A Little Marketing Hype....

[cuse69]

Looking for a new family vehicle, probably end up with a cross-over SUV. After reading the Lexus literature I'm really beginning to believe Toyota has replaced quality and engineering with marketing hype. Let me quote their description of the leather seating from their ES 350 brochure.

"Only the highest-quality leather stock is considered for use in an ES. And even then, it must undergo extreme tests before being approved. To name a few: being frozen to -40 degrees F, withstanding the flame of a blowtorch and enduring a 10 year simulation of ultraviolet rays."

Technically, any material in a solid state is in essence frozen. It happens that we are most familiar with the freezing point of water as 32 degrees F. Leather can be exposed to -40, but not frozen to -40 since it is frozen already at a temperature much higher than room temperature. In any event I doubt may of us would have occasion to expose our "highest-quality leather" to -40 degrees. I guess leather can withstand a blowtorch from a far enough distance or a short enough exposure (maybe milliseconds) but I doubt any real exposure to a flame of any kind would be kind to leather. As for the UV rays, one would wonder about the intensity of the UV used for this test and what this claim is really saying.

This brings us to the point of this post. Buyer beware. Give some real thought to marketing claims and challenge the absurd. Understand, become educated and seek out opinions from real experts.

This forum offers a unique opportunity to look behind the counter so to speak and listen and learn from real experts about furniture, retailing and the trade. Become an educated buyer or beware,
it's your choice.

Larry

[BrentB]

cuse69 ,

Yes, what a bunch of bunk!

We own a 2008 ES350 (fully loaded), and we certainly didn't buy it for the leather, the leather is just not that good. After 2 yeears it seems to be softening up a bit (low mileage, mind you), but off of the car lots, other manufactures are superior.
The American/German/Swedish leathers are much better.

If you have questions about the ES350, send me a pm (if it's possible).

[drcollie]

Japanese cars use painted leather, or finished, and usually a poor grade at that. Car leather has to endure more temperature extremes than household leathers, and rougher treatment. It has to stand up against moisture as well (rain, sweat, etc). German leather is slightly better, but not that great either. The best leathers without getting into exotic cars like Rolls, Bentley, Aston-Martin, are actually in Cadillacs and Lincolns. They spec a fairly good hide for those cars. American cars are tops for leather, electronics and air conditioning systems in my opinion. Toyota Motor Corp., builds an OK product, but they drive like a bowl of noodles and have had more issues in the past few years across the line than they did in earlier models. They really did grow too fast, too big. Not a bad car, just not the superior machine that long-time Consumer Report readers think it is. I've owned them, found them very bland and not fun to drive, but as a utility machine, very good. I still like German cars the best, though they can have some annoying model-specific issues.