Hi guys, sorry it's taken me so long to respond. I really appreciate your help and responses, thank you. You guys
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I did a fair amount of research and reading, and I think Red Bread summed it up best regarding the trade-off with durability vs. feel of the leather. I suppose I had been thinking that better quality leather would be both softer and more durable, but I've realised now that that's not the case.
As suggested by patrice I also went back to my dealer to see the Dakota leather first-hand (when I had originally placed my order, they didn't have any leather interiors in the showroom but now had some in). I'm definitely no leather expert, but to me the Dakota actually seemed pretty good which is contrary to what the majority opinion seems to be on this board. I was very tempted by the Merino option, but the durability factor of Dakota won over for me, given that I didn't find it to be particularly offensive in any other way.
Given I'm buying this car and will be holding onto it for a while, durability is important. And I honestly couldn't find any fault with the Dakota, I actually quite like that it feels a bit 'tough' and sturdy. Particularly soft leather just wouldn't hold up in a car, and the salesman said that'd been his experience too. Although my Dad's S Class is about 6 years old now, with no signs of wear on the leather, the Dakota didn't feel, to me, noticeably worse than what's in the S.
So that's about £1600 saved!
All that said, CasZy NL's custom interior is nothing short of stunning - would love something like that! Great job!
