How easy is it to change the seats / upholstery in a C Class?

[WantaMerc]

Hi guys

I need some help deciding between two cars with the interior being the main difference as far as my knowledge goes:

2011 C Class 2.1 C250 AMG Sport

2012 C Class C220 AMG Sport PLUS

The sport plus comes with:

- Beefed up alloys (not something I care too much for)
- A far superior interior with a leather / suede combo compared with a leather and fabric combo on the standard AMG Sport.
- Apart from the above two the cars look the same to me.

However the Sport PLUS is £3,000 more and with no other significant additional improvements as far as I can see?

As such I propose buying the 2011 C Class 2.1 C250 AMG Sport and then spending some money converting the seats to leather or leather/suede or buying new seats altogether.

My questions:

1. Will this be costly to do?
2. Is this something that will need to be declared on insurance as a "modification" to the car?
3. For people that have had these cars are there any other differences I may be missing?

Thanks guys!

 

[StuartK]

Sport plus is worth £3k as it will be worth more come resale. Also £1000 of the difference is likely because it's a year newer.

 

[Jay2512]

The sport plus will also have ILS lights as standard.

As you have pointed out the better interior which should feature the red Stitching and 18in bi colour alloy wheels.

 

[WantaMerc]

The sport plus will also have ILS lights as standard.

As you have pointed out the better interior which should feature the red Stitching and 18in bi colour alloy wheels.

The better interior is what makes me like the plus. But I am hoping I can re-create that for far less than £3,000? Or does it still make sense to get the Plus? Given it may have better long term value than a modified interior?

 

[Delayed Steve]

Even if you change the seats it will still be valued as a sport when you come to sell it,so whatever you spend will be lost. If you want to have them retrimed it will cost a couple of grand to do, I've just had a classic retrimed. So to my thinking you may as well buy the sport plus and change the wheels of you really don't like them.

 

[T5R+]

Understand your dilemma over "like the SP interior"........however, you need to compare "apples with apples" to appreciate the price point differential.

A typical "62" plate with similar mileage and options of both variants equates to less than a £1000 difference.

At this price, seems more hassle than it is worth. Plus when you sell someone will ask "why the interior change, is it a Cat C/D".

Personally, I think the Sport Plus interior is great -only drawback in my case, it does not come in light shades. Also like the alloy wheels but appreciate they are a little "bling" but they sell for good money if you elect to replace.

 

[tuonopepper]

My 14 plate sport plus had all the seats replaced under warranty due to the issue where the seats appear to develop a water mark. I've no idea what a full set of rehokstering cost but they had it done in a day.

James.

 

[219]

It depends on what you mean by 'change the interior' since an interior change can involve more than just the seats - for example a colour change or material change might involve changing not only the seats but also door cards , carpets and numerous other pieces of trim .

Buying all these items new from Mercedes-Benz would be prohibitively expensive - for example a friend purchased a new backrest cover in cloth for his W124 260E because of wear to the bolster and it was five or six hundred - just for one part of one seat , in cloth !

There are specialist retrimmers , like dclass , who will trim your car in anything you want , but you will be looking at a couple of grand upwards .

Lastly , if you get very lucky , you might find a written off car in one of the specialist breakers with the interior you want - it isn't hard to unbolt seats , swap over door cards and so on , and I've done this in the past , upgrading cloth interiors to leather or just a worn one for a nicer one , changing manual seats to electric in the process and the like .

For a newish car , you might still pay quite a lot for a nice interior , although going back a few years when the cars weren't so old , I've bought leather interiors for the like of 190E's , W124's and W126's for prices ranging from £40 to £100 - for full interiors including seats , door cards , carpets and any other trim pieces I want - but breakers here in Scotland are a lot cheaper than prices asked by ones down South .

It is always worth declaring changes to your insurer , an interior change is unlikely to affect your premium , but it keeps you in the right in the event of a claim .