I am in the market for an 03 or 04 RL, and have looked at cars with 30,000 to more than 120,000 miles on them.

One thing I noticed about all of them is how well the leather seating surfaces have held up.

On the 30k car, the seats looked new. On the 100,000+ miles cars, the seats were in excellent shape. No tears or cracks or fading, just minimal creasing.

A question: is this due to the high leather quality Acura used, OR becase RL owners are less abusive and more thoughtful in the way they take care of their cars?

 

I've got a spot on my TL on the left side driver's seat on side bolster that is wearing worse than the rest of the seat. I have 56000 miles, so dealer says it's out of warranty, I have the extended warranty ( till 105,000) and he says it's not covered under that. But he says Acura will pay 50% of the cost to repair the seat ( new bottom and top leather and labor is $1200 TOTAL), so I would have to pay $600 to repair the seat. BS!

 

I am having the same issue on my 06 TL with 14K on it. I figured I would wait a while before talking to the dealer about it. But I suppose I should check the warranty information and make sure it is covered all the way through the 50K bumper to bumper...gotta read the fine print.

 

Is the side bolster leather or vinyl on your TLs? I know that for most cars, "leather seating surfaces" is exactly that -- where your body physically makes contact for the majority of the time you are in the seat.

The sides and back of the seat are usually vinyl.

 

I believe it's all leather on the front and sides.

 

Take it in! I've got 56000 miles and they will pay for half. I picked my car up today and was talking to my salesman and he said that I was lucky that Acura agreed to pay for 1/2. My wife has a guy who does leather work- he's going to look at it.

 

RL's have superior quality leather both in terms of materials and the treatment of it.

In addition, RL owners tend to be a bit ummm mature.

 

04 RL leather is the thickest I've seen in an acura. Mine still looks brand new approaching 3.5 years old with a whopping 19,500 miles ytd.....
Of course I have no wife, no kids (brats), no pets and don't allow smoking in the RL..

My 07 MDX leather is no where near the quality of my 04 RL's.....fit and finish far exceeds my 07 MDX as well..........so I wonder if the 2nd gen RL (that has not sold well) has "less quality" than its 1st gen?

 

My 99 has 121K miles and almost new looking leather.