[DavyF]

Hi People, I have just bought a 2012 320D F30 Sport, it has the usual sport leather interior, but what a let down the quality of the leather or is it pleather. My previous car was an Audi A3 with the loveliest soft and best smelling leather, but the BMW seats are as tough as a soldiers boots and has no trace of a leather scent. Anyone else know what type of rubbish it is? When it's the place I spend the most of my day the seats are a right bummer.....

[Billfitz]

Being only a 320 I doubt that the interior is leather, but if you do a VIN check you can find out for sure.

[HarryTee]

If the car is from 2012, I doubt that you can normally still smell the leather.
But there are leather-cleaning products that can leave you with a smell of leather.

[Randy Johnson]

I have ‘15 435i with white leather seats and they are already showing major signs of wear. I’ve had several older cars with leather seats that held up much better than these. I’ll probably have to get them recovered one day.

[DavyF]

Originally Posted by HarryTee

If the car is from 2012, I doubt that you can normally still smell the leather.
But there are leather-cleaning products that can leave you with a smell of leather.

There is 120000 miles on my car and the seats are in perfect condition, the rear seats look as though it has never been used. The A3 I owned was a 2006 and it had a lovely leather smell, the BMW seats do not compare in looks, quality and comfort.

[chiefneil]

Agree that your car probably has fake leather - that would’ve been standard on a 320. If the seats are in perfect condition after 8 years and 120k miles, then that’s another indication they’re not leather.

BMW’s leather in the 3-series has never been particularly impressive anyway, so no big loss if you don’t have it and probably a long-term advantage not to.

[DavyF]

So much for German quality.....

[SportySpice]

Your Audi was German, too.

[EvenKeel]

You had an opportunity to make a decision when you purchased the car. If it was an issue; you should have walked and purchased your A3.

[sygazelle]

Originally Posted by DavyF

Hi People, I have just bought a 2012 320D F30 Sport, it has the usual sport leather interior, but what a let down the quality of the leather or is it pleather. My previous car was an Audi A3 with the loveliest soft and best smelling leather, but the BMW seats are as tough as a soldiers boots and has no trace of a leather scent. Anyone else know what type of rubbish it is? When it's the place I spend the most of my day the seats are a right bummer.....

First, welcome to the forum.

I'm confused. Why in the heck would you buy a car and then complain about the quality of the interior?

You bought the 320 base model F30 that is 8 years old. What were you expecting? A quick run of the VIN would tell you exactly what you bought, including type of interior material. In the US, the 320 is the base model and its not available with a leather option. You need to go to a 328 to get leather.

[sygazelle]

Originally Posted by Randy Johnson

I have ‘15 435i with white leather seats and they are already showing major signs of wear. I’ve had several older cars with leather seats that held up much better than these. I’ll probably have to get them recovered one day.

Please show us a photo of this wear.

With white interior, are you sure its just dye from blue jeans, etc.?

[sygazelle]

Originally Posted by DavyF

So much for German quality.....

To sum it up:

• 8 year old car.
• Base model.
• Expecting leather without doing homework.
• Bought the car knowing you didn't like the interior materials
• Joins BMW forum to share that fact that you bought a car with an interior you don't like.
• Make a comment on German quality in general.

[tex2670]

Originally Posted by DavyF

Hi People, I have just bought a 2012 320D F30 Sport, it has the usual sport leather interior, but what a let down the quality of the leather or is it pleather. My previous car was an Audi A3 with the loveliest soft and best smelling leather, but the BMW seats are as tough as a soldiers boots and has no trace of a leather scent. Anyone else know what type of rubbish it is? When it's the place I spend the most of my day the seats are a right bummer.....

I have a '14 with leather. No, it is not as soft as the leather was in my Lexus, but it has been much more durable than the leather I have had in every previous car.

[smrtypants44]

A good way to tell is that dakota leather equipped cars have stitching on the door cards and sensatec cars do not.

[tturedraider]

Originally Posted by smrtypants44

A good way to tell is that dakota leather equipped cars have stitching on the door cards and sensatec cars do not.

