My SeL has "leather" seats. I put the word in quotes as I understand that some of it is Alcantara which is a cloth.

Is it just the Suede parts that are Alcantara, the rest only being the real leather?

 

tom

Your SE-L does not have leather seats - it has part-leather seats.

 

It's the Alcantara parts that are Alcantara, to the best of my knowledge no Skoda car uses suede.  Alcantara is a man-made fibre ( which I believe is made from plastic ) whereas suede is animal skin.

 

On full leather seats, the facings certainly are real leather but the sides and back of the seat are faux. I've never paid that much attention to the SE-L but if the leather is just on the bolster cushions then it may well be real.

 

Hope that explains.

 

 

Check what the brochure states (online or physical), most manufacturers explain what they constitute as leather* and what parts of the seats have what.

 

* Mercedes were caught out with their Artico Leather and it's surprising the number of manufacturers who offer 'Premium' leather options over their 'Standard' leather.

2 hours ago, FirstAndLastSkoda said:

Check what the brochure states (online or physical), most manufacturers explain what they constitute as leather* and what parts of the seats have what.

 

* Mercedes were caught out with their Artico Leather and it's surprising the number of manufacturers who offer 'Premium' leather options over their 'Standard' leather.

 

Not sure why you say Mercedes were caught out because that's not true. Their brochures state quite clearly that Artico is a man-made leather:

 

 

Looking at the link you published, it would appear the case was against an Arthur Daley type Merc salesman who wrongly told the customer it was real leather. And as the compensation was £1000, that's roughly the price to upgrade to real leather. 

 

Where the story seems weird tho is when it says the buyer provided lab tests.  Eh? As pointed out above, Mercedes have never claimed it's real leather so why the need for a lab test? There's something not right about that story.  So then you start to look for clues...   They quote 'The Daily Mail'  ( a publication not exactly known for accurate investigative journalism ) and that the article is found in something called The Hog Ring - an upholstery magazine, which 'HOG' suggests is for connoisseurs of real leather.

 

The phrases 'taken with a pinch of salt'  and 'blown out of all proportion' spring to mind.  I very much doubt Mercedes will loose any sleep over it.

 

 

 

Edited 27 March, 20206 yr by Guest

And neither will I.

1 hour ago, Scot5 said:

 

Not sure why you say Mercedes were caught out because that's not true. Their brochures state quite clearly that Artico is a man-made leather:

 

They do now, but I think the point was that they used to, until they were caught out, and made it clearer that ARTICO is man-made.

5 hours ago, Sanqhar said:

My SeL has "leather" seats. I put the word in quotes as I understand that some of it is Alcantara which is a cloth.

Is it just the Suede parts that are Alcantara, the rest only being the real leather?

 

tom

 

It may be real leather, but as with everything in life the grade and therefore the quality of the leather can vary massively.

 

Unfortunately, just by the number of complaints across the different model forums, Skoda's leather and leather-effect materials aren't the most durable.

 

All bar-one of my 5 Skoda's have featured Alcantara on the seats, and all have worn really well, much better than the "leather" in fact.

So the "suede" looking bits are the artificial and the smooth bits are the real.

 

tom

19 hours ago, silver1011 said:

 

They do now, but I think the point was that they used to, until they were caught out, and made it clearer that ARTICO is man-made.

 

Merc were claiming Artico was man-made back in 2006 because that's when I bought my first Merc. And I'm not quite sure why anyone would complain because it was hard to tell the difference between that and the leather in my Audi at the time which was a whopping £1800 option.

 

Besides the article above was published in 2019.

As with Skoda, Mercedes-Benz don't have the best record for accurate literature and online content. Back in the 2000's Mercedes used both ARTICO and M-B Tex across different markets. Some sources make it clear it's man-made, others didn't.

 

 

 

Either way, the independent Motor Ombudsman concluded that the seats were advertised as being leather and therefore should contain 100 percent leather, otherwise the description is 'misleading'.

 

"I think that if documents say the interior is leather, the assumption would be that this is fully leather," the independent Motor Ombudsman added.

 

This would suggest the literature produced by Mercedes-Benz at the time of the purchase didn't sufficiently mention the man-made element.