Artico/Dinamica microfibre long-term durability

16717 Views 2 Replies 2 Participants Last post by singlelayer, Aug 28, 2013

singlelayer

Discussion Starter · Aug 28, 2013

Hi everyone!

I think this is my first post -I've been lurking in the background for sometime now

Anyway, I'm in the UK and have been spec'ing my upcoming CLA order. When I first discovered the car several months back, it was the CLA45 AMG I first saw and fell in love with, but also love my gadgets, so with my £40k budget I'm going for a 250 with many extras. It's a good compromise for me, particularly as I will benefit from non-AMG servicing costs and fuel economy.

What I'm wanting to ask -and it may be too early yet to know- how does the artico/dinamica microfibre hold up -cracks or wear? The AMG exclusive package offered in the UK is £1,640 and if I order the heated seats and lumbar support separately (£460) then I've essentially made a £1,180 saving on leather seats and a red AMG stitched floor mats (over the white stitched ones as standard). I don't mind the look of the standard offering upholstery and will be warmer to touch in mid-winter, but want to know it'll stand the test of time.

Thanks in advance,

-singlelayer

(P.S. On the note of optional extras, it annoys me how they 'pad out' packages with items that you would get anyway, e.g. 'Lower dash trim–light aluminium with longitudinal grain')

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outsider

· #2 · Aug 28, 2013

singlelayer said:
Hi everyone!

I think this is my first post -I've been lurking in the background for sometime now

Anyway, I'm in the UK and have been spec'ing my upcoming CLA order. When I first discovered the car several months back, it was the CLA45 AMG I first saw and fell in love with, but also love my gadgets, so with my £40k budget I'm going for a 250 with many extras. It's a good compromise for me, particularly as I will benefit from non-AMG servicing costs and fuel economy.

What I'm wanting to ask -and it may be too early yet to know- how does the artico/dinamica microfibre hold up -cracks or wear? The AMG exclusive package offered in the UK is £1,640 and if I order the heated seats and lumbar support separately (£460) then I've essentially made a £1,180 saving on leather seats and a red AMG stitched floor mats (over the white stitched ones as standard). I don't mind the look of the standard offering upholstery and will be warmer to touch in mid-winter, but want to know it'll stand the test of time.

Thanks in advance,

-singlelayer

(P.S. On the note of optional extras, it annoys me how they 'pad out' packages with items that you would get anyway, e.g. 'Lower dash trim–light aluminium with longitudinal grain')

My CLA45 will come standard with that 651 material which I personally dislike. I prefer just the plain MB tex. I have a 2012 C250 with the MB Tex with contrast stitching and it looks like leather.
I was told, however, if you want the red stitching, you have to order the 651 Artico/dinamica combo. Since this is a new material, you and I will be the test subjects on the durability...

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singlelayer

Discussion Starter · #3 · Aug 28, 2013

The UK leather option that's part of the 'AMG exclusive' package comes with red perforations in the leather but not sure about stitching. A work colleague of mine had an Audi A4 that had leather edges to the seats and a suede-like material in the seat centres. It's not the material as such that I don't like, but the two-tone effect that it gives when the fibres are brushed in the wrong direction that I'm not so fond of.

Just re-read the brochure and on the AMG Sport model with both the standard artico/microfibres and the leather upgrade -that's part of the AMG exclusive package- you get red stitching. I still think the £1,000+ saving is worth making and I'm going add red seatbelts too which at first I hated.

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