Sand Interior Leatherette and Titanium trimming....a No-No?

I saw one briefly back in November. It was one of the 1rst xi's at my dealer. The buyers had ordered in July so thought they were getting high gloss sand trim (since no PP or wood), but with foll over to the 02 models got the Titanium.

They were so excited that their car was there they didn't really notice while doing pickup:dunno: But both my rep and I thought it looked out of place. IMO I would not get it, too much non flowing contrast.

Baptizer said:

Yea, that is exactly what i am starting to think. Obviously i 'might' be able to see one at a dealership, but i starting to doubt it. Well, seems that i am coming to the conclusion that i 'might' want the wood trim....which would probably lead me to get the Premium Package i was debating.....

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Sounds like your research has been thorough, if the cost of the wood in comgo w/ other items in PP put you nesr that PP $ go ahead and get it. If the difference is enough, you could always swap w/ someone that wants titanium to go w/ black or grey

Thanks for replying......
THere was a previous thread about 'leather vs leatherette'...i might have to re=read it. It seemed as though the majority of people recommended leatherette, and a good bit of leather owners said they would go with leatherette on their next purchase.
Here is how i look at it:
-i want the moonroof(1k)
-i probably want the wood trim(500)
thats 1.5k already...and the pp costs 2.9k. Are the leather seats and the other extras(lumbar support, rain sensor, auto headlights, etc) worth the extra 1.4k? i think so.....i just need to decide if i want leather. Time to go read that thread again i think......hehe..

Baptizer said:

Thanks for replying......
THere was a previous thread about 'leather vs leatherette'...i might have to re=read it. It seemed as though the majority of people recommended leatherette, and a good bit of leather owners said they would go with leatherette on their next purchase.
Here is how i look at it:
-i want the moonroof(1k)
-i probably want the wood trim(500)
thats 1.5k already...and the pp costs 2.9k. Are the leather seats and the other extras(lumbar support, rain sensor, auto headlights, etc) worth the extra 1.4k? i think so.....i just need to decide if i want leather. Time to go read that thread again i think......hehe..

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Agree w/ your logic 100%....since wagon was only available in 325 lumbar and leather were not part of the PP. (Could stand for both a 330 engine and lumbar ) I opted for 'ette because of $ and durability reasons.

PM 325xiT said:

Sounds like your research has been thorough, if the cost of the wood in comgo w/ other items in PP put you nesr that PP $ go ahead and get it. If the difference is enough, you could always swap w/ someone that wants titanium to go w/ black or grey

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Wood trim is easy to come by after you sell your car. People are always swapping their wood for something else. I sold my myrtle wood trim last month for $300 after upgrading to birch.

The trim is also extremely easy to install on a sedan. My wife and I did it in 20 minutes in a hotel parking lot in France with a couple of screwdrivers. The coupe is a more involved process.

--gary:thumb:

Hmm...interesting info Nat. Honestly i really dont want leather(no real good reason to NOT want it, but also, not one reason i do want it). I read a few posts that mention that the Sand Leatherette looks like crap...TRUE/FALSE?
I'd still like to see a pic of the Sand with titanium trim..but i doubt anyone has that combo

While everyone dishes out their opinions on that, i have another question. Please take a look at this pic:


why are some of the dashes/sections black? In my own personal opinion, i don't dig this at all.......is this the way it would look if i got my car in Sand Leatherette? And if the answer is 'no, it wont look like that', exactly what would it look like? any pics?

Not the best pic but here is what sand ett looks like and yes the dash section is black

Definitely not for me either....
In fact, personally i dont like all the different things going on(all the different colors.). If this is what it looks like inside for Sand Leatherette/Sand Leather/Natural Brown Leather, then i might opt for the black color instead. I just dont like the look personally.....too bad i am of the minority though....


EDIT: PM 325xiT supplied a better picture, and his pic does justice. Thats much better! It really wasnt the dash that was throwing my eyes off, it was mostly the doors and well, the SAND color in that previous pic seemed a bit too 'yellow' for me.....Thanks for the pic of the Sand Leatherette PM 325xiT!

Baptizer said:

Definitely not for me either....
In fact, personally i dont like all the different things going on(all the different colors.). If this is what it looks like inside for Sand Leatherette/Sand Leather/Natural Brown Leather, then i might opt for the black color instead. I just dont like the look personally.....too bad i am of the minority though....

EDIT: PM 325xiT supplied a better picture, and his pic does justice. Thats much better! It really wasnt the dash that was throwing my eyes off, it was mostly the doors and well, the SAND color in that previous pic seemed a bit too 'yellow' for me.....Thanks for the pic of the Sand Leatherette PM 325xiT!

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Here's a link to it so you can view at larger size

I've seen tan leatherette with titanium trim, and it does not look good. Also, tan leatherette does not look like leather at all - it looks like vinyl, which is what it is. The black leatherette looks much more convincing than the tan, if you are going for the "I want them to think it is leather" look. Personally, I'd go for the leather - it smells better, and vinyl gets very hot and sticky in the summer, and cold in the winter.

Dan said:

I've seen tan leatherette with titanium trim, and it does not look good. Also, tan leatherette does not look like leather at all - it looks like vinyl, which is what it is. The black leatherette looks much more convincing than the tan, if you are going for the "I want them to think it is leather" look. Personally, I'd go for the leather - it smells better, and vinyl gets very hot and sticky in the summer, and cold in the winter.

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I have no complaints about the cold feeling you describe but the HS would take care of it if I did. Black is a closer match but most people still can not tell mine is not leather. In fact the only one who has is a BMW mechanic

Dark color trim looks better with lighter colors, light color trim looks better with darker colors.

Myrtle wood looks fantastic with Sand leather, because Sand is so light - there's a nice contrast there.

When you look at a black interior with the same Myrtle wood trim, it might look too dark. But, when you compare the same black interior with a lighter wood trim, like Birch, or even the Titanium metal trim, it looks really nice because of the contrast.

Like using Birch trim in a Natural Brown interior - something I think should be standard for that color

contrast is where it's at

- Cowboy

I've got sand 'ette with the Titanium trim. I thought of trading it for wood, but now I've grown to like it. I've gotten a lot of compliments as well. And if you get the Aluminum pedals and shifter, etc., it should match nicely as well. In the end, get what you think is nice and you can always find someone here who will trade 'ya.

Color Selection

Baptizer said:

Is it just me, or did everyone else have a hard time deciding between a few colors?????????????? GRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!(i am referring to interior AND exterior...GRR GRRR)

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For me it was about the maintenance. A dark color comes with an obligation to work harder to keep it clean. I really wanted Jet Black, but tried to talk myself out of it by looking at Orient Blue and Black Sapphire. Eventually I went with what I wanted.

--gary