^this

[eugene89us]

Dang, people are excessively protective of their cars here. Haha. I changed from a 2014 Passat TDI SEL to a 2018 BMW 328d. The change was needed as I was looking for a feasible economical diesel model as I do a lot of interstate driving while a family member that totaled her then car needed an urgent replacement. Judging from years prior, when fuel prices climbed to $4/gal, I felt diesel would satisfy my long term desire for fuel economy and lower CO2 emissions. Couldn't care less about Dieselgate, remain diesel fan to this day.

However, agree with criticisms for the most part by the OP and others. Yes, the car has more plastics than I wished to see in a BMW. Coming from Passat (yet higher trim midside option - may have been a better comparison with a 5 series) - I have been disappointed with creakiness of the plastics overall, especially around the vents when the cold AC air causes sudden plastic contraction in a car that has been sitting in my work parking lot in the middle of the summer (think deep South, pretty dang hot!). Compared to VW, BMW has more "soft surfaces" but the pretentious plastics with their creakiness just take away from everything else that is higher end. To this day, the Passat has less creaks at 100K miles than my BMW at half the mileage. I know market is market, but I would be willing to pay extra for a car if it was optioned with "substitute plastic with real aluminum" option. Of course, I knew all this buying the car and was willing to accept all the imperfections because the benefits to me far outweighed the drawbacks.

Quality wise, I feel BMW in many ways is better built than a Passat under the surface. I wish my car came with leather seats, but urgency at a time did not allow me for a custom build, so I settled on what was available in the 300 mile radius. Got more features still than my Passat - extra safety and extra comfort features that I now take for granted, but at a time these were a massive upgrade to me (such as blind spot monitoring, much better infotainment system than NMS Passat, LED lights, etc). I miss peace of mind of a spare tire that Passat has, I miss the space in the backseat that mid-size sedan offers over F30, I miss lack of creakiness that Passat offered over F30.

So to me, OP has every right to criticize his car and compare it to his Audi. I still have a Passat in the family. Is it more spacious? - Best in class! Does it have most features I need - of course! Would I trade with my relative that now drives it and give up my F30? Absolutely not! I love my F30 despite all of its shortcomings. But unless I shop in S class/Maybach or 7-series segments, I do not expect everything to be perfect. After all, I got a clanky diesel for its economy and not a 6 cyl gasser for its luxury. Do I wish I had more time to have waited and custom ordered a 2018 540d that was available at a time? Sometimes, but like all humans, I will find deficiencies there also at a much higher price. And I would probably complain at a pump getting half the economy.

So to sum up, complain about your cars. They are not perfect, and sometimes they are in some ways worse in some individual respects than a base Toyota or a VW. Overall, it is still a nicer car, especislly with performance! But I am hopeful BMW is listening and when time comes to get a new BMW, maybe - just maybe - they will improve on deficiencies of past models.

[EvenKeel]

Originally Posted by eugene89us

Dang, people are excessively protective of their cars here. Haha. I changed from a 2014 Passat TDI SEL to a 2018 BMW 328d. The change was needed as I was looking for a feasible economical diesel model as I do a lot of interstate driving while a family member that totaled her then car needed an urgent replacement. Judging from years prior, when fuel prices climbed to $4/gal, I felt diesel would satisfy my long term desire for fuel economy and lower CO2 emissions. Couldn't care less about Dieselgate, remain diesel fan to this day.

However, agree with criticisms for the most part by the OP and others. Yes, the car has more plastics than I wished to see in a BMW. Coming from Passat (yet higher trim midside option - may have been a better comparison with a 5 series) - I have been disappointed with creakiness of the plastics overall, especially around the vents when the cold AC air causes sudden plastic contraction in a car that has been sitting in my work parking lot in the middle of the summer (think deep South, pretty dang hot!). Compared to VW, BMW has more "soft surfaces" but the pretentious plastics with their creakiness just take away from everything else that is higher end. To this day, the Passat has less creaks at 100K miles than my BMW at half the mileage. I know market is market, but I would be willing to pay extra for a car if it was optioned with "substitute plastic with real aluminum" option. Of course, I knew all this buying the car and was willing to accept all the imperfections because the benefits to me far outweighed the drawbacks.

