DexRox512

iTrader: (5)

Jeez...you guys really have all this figured out.

SonyHome

Do you have link to this information about NuLuxe vs. Leather?

natnut

Basically all great points. At the end of the day, driving a 3rd Gen IS F-Sport is just a visceral pleasure that renders the missing features trivial in the eyes of many prospective IS buyers.

2 major car magazines thought so. Enough for them to crown the new IS as the new segment leader over the BMW 3 series. Many grassroots reviewers thought so, and stated their preference for the IS over the 3 series, despite having no vested interests in Lexus.

Focussing on one or two missing features is myopic when the overall experience of car ownership is key.

vbx

Nuluxe is just a "fancy" word for plastic. aka Polyurethane. Google polyurethane vs leather.

Glashub

Car and Driver slams the fully optioned Q50 in this new review

2014 Infiniti Q50S Hybrid http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/...id-test-review

4TehNguyen

iTrader: (1)

and yet its reported up to 40% of IS sold are F Sport

4TehNguyen

iTrader: (1)

nothing scientific but some other members have been reviewing it. If a synthetic leather was created, its going to be better than the natural one. Because why invent a synthetic when natural worked. What would you maintain on nuluxe anyways, no conditioners. Easy to manufacture instead of skinning a cow and the whole leather process

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/es3...13-es300h.html

SW17LS

"Better" is subjective. It may be more durable, but to someone who appreciates craftsmanship and quality materials, no synthetic leather will ever replace quality natural leather. Just as no fake wood trim can replace deep genuine wood trim. There's a lot of value to something being "genuine".

Why would they create synthetic leather when natural works? Because its cheaper. Thats the only reason.

4TehNguyen

iTrader: (1)

natural doesn't work as well, its not as durable, requires maintenance, harder to dye, more expensive, and less environmentally friendly (matters to some people). That's why synthetics of anything are invented to fix the problems natural has.

I've sat and test driven the car, it felt fine to me. It feels just like leather. I bet if no one was told, they wouldnt notice the difference. The rest is just in the person's head. Like synthetic diamonds.

SW17LS

Don't get me wrong, I like the NuLuxe. I've said before that I actually think the NuLuxe feels better than the leather thats actually available on the IS and the non aniline leather in the ES. I would have no problem buying an IS F Sport with the NuLuxe. However, Lexus aniline leather in the GS, LS, etc is much better feeling than NuLuxe.

However, don't fool yourself into thinking this is anything but a cost saving measure for Lexus. Synthetic materials are developed to reduce cost, anything else is just marketing spin. To someone who cares about fine quality materials, no synthetic material will ever measure up.

Stitch626

iTrader: (2)

I am currently leasing my 350 F sport and to be honest the difference from a stock 350 to my F sport with the VGRS, Mark levinson package and all the goodies was only $18 more a month to get into the F Sport. Honestly I have no regrets and love everything about the car and yes for me the F and the gauge had me sold. I come from the honda world where if you had a civic everyone else had an Si so this time around i made the jump for the 350 F sport...knowing the only thing above that was a IS F or LFA lol and I will admit it feels good.

Glashub

Car manufacturers seem to be going in distinct directions. Heavy tech like the Q50, a blend of heavy tech but a more subdued yet still engaging driving experience like BMW, barebones driving excitement, and finally a blend of bare bones driving excitement with tech meant to support the driving like the 2014 iS350 Fsport.

Check out the review of the 1st drive of the 2014 Alpha 4c. No tech. Not even electronic steering. No butt coolers. Nothing. But they love it. About 54K.

IS350 Fsport seems to be a middle ground between the Alpha and the more techy cars.

http://www.motortrend.com/roadtests/...c_first_drive/

KeyserS

Most of this F-Sport vs. Regular debate is purely subjective and kind of pointless. The same is true to a limited degree for the leather vs. non-leather debate. Lower cost is an advantage. But cows get slaughtered for food, and as a result, there is lots and lots of leather to be had. As such, it is just plain silly to make an environmental argument for using non-leather. You can make vegan argument, but a vegan argument does not equate to a true environmental argument, and BTW my shoes are made of leather. Whether the fake leather is more durable over time remains to be seen. Leather requires very little maintenance at all. The problems you allude to are mostly imaginary. And particularly imaginary is your statement that the fake leather feels the same, and that one would not notice the difference, and that if they did, it would be in your head. The only thing that is just in someone's head in your opinion on this. I drove an F-Sport with fake leather on a hot sunny day in August. I started getting comfortable fairly quickly on the center part of the seat, which is ventilated. But even by the end of the test drive, the sensation of having wet skin due to perspiration, on the sides of my thighs where there is no perforation, was obvious to put it mildly. It was downright uncomfortable, and it was definitely not just in my head. This is the issue with the fake leather. It does not breathe. For that reason, it is not remotely the same as genuine leather, no matter how much it looks like leather or feels like leather to the touch. In the important sense, it does not feel like leather, at all. I don't know if there is a reason why they could not or would not perforate it all the way out to within the last half inch of reaching the seam, but only if they had done that would it have come at all close to being an acceptable substitute for genuine leather.

amoney805

iTrader: (1)

Kelley Blue Book's take on Nuluxe:


".....the standard NuLuxe upholstery exudes a similar, if not deeper, feel of refinement than the traditional leather seating found in the Luxury Package."

SimTide985

It's interesting..

The worst thing anyone ever says about the NuLuxe is that it "isn't leather" or it "should be leather". There's nothing objectively bad about it other than that.