugged".

however, I find that my lower back issues are much better on base seats because my hips are allowed to spread, rather than be hugged - for the 120 mile a day round trip commute I have, I've had no issues.

The leather quality is Poo with Dakota...they make it sound like you've got some amazing Premium Dakota leather, but it's about as bad as the leather in my Mitsu Evo VIII.

Best seats I've sat in: MB ML55 AMG. So nice.

Originally Posted by vern

You are 100% right thats why you have to read between the lines on these posts as well as other posts because many of them are BS. Good luck
cheers
vern

You really got away with the words!!!

I'll take the leather in my E46 over my MIL's S500's soft leather any day.

I originally thought the same thing when I first strated driving BMW's, but then I realized how durable the leather is and how less prone it is to cracking and creasing. (A buddy of mine just bought a Jeep for 43k and the leather has creases in it already where the left thigh rests on the bolster.

BMW's leather in the 3 series I think is just fine, much higher quality than other cars IMHO. As far Audi and Lexus, yeah the leather is more supple and has less of a 'grain' to it, but in my opinion that feels cheesy and looks terrible after a year.

Originally Posted by bt1337

You really got away with the words!!!

Thank you,I think so too. Just telling it like it is.
cheers
vern

I haven't read all posts above but someone that works for NA told me a couple years ago that all of the interior materials (especially the seat leather) in the mainstream cars were geared toward durability and in part the ability for the dealer to CPO cars easily and have less complaints from average users. BMW CPO is not just a side business anymore so they need to make sure they have a steady flow of well maintained, off lease cars, in decent shape.

When you start getting into the higher priced cars, BMW cannot compete against other luxury brands without offering Nappa leather as a (less durable) option