Quality wise, I feel BMW in many ways is better built than a Passat under the surface. I wish my car came with leather seats, but urgency at a time did not allow me for a custom build, so I settled on what was available in the 300 mile radius. Got more features still than my Passat - extra safety and extra comfort features that I now take for granted, but at a time these were a massive upgrade to me (such as blind spot monitoring, much better infotainment system than NMS Passat, LED lights, etc). I miss peace of mind of a spare tire that Passat has, I miss the space in the backseat that mid-size sedan offers over F30, I miss lack of creakiness that Passat offered over F30.

So to me, OP has every right to criticize his car and compare it to his Audi. I still have a Passat in the family. Is it more spacious? - Best in class! Does it have most features I need - of course! Would I trade with my relative that now drives it and give up my F30? Absolutely not! I love my F30 despite all of its shortcomings. But unless I shop in S class/Maybach or 7-series segments, I do not expect everything to be perfect. After all, I got a clanky diesel for its economy and not a 6 cyl gasser for its luxury. Do I wish I had more time to have waited and custom ordered a 2018 540d that was available at a time? Sometimes, but like all humans, I will find deficiencies there also at a much higher price. And I would probably complain at a pump getting half the economy.

So to sum up, complain about your cars. They are not perfect, and sometimes they are in some ways worse in some individual respects than a base Toyota or a VW. Overall, it is still a nicer car, especislly with performance! But I am hopeful BMW is listening and when time comes to get a new BMW, maybe - just maybe - they will improve on deficiencies of past models.

You've got a lot of time on your hands.

[Icarium81]

Originally Posted by EvenKeel

You've got a lot of time on your hands.

Why, just because he wrote a few paragraphs? Might've taken him 10 minutes if he's a mediocre typer.

[eugene89us]

Haha, how else am I supposed to pass time while sitting on a toilet? Didn't take me more than 5 minutes to type this up and I am on a Galaxy S10. Any questions or other concerns about my free time?

I work 60 to 70 hours a week, that may not be the longest work week of everyone here, but it is certainly longer than most. How I choose to spend the rest of my "free" time should not factor into these conversations, and they add hardly anything useful to it. Now let's allow OP to vent, if they feel like it. We know we love our cars and are protective of our cars, but they are not perfect. Most of us can live with it and not complain, as I do, but stating that OP should have picked another car is akin to someone telling someone to move to Canada if they don't agree with a certain political agenda. I.E. Just makes people angry without bringing anything useful to conversation.

[sygazelle]

Originally Posted by eugene89us

Dang, people are excessively protective of their cars here. Haha. I changed from a 2014 Passat TDI SEL to a 2018 BMW 328d. The change was needed as I was looking for a feasible economical diesel model as I do a lot of interstate driving while a family member that totaled her then car needed an urgent replacement. Judging from years prior, when fuel prices climbed to $4/gal, I felt diesel would satisfy my long term desire for fuel economy and lower CO2 emissions. Couldn't care less about Dieselgate, remain diesel fan to this day.

However, agree with criticisms for the most part by the OP and others. Yes, the car has more plastics than I wished to see in a BMW. Coming from Passat (yet higher trim midside option - may have been a better comparison with a 5 series) - I have been disappointed with creakiness of the plastics overall, especially around the vents when the cold AC air causes sudden plastic contraction in a car that has been sitting in my work parking lot in the middle of the summer (think deep South, pretty dang hot!). Compared to VW, BMW has more "soft surfaces" but the pretentious plastics with their creakiness just take away from everything else that is higher end. To this day, the Passat has less creaks at 100K miles than my BMW at half the mileage. I know market is market, but I would be willing to pay extra for a car if it was optioned with "substitute plastic with real aluminum" option. Of course, I knew all this buying the car and was willing to accept all the imperfections because the benefits to me far outweighed the drawbacks.

