Seat wear (medium term): BMW 528i v Hyundai Equus

[Muji]

These are the sort of articles which are important to a car buyer, things like how do the seats wear?

http://blogs.insideline.com/roadtests/2011/06/2011-hyundai-equus-vs-2011-bmw-528i-seat-wear.html

[chkolny541]

thats actually kinda intersting to note, the bmw looks great after nearly double the miles put on it

[Muji]

Edmunds does a terrific job with these blog wear and tear articles:

http://blogs.insideline.com/roadtests/

Like check out the seat belts and ignition key issues with the Buick Regal, little stuff that will drive me crazy:

http://blogs.insideline.com/roadtests/Vehicles/2011-buick-regal-cxl-turbo/

[Redlyne_mr2]

Hyundais look good in the showroom but wear horribly.

[Sugarphreak]

...

[Xtrema]

Originally posted by Sugarphreak
You get what you pay for

EDIT: Holy crap, I just saw the price of the Hyundai... seriously?

It's supposed to be a 7 series priced like a 5.

[C4S]

I guess depends on the driver?

But it is true .. Toyota .. Honda ... they make nice cars, but the leather they use, can't compare to BMW/BENZ/Range Rover/Porsche/Bentley etc ..

You can tell, Lexus leather is quite a bit nicer and more durable then Toyota/GM etc ....

You get what you pay ...

That is just the list price for the Hyundai Equus, I am sure they offer huge rebate or 0% rate ... so at the end of the day, probably still $10K less then a 5 series or E class.

To my surprise, it is a huge car from outside, the not really more space then a 5 series or E class.

:dunno:

[AE92_TreunoSC]

The Range Rover and Benz white leather realllllllly shows what kind of pants you wear.

Lexus seems to have the best leather of the bunch. Acura has really hard firm leather which doesnt show wear as quickly.

Can anyone confirm if that 528 is pleather? My e46 had the pleather and it was shit, cracked at 70,000k

[Twin_Cam_Turbo]

The 528i is probably pleather with the option of leather, that's what my moms 135i was, I think the leather wears worse than the pleather.

[Xtrema]

Originally posted by Twin_Cam_Turbo
The 528i is probably pleather with the option of leather, that's what my moms 135i was, I think the leather wears worse than the pleather.

And color matters too. Most guys with white nappa leather in S4 get blue streaks some jeans. They had to clean them often.

So the test really isn't conclusive and black and white as pictured. May be one of the tester bought some shitty jeans not prewashed.

[Mitsu3000gt]

It's not hard to keep leather in good condition IMO.

- Clean/condition it regularily, as you should be doing anyways

- Don't sit on light color seats in dark jeans you haven't washed a few times already, or sit on a towel or something if you must wear unwashed brand new dark blue jeans (I make my GF do this LOL)

- When you exit the car, don't squish and rub across the left hand seat bolsters (the ones on the seat, and seat back).

I've done that in all my cars with leather interior and they look like new still when I go to sell them several years later. It takes incredibly little effort to not be completely careless with the seats, and thats all you need to do to keep them looking like new.

Assuming equal usage though, the BMW leather in the article sure holds up better than the Hyundai stuff. Feature for feature though the Hyundai probably competes with much more pricier BMW's which makes it a little easier to forgive. There is no way it will ever be as good as an equivalent featured BMW.

[JRSC00LUDE]

Originally posted by Mitsu3000gt
It's not hard to keep leather in good condition IMO.

- Clean/condition it regularily, as you should be doing anyways

- Don't sit on light color seats in dark jeans you haven't washed a few times already, or sit on a towel or something if you must wear unwashed brand new dark blue jeans (I make my GF do this LOL)

- When you exit the car, don't squish and rub across the left hand seat bolsters (the ones on the seat, and seat back).

I've done that in all my cars with leather interior and they look like new still when I go to sell them several years later. It takes incredibly little effort to not be completely careless with the seats, and thats all you need to do to keep them looking like new.

Assuming equal usage though, the BMW leather in the article sure holds up better than the Hyundai stuff. Feature for feature though the Hyundai probably competes with much more pricier BMW's which makes it a little easier to forgive. There is no way it will ever be as good as an equivalent featured BMW.

I don't know, I have been meticulous with the cleaning/conditioning of my S2K seats and am careful as a 6' 225 lb guy can be getting in and out of them and I am just not impressed with the durability at all.

I agree that Honda leather is of a low quality grade in comparison to many. The seats in my RSX back in the day were absolule shit too, they were black with whitened crease lines all over them after less than two years. Replaced under warranty and then still shit again. My company car is a Ridgeline (because there's not way in hell you can call it a truck lol) and it, although heavily creased, at least hasn't lost it's color in the creasing.

Three Hondas from three different production years with three cases of shit quality leather.....seems like a trend.

[Mitsu3000gt]

Originally posted by JRSC00LUDE


I don't know, I have been meticulous with the cleaning/conditioning of my S2K seats and am careful as a 6' 225 lb guy can be getting in and out of them and I am just not impressed with the durability at all.

I agree that Honda leather is of a low quality grade in comparison to many. The seats in my RSX back in the day were absolule shit too, they were black with whitened crease lines all over them after less than two years. Replaced under warranty and then still shit again. My company car is a Ridgeline (because there's not way in hell you can call it a truck lol) and it, although heavily creased, at least hasn't lost it's color in the creasing.

Three Hondas from three different production years with three cases of shit quality leather.....seems like a trend.

I've never owned a honda, so maybe they just use super cheap leather or something. I've owned 2 Audi's, one with platinum leather and my current one has platinum alcantera with black leather bolsters and a Mitsubishi 3000GT w/Tan leather. Those 3 cars seemed to wear very well using my "methods" haha. I doubt my Mitsu had great quality leather, but I have no way of knowing.

I agree it would be harder for bigger guys to be extra careful when entering/exiting. I also understand not everyone is willing to go through the extra effort which is why seat durability is important in the first place :).

[Redlyne_mr2]

Thats not the pleather on the BMW, it never came in that color. The staining can happen on any leather, it's the way the leather has stretched and pulled after such low mileage on the Hyundai thats a concern.

[Neil4Speed]

I think it big time comes down to the way you maintain it, but the leather in my Legend was extremely soft and felt really good even at an old age. However, they are notorious for excessive bolster wear and the leather tearing off completely.

The 3.5 RL leather is also excellent and has worn well with minimal creasing and is quite soft - note, has only been conditioned once in the last 6 years. Hardly ever hear of this leather wearing down badly.

Only mediocre in my Lexus and I clean and condition regularily. I will probably Leatherique Condition/Clean and dye sometime this summer.

[corsvette]

Originally posted by Redlyne_mr2
Hyundais look good in the showroom but wear horribly.

100% agree, the money saved over the competition has to come from somewhere. I've heard many complaints about quality from owners of Hyundai/Kia products after 5 years of ownership (my family alone has quite a few "one time" korean car buyers)

[chkolny541]

Originally posted by Redlyne_mr2
Thats not the pleather on the BMW, it never came in that color. The staining can happen on any leather, it's the way the leather has stretched and pulled after such low mileage on the Hyundai thats a concern.

agreed, staining is kinda secondary concern to the stretching