[AW2015M3]

I know that there are several threads on this topic and i reviewed them but never really got a straight answer that convinced me of what I will be getting if I chose the full merino option - I will be ordering the ivory with Atlas gray option with the MBB exterior color.

For the 2023-2024 model - Does full merino include below dash, glovebox, all four door bottoms (storage area) behind the front seats and any other area covered in merino leather? I know its a $2700 option ($1800 because dashboard comes in the other extended merino option too) so I just want to be sure before ordering - can someone please help?

Thank you!

[max h]

Originally Posted by AW2015M3

I know that there are several threads on this topic and i reviewed them but never really got a straight answer that convinced me of what I will be getting if I chose the full merino option - I will be ordering the ivory with Atlas gray option with the MBB exterior color.

For the 2023-2024 model - Does full merino include below dash, glovebox, all four door bottoms (storage area) behind the front seats and any other area covered in merino leather? I know its a $2700 option ($1800 because dashboard comes in the other extended merino option too) so I just want to be sure before ordering - can someone please help?

Thank you!

Hopefully an expert will reply, but YES! You need to pay for the full leather in my opinion if you get the ivory leather. It provides black armrests (which would get nasty if white) as well as the door bottoms (that get scuff marks). Plus the side bolsters are black…. Another issue when people get in and out of the car if white. You can see it on the bmwusa configurator if you look closely at the pictures between full leather and just extended. It adds time and money though to get full, but I think it’s worth it. Again, I’m not an expert / owner of ivory but that’s my take.

[workstation]

My 2023 X7 has full Merino leather in black, and while I am not an expert, everything in the vehicle that both looks like leather and is soft to the touch appears to be real leather and not synthetic. This includes:

• The entire dashboard area (top, bottom and glove box)
• The top half of the doors (bottom is hard plastic)
• All soft areas of the seats in all rows (front seat backs are plastic, but the back pocket is quilted leather)
• All soft areas of the middle console, including the sides

[2001S15]

I was wondering about this. It turns out you can see super subtle differences in the BMW configurator. If you select full leather, you will notice subtle stitching show up along the edge of the door pockets front and back in the configurator. That appears to be the main difference between this option and the extended + Leather dashboard option.

In retrospect, given the cost of this upgrade I might just have done Extended + Leather Dashboard since LD gives you real leather dash top and bottom (I had misinterpreted as dash top only, which didn't seem like enough... but the underside includes the very visible stitching around the center console). I am really not sure that the extra couple grand is worth it for the bottom of the door cards which just get whacked with muddy feet. I guess I'll find out when I receive my car.

[jphcbpa]

Love the full leather in my 2023 with atlas grey / ivory. You won't regret it.
The leather on the back seats and lower door panels takes the interior to another level. I also went with the ivory headliner. Gorgeous.

[BobsM3Coupe]

Originally Posted by workstation

My 2023 X7 has full Merino leather in black, and while I am not an expert, everything in the vehicle that both looks like leather and is soft to the touch appears to be real leather and not synthetic. This includes:

• The top half of the doors (bottom is hard plastic)
  

Hmmmm? IF your vehicle supposedly has full merino leather, the entire door panel should be covered in leather. Not hard plastic on the lower doors like you stated. You probably have extended merino leather.

[workstation]

Originally Posted by BobsM3Coupe

Hmmmm? IF your vehicle supposedly has full merino leather, the entire door panel should be covered in leather. Not hard plastic on the lower doors like you stated. You probably have extended merino leather.

The window sticker and decoding of the VIN number both show full Merino Leather. This is in line with what I read before ordering the vehicle. Perhaps it was different in the X7 prior to 2024.

[Tehnoid]

Originally Posted by workstation

The window sticker and decoding of the VIN number both show full Merino Leather. This is in line with what I read before ordering the vehicle. Perhaps it was different in the X7 prior to 2024.

Full merino covers the door pockets on both my x6m and 2023 x7. Something is not right on your car. In the case of the x7, we have the ivory and atlas, whereas the armrest portion is the grey leather, the bottom portion of the door is black leather.

[workstation]

Originally Posted by tehyox

Full merino covers the door pockets on both my x6m and 2023 x7. Something is not right on your car. In the case of the x7, we have the ivory and atlas, whereas the armrest portion is the grey leather, the bottom portion of the door is black leather.