Quality wise, I feel BMW in many ways is better built than a Passat under the surface. I wish my car came with leather seats, but urgency at a time did not allow me for a custom build, so I settled on what was available in the 300 mile radius. Got more features still than my Passat - extra safety and extra comfort features that I now take for granted, but at a time these were a massive upgrade to me (such as blind spot monitoring, much better infotainment system than NMS Passat, LED lights, etc). I miss peace of mind of a spare tire that Passat has, I miss the space in the backseat that mid-size sedan offers over F30, I miss lack of creakiness that Passat offered over F30.

So to me, OP has every right to criticize his car and compare it to his Audi. I still have a Passat in the family. Is it more spacious? - Best in class! Does it have most features I need - of course! Would I trade with my relative that now drives it and give up my F30? Absolutely not! I love my F30 despite all of its shortcomings. But unless I shop in S class/Maybach or 7-series segments, I do not expect everything to be perfect. After all, I got a clanky diesel for its economy and not a 6 cyl gasser for its luxury. Do I wish I had more time to have waited and custom ordered a 2018 540d that was available at a time? Sometimes, but like all humans, I will find deficiencies there also at a much higher price. And I would probably complain at a pump getting half the economy.

So to sum up, complain about your cars. They are not perfect, and sometimes they are in some ways worse in some individual respects than a base Toyota or a VW. Overall, it is still a nicer car, especislly with performance! But I am hopeful BMW is listening and when time comes to get a new BMW, maybe - just maybe - they will improve on deficiencies of past models.

I agree that car forums should be a place for us to complain about(or praise) anything we want to about our cars. I've been a member of BMW forums for 20+ years and an owner of BMWs for over 30 years and I've certainly posted complaints about my cars when warranted. These cars are certainly not perfect. Forums are good way to vent and to see if others are experiencing what we are experiencing. And maybe, just maybe, we will read a response that gives us information that we can use to correct our problem.

That's not whats going on with this thread. This about buying a base car with vinyl interior and then complaining that its not leather. I was just wondering why the OP would buy a car with an interior he didn't like. Its not as if it was a problem that came up later. He knew or should have known that his interior material was not leather but he bought it anyway and then complained about it.


To me, the comparison with the A3 is fine. Many people believe Audi kicks BMWs ass on interiors. In fact, many cars have better interiors than BMWs. Yet, the overall experience is still worth it to me.

[eugene89us]

Well said, sygazelle, I get what you mean. A long day at work got me reading into stuff more than what was intended. I got my F30 with sensatec interior. It never smelled or felt like real leather, but you're on the point - I also never expected it to behave like leather and others should accept it as is - a synthetic. I am in agreement with this fact - if you buy faux leather, don't expect it to be as good as true leather. Maybe OP had higher expectations from Sensatec?

I agree, from what I read, I almost feel Sensatec is a more durable material than Dakota leather, which has threads on its poor long term performance. I would imagine Nappa leather would be the feel and quality OP was seeking in Sensatec. In that case, I agree, one has to match their expectations to the product they buy.

[sygazelle]

Originally Posted by eugene89us

Well said, sygazelle, I get what you mean. A long day at work got me reading into stuff more than what was intended. I got my F30 with sensatec interior. It never smelled or felt like real leather, but you're on the point - I also never expected it to behave like leather and others should accept it as is - a synthetic. I am in agreement with this fact - if you buy faux leather, don't expect it to be as good as true leather. Maybe OP had higher expectations from Sensatec?

I agree, from what I read, I almost feel Sensatec is a more durable material than Dakota leather, which has threads on its poor long term performance. I would imagine Nappa leather would be the feel and quality OP was seeking in Sensatec. In that case, I agree, one has to match their expectations to the product they buy.

I have Dakota on my F30 and for 7 years its been great. I don't have kids or dogs in my car so its not really a fair test, but for me, its been great. Dakota is pretty tough feel-wise. My wife's G05 has Merino in it and that stuff is simply amazing. It feels like a golf glove. However, that difference comes with a price. I'm happy with Dakota for my car, but I must say I love getting into my wife's luxurious beast for a change of pace.