Which luxury SUV on a 70L budget, but with vegan leather interiors?

It is only BMW which makes it clear as to what type of leather they use ( Sensatec, Vernasca, Merino, Dakota etc).

BHPian we_pull recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

We have been looking to buy a SUV, from either the value luxury or luxury segment, in a budget of about 70 L (preferably closer to 60).

After having searched I zeroed on XC 60, XC 40, Q3, GT 6, 3 GL, X1, GLC and Kodiaq. Bear with me please – I know these options are all over the place.

To keep things short a lot of these got taken away from the list as we realised that these cars have seats which have animal leather, which me and my Jain family disapprove of and while I can still make peace, my parents and spouse won’t sit on them. So with this following are out: XC 60 and 40, Q3, 6 GT, 3 GL, GLC and Kodiaq. It is only BMW which makes it clear which type of leather they use ( Sensatec, Vernasca, Merino, Dakota etc.). As for others – I checked and Volvos use animal skin leather. There is some confusion for Kodiaq as no one knows for sure – I have three different answers from three different dealerships and cities.

This leaves us with only X1 – I have driven only the petrol version and I like it. There is a bit of block in my head on the power having read on it so much however in real life driving it (the lack of power) doesn’t shown up much. A bit of block is also because I drive a 2 litre Elantra petrol right now and it’s fast.

My wife will drive the Elantra now and we will let go off her Santro. I started looking for a change because I wanted her to drive a safer car. She hardly drives a 1000 km a year and I thought a five year old Elantra will now start making sense as our second car while we can get an SUV now.

I am letting go of the EVs for now – not ready to handle range anxiety as of now for what will be our primary car. Although, for sure, the next one will be an EV.

Please weigh in on the above quandary. Any things I am missing or may be not thinking straight – analysis paralysis is what I feel now.

Here’s what BHPian Shreyans_Jain had to say on the matter:

To the best of my knowledge, Merc has genuine leather only on the S Class nowadays. Everything else has fancy kinds of leatherettes and alcantara, not real animal skin. Kodiaq also does not have real leather. Of course, nobody is going publicly admit that.

You should tweet to the official handles of the respective companies about this, for formal clarification of this specific query.

Here’s what BHPian nirmaljusdoit had to say on the matter:

Most luxury cars nowadays including Lexus have switched over to synthetic/art/artico/sensatec..blah blah leather for sustainability, vegan aspects etc.

Highly doubtful any luxury cars except maybe the S/7/A8 series comes with genuine leather as standard.

Here’s what BHPian androdev had to say on the matter:

You can ask the dealers to provide detailed build data sheet of any car. It runs into few pages listing everything that’s gone into the car. This would be the most definitive way to find. You can also do google search for each option code to find more details about that option or request their technical team to more details about the option codes.

Here is a sample for Mercedes, but similar stuff exists for other brands also.

• 1U1 – Protection valve for activated charcoal filter
• 205B – Owners manual and service record – English
• 210A – Leather
• 214A – Leather – Brown
• 218 – Rear-View camera
• 223 – Rear back rest adjustment and head restraints, ele
• 230 – Parking guidance
• 236 – Adaptive rear interior light
• 249 – Inside and outside mirror automatic dimming
• 275 – Memory package (driver seat, strg. col., mirror)
• 276 – Memory rear seat
• 289 – Leather steering wheel with trim insert
• 297 – Electric roller sun blinds in rear door LH and RH
• 2U3 – Air filter with water protection
• 301 – Ashtray package


Here’s what BHPian abaliga had to say on the matter:

Kodiaq sportine most likely does not get genuine leather seats, I checked their UK website and it clearly says it is equipped with Leather ventilated seats for L&K while Sportline feature list just calls out ‘Sport seats’

Being a vegetarian myself, I personally do not prefer to buy any product that is made out of genuine animal leather, not sure if we can completely avoid it though, let alone seats, almost all cars get steering and gear knobs wrapped in leather today, I think cars costing upwards of 35 lakhs get at least this one wrapped with genuine leather, I’l be happy to be proven wrong on this. With so many quality synthetic options, it’s time manufacturers leave the customer’s to spec it as per their tastes and preferences.

Here’s what BHPian Cresterk had to say on the matter:

Real animal leather is expensive. All the mid tier luxury cars have been using fake/synthetic leather in our markets for a long time now. I don’t think you can get real leather in a car unless you are spending 1.5 crores or more.

Read BHPian comments for more insights and information.

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