Artico?

[clk320x]

Is this any good? Looking at a new car and I thought it had leather but the datacard says artico.

All my previous cars have been proper leather

Cheers

 

[Colesy]

Some will undoubtedly say otherwise, but I can only talk of my experience.
My 2005 C230 has artico and I wouldn't have known it wasn't leather had I not done a search on the VIN.
This is a 14 year old car and the interior still looks and feels like leather to me, none of the scuffing and cracking you would expect from real leather.
Snobbery may dictate that only leather will do, but I am very happy with my artico

 

[Gazwould]

One of the reasons I didn't get a AMG Sport Plus .

 

[whitenemesis]

Artico of the early 2000's was strong and hard wearing (still not as bomb-proof as MBTex of the '70's!) but he Artico offered on the more modern Merc of the last 5yrs or so, is much less hard wearing with many complaining of split bolsters particularly.

 

[GeeJayW]

Our S205 has Artico fake leather seats. They still look like new, and are comfortable. I would have liked real leather, but that's not what the car had and for me/us, Artico wasn't a deal breaker.

 

[BTB 500]

We have Artico in the S203 (2007) ... still looks and feels good after 11+ years of (ab)use and compares favourably with the real leather in my SL.

Alcantara is widely used in upmarket applications, yet that doesn't get referred to as 'fake suede'?

 

[GeeJayW]

^our 2010 Golf has Alcantara seats. They've worn very well (i.e. not much) and clean up easily. Good seat material.

 

[Petrol Pete]

Is this any good? Looking at a new car and I thought it had leather but the datacard says artico.

All my previous cars have been proper leather

Cheers

What were your previous cars ?

 

[classiccarzone]

My 2002 S203 dog to the beach and driver and jockeys to the showjumping grounds has Artico and at just shy of 160,000 miles the seating is immaculate.

 

[markjay]

Had Leather before, have Artico now.

Leather Pros: smells and feels like leather. Nothing else does...
Leather Cons: sags and develops cracking. I know, it's called 'character', but I prefer my cars looking as new as possible... Also, requires treatment from time to time.

Artico Pros: always looks new even after a few years. Very easy to clean (well, it would be, aftr all it's plastic...). Looks and feels *almost* like real leather.
Artico Cons: 'almost' is not quite the same as the real thing.

Given the choice, I would have preferred leather. But on the C-Class leather is difficult to find, and overall I am happy with the Artico - it's not leather, but it's good enough (for me).

 

[kianok]

Artico looks cheap.

I have it and you can tell the difference easily over leather.

Saving grace is my car also has fake suede which I actually quite like until the dog jumps on it which makes me swear a little bit.

 

[Edd1968]

On my other car only the fronts of the seats are leather, the backs, head rests and door cards are Artico, I can tell the difference but I'd place money on others knowing if I didn't say anything. I think it's great stuff.

 

[slade1]

MB Tex is indestructible, Artico is not, my 05 CLK has Artico and it’s crap, cracks on seat base.
My 1960 190 has early form of MB Tex, no cracks, splits, nothing apart from loose stitching.

 

[kid-jensen]

Artico in my ML is pretty convincing leather substitute, it doesn't get the sags and wrinkles that leather does, but as mentioned above, often splits on the bolsters. Admittedly, leather would have deteriorated to a greater extent, and sooner.
The "fake Suede" Alcantara I really don't like at all, it balls-up like a Primark jumper, and is REALLY difficult to get the stains off.

Does keep you rooted to the seat though, so I guess it's met it's design brief.

 

[Gazwould]

Two Class facelift 2011 , 72K , cars.

S204 , leather




C204 , Artico .

 

[BTB 500]

2007 S203, Artico, 98k miles, in need of a clean

 

[kid-jensen]

Gaxwould, looks like the foam supporting the Artico bolster has collapsed somewhat..

Maybe that's why it Artico split?

That being said, mine has split but not collapsed..

 

[Deleted member 6183]

I'm not convinced that all MB 'leather' is actually leather.

Other manufacturers leather seems better than MB.

Feeding plastic coated leather seems a bit pointless.

 

[BTB 500]

AFAIK virtually all car leather is coated/sealed?

 

[E55BOF]

My W212 has, according to the datacard, "Embossed Leather" on the dashboard. It's plastic; but (to mix metaphors) as it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck... It might as well be leather.