luckycanine

So I see that in a base Carrera the base $0 interior with 18-way seats gives you "smooth-finish leather" on all seat front surfaces (bolster, headrest, centers) whereas in a Carrera S, the standard $0 interior only has "leather seat centers" and the rest is "Embossed Leather" and if you want to match the 18-way seat material to the base Carrera you have to choose the $4k leather interior.

Many posts in this forum claim that "embossed leather" is vinyl. Does anyone have definitive proof of this? Why would a higher spec car be specced with a lower grade material? You essentially get Smooth Finish leather for $0 on a base Carrera by paying for 18-way seats ($3830). In the Carrera S, the 18-ways are cheaper ($3470) with the $0 interior so I assume they are cheaper because of "Embossed Leather".

Does anyone have opinions on which leather is softer and more comfortable to sit/lean on? Seems like an annoying configuration limitation.

CarreraIn Embossed Leather:

• Rear seats
• Rear seat center tunnel

In Smooth-Finish Leather:

• Front seats
• Steering wheel rim
• Door panel armrests
• Center console lid

Carrera SIn Embossed Leather:

• Front seat side bolsters and headrests
• Rear seats
• Rear seat center tunnel

In Smooth-Finish Leather:

• Front seat centers
• Steering wheel rim
• Door panel armrests
• Center console lid

malba2366

Embossed leather is not vinyl. It is leather that has a pattern pressed into the surface.

luckycanine

Thanks, I wonder why people think its vinyl. Anyway, I like the smooth finish much more.

drcollie

HA!, well in truth it's ALL embossed leather, every bit. Only pure aniline hides are not sanded and have the natural markings intact and you cannot use a pure aniline hide in vehicles, they stain too easily and sun bleach rapidly. What you have in every car leather is a finished, or semi-aniline hybrid leather than has been sanded down and topcoated with pigmentation. The grain pattern in all these hides is artificially imprinted back into the hide after the sanding process.

In other words, don't worry too much about it. Standard interior cars have vinyl in areas your hand / skin does not touch, Full leather interiors replace that vinyl with leather. That's pretty much it in a nutshell.

TheGreatJ

Something in your information is incorrect but I don't blame you since the information is very unclear in the configurator. If my memory serves me correctly, it goes something like this: Carrera S always has minimum the seat centers in smooth finish leather. Both Carrera and Carrera S have the embossed leather covering the side bolsters, back seats etc. in case the regular 4-way or 14-way Sports seats are selected along with the Standard Interior (also the seat backs in the 14-way seats). If the 4-way or 18-way Sports Plus seats are selected instead, the entire seat material gets upgraded to smooth finish leather. Other embossed parts will remain though, until Full Leather Interior is selected and that's when everything gets upgraded into smooth leather (also the seat backs in 14-way seats). This in the US. In some parts of Europe, we have a further third interior option in between of these two that makes things even more complicated....