I think it is hard plastic, but maybe I am wrong. Sadly, it is in the shop right now for a driver assistance error warning, but I will check the lower doors when I get it back.

Is anyone with a full Merino leather 2023 X7 able to confirm that their lower doors are wrapped in leather?

[jphcbpa]

My 2023 full leather has lower doors wrapped in leather

[PinkNinja400Guy]

Originally Posted by workstation

My 2023 X7 has full Merino leather in black, and while I am not an expert, everything in the vehicle that both looks like leather and is soft to the touch appears to be real leather and not synthetic. This includes:

• The entire dashboard area (top, bottom and glove box)
• The top half of the doors (bottom is hard plastic)
• All soft areas of the seats in all rows (front seat backs are plastic, but the back pocket is quilted leather)
• All soft areas of the middle console, including the sides

I have a 2022 so this may not apply to the 2023+... but the door bottoms and the entire seatback is leather. However, it's easy to mistake it for color matched plastic. There's no padding behind the leather so it feels hard, like plastic. But if you look very closely and feel it with your fingers, it is indeed leather covered. It has the leather grain pattern and the same texture as the rest of the leather parts. And the door bottom panel has a stitching line running across the top, which the non-leather variants don't have.

On the pre-LCI the seat back pocket has a different design (not quilted) and can help to confirm that it's actually leather. It's the same material as the rest of the seat back, so feels like plastic at first, but there's an area where you can push the material a bit to easily confirm that it's actually leather. Not sure how to explain it in writing.

I think they use a thin slice of the topmost layer of skin for these parts. Which is why it doesn't feel like leather unless you inspect it closely. My best guess is that it's for fitment... the normal seatback, center console sides, door panel are made of a bunch of plastic pieces which fit together, but there might not be enough room for everything to still fit if you wrap thick leather on top of the plastic. And designing a second set of plastic molds just for full leather cars would be very expensive. Afaik thin vs thick leather costs about the same so I don't think it's due to cost cutting.

The cost for full leather is very high to get just bottom door panels & lower dashboard. But with the entire seatback made out of leather, the price seems more reasonable. I don't have captains chairs on my car, the bench seats have trunk carpet material on the back because they fold down to become part of the trunk floor, but full leather might also make the 2nd row seats have leather backs on CC-equipped cars?

[workstation]

Jphcbpa and PinkNinja400Guy, thank you! I will post an update when I get my vehicle back.

[PinkNinja400Guy]

Originally Posted by max h

You need to pay for the full leather in my opinion if you get the ivory leather. It provides black armrests (which would get nasty if white) as well as the door bottoms (that get scuff marks).

I don't think that's true.

I have white leather in my car including white armrests. After 9.5 months of use, my driver side armrests are still pretty much the exact same shade as the passenger armrests (which have only been used a few times). There's been no discoloration or staining. I have not cleaned the leather yet, even once. I always wear short sleeve shirts while driving and often drive after hiking; the leather has held up perfectly to frequent skin contact & sweat.

The seat bottom is a different story, I wear jeans every time I drive and so they've picked up a decent amount of of blue dye. But it should stay looking white if you clean every 4-5 months, which is not hard. I need to get around to doing that...

[max h]

Originally Posted by PinkNinja400Guy

I don't think that's true.

I have white leather in my car including white armrests. After 9.5 months of use, my driver side armrests are still pretty much the exact same shade as the passenger armrests (which have only been used a few times). There's been no discoloration or staining. I have not cleaned the leather yet, even once. I always wear short sleeve shirts while driving and often drive after hiking; the leather has held up perfectly to frequent skin contact & sweat.

The seat bottom is a different story, I wear jeans every time I drive and so they've picked up a decent amount of of blue dye. But it should stay looking white if you clean every 4-5 months, which is not hard. I need to get around to doing that...

Thanks for the feedback. That’s good to know. I’d definitely like to try it on a future model.

[Rac10000]

Can anyone please clarify what the upper dash material is with extended merino leather? On the configuratior it appears to be leather but that doesn’t make much sense given that it is a separate option (or included as part of the full leather option).

[agnisco]

Originally Posted by workstation

I think it is hard plastic, but maybe I am wrong. Sadly, it is in the shop right now for a driver assistance error warning, but I will check the lower doors when I get it back.

Is anyone with a full Merino leather 2023 X7 able to confirm that their lower doors are wrapped in leather?

Black Full Merino in our 2023. Lower door pockets are definitely leather with white stitching. Extended Merino gives you plastic lower doors/pockets. At first I was a little annoyed that we had to order full because at the time black extended wasn’t available. After receiving it, I am 100% happy that we did because the leather lower doors and backs of the seats really finish off the interior very nicely and really sets the full leather apart from the extended. Huge upgrade for sure.

[AW2015M3]

Originally Posted by agnisco

Black Full Merino in our 2023. Lower door pockets are definitely leather with white stitching. Extended Merino gives you plastic lower doors/pockets. At first I was a little annoyed that we had to order full because at the time black extended wasn’t available. After receiving it, I am 100% happy that we did because the leather lower doors and backs of the seats really finish off the interior very nicely and really sets the full leather apart from the extended. Huge upgrade for sure.

Could you please post some pictures? really appreciate all the feedback provided on this thread. Do you think its worth the $1900 additional charge for the full leather?

[agnisco]

Originally Posted by AW2015M3

Could you please post some pictures? really appreciate all the feedback provided on this thread. Do you think its worth the $1900 additional charge for the full leather?

At first, before I saw it and was forced to get full versus extended if I wanted black leather, no I didn’t think it was worth $1900. My wife was actually angry that we had to spend the extra $1900.

Once we took delivery and saw how nice the leather looked on the back of the front seats, bottom of doors, center console, lower and upper dashboard, yes, we agreed it was well worth the $1900. The full leather separates the interior from the interior of other cars. It takes the elegance and classiness to the next notch, which to me with the X7 is well worth it.
Now, five months after ordering and two months after taking delivery, we don’t even think about the $1900. What’s $1900 to get the top of the line interior when you’re already spending somewhere around $100K +/- a few thousand?

[chicagox7]

Like agnisco , we wanted extended leather and not full. Our original order had extended and it switched at some point to full without our realizing. We got a credit at closing (split the add’l cost) as the dealer couldn’t find our ask for the change, bc we didn’t want it (we changed the radio and didn’t focus on the leather when we got the final order to approve).

We’ve had it for about a month and think that it looks awesome and feels more luxurious. That said- we have 2 little ones and the position of the additional leather in the back seat (backseat pockets, bottom side of the doors) is already a mess from their shoes. It will be a bit of maintenance to keep those areas clean and looking decent. We’ve installed the BMW back of seat protector, which helps (though leaves room on the sides that can allow access to the back of the seat). There is no known solution for the bottom door pockets- other than constant wiping. This anticipated level of maintenance was what deterred us from wanting it to begin with.

One month in, the pros and cons seem to balance out. Not sure how we’ll feel a year from now.

[2001S15]

https://www.amazon.com/Brica-Deluxe-...dp/B00B7M7CLA/ are a savior for kids. Still need this even at 8 & 9 because my kids are idiots.

[PinkNinja400Guy]

Originally Posted by agnisco

At first, before I saw it and was forced to get full versus extended if I wanted black leather, no I didn’t think it was worth $1900. My wife was actually angry that we had to spend the extra $1900.

Once we took delivery and saw how nice the leather looked on the back of the front seats, bottom of doors, center console, lower and upper dashboard, yes, we agreed it was well worth the $1900. The full leather separates the interior from the interior of other cars. It takes the elegance and classiness to the next notch, which to me with the X7 is well worth it.
Now, five months after ordering and two months after taking delivery, we don’t even think about the $1900. What’s $1900 to get the top of the line interior when you’re already spending somewhere around $100K +/- a few thousand?

Aside from the quilted section on the pocket, is the rest of the seatback also leather? It is on the pre-LCI. Wondering if this is another place where BMW did some decontenting. Can't tell from the photo.

[agnisco]

Originally Posted by PinkNinja400Guy

Aside from the quilted section on the pocket, is the rest of the seatback also leather? It is on the pre-LCI. Wondering if this is another place where BMW did some decontenting. Can't tell from the photo.

Only the quilted area is leather.