Preparing to order. Question on light colored interiors

For those that have had the beige bamboo or gray interiors for a while, how have the side bolsters held up?

I've heard talk of and seen a few pictures of the drivers side bolster getting marked up from belts and other continuous rubbing from sliding in and out. Is this a real problem?

I'm struggling with Jerez w/ beige bamboo vs Jerez w/ black. I live in VA and am worried about a black car with black interior in the summer sun.

Any pics of Jerez w/ beige interior would be excellent help as well.

Thanks all, I'm sure I'll have plenty more questions!

I have Jerez on Bamboo and love it. From my experience, BMW's black leather does not hold up well over time. Cracks and wear are much more obvious on the darker colors. You can always clean the lighter colored leather. I have had my car for a little over two years and the bolsters have held up fine.

Check here for pictures of all the factory colors.

http://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=56911

Light colors are a b*tch to keep clean. And in the case of the M3, black leather is a lot sturdier than light colored ones. Don't know why, but the 2 black interior M3's I've seen, leather is a lot thicker than the FR and gray, meaning it'll last a lot longer looking nice. Rubbing is going to be an issue if you don't lever yourself in and out of the car sooner or later, so just get into the habit of doing that. I have 8K miles in my car, and seats looks absolutely perfect, with zero wear and zero creases anywhere. It helps I'm only 155#, of course . I live in hot TX, and this is my second black interior, and will probably order black on every other car I buy. I was under the impression it was hotter, but it's the same crap. And needs a lot less maintenance. Creases also look less bad on black than light colors IMO. The only negative is on the M3, it's a bit boring due to no contrast, but I like it just fine. Good luck.

I agree I just returned my 550i with beige int and it was simply
impossible to keep clean. If you wear black cloths, it will get dirty.
I've always liked bright interiors, but my new 535i is black -
first time ever, hard to believe, and I really, really like it now.

Thanks for the replies.

Yes, the "darkness" factor is certainly something else I'm worried about. A black exterior with black interior, black dash, and carbon fiber will be very dark. I am getting a moonroof though so that should help somewhat.

Suppose I could go aluminum trim, but I'm not really that big of a fan of aluminum personally - looks too cheap.

The aluminum in person actually looks pretty solid.

For what it's worth -

I've had four different BMWs - a 2000 328Ci black/black, a steel blue on silver/gray 2001 325Ci, a monaco blue on saddle brown 2007 335i, and my current white on black M3. The black on black is still in the family, and the leather has finally worn on the bolsters, and they are noticeably cracked, but don't look like they are in danger of coming apart - the car has 65k miles on it now. Still looks clean though. 325Ci was purchased used with 12k miles and the silver leather was noticeably dirty in the driver's seat, I remember talking the dealer down in price because of it -- but I don't know what the previous owner did. Might never have cleaned it. My monaco with saddle the leather had started to turn darker in the bolsters and the thigh rest when I traded it in (26k miles). Bolster on the outside driver's door had started to get a little thin. Of course that had the Dakota, not the Novillo in the M3s. I spend a lot of time detailing my cars on the weekends (VA weather permitting).

That said I think the more important thing is pick the color you want -- it'll be while before the bolsters have anything go wrong with them, but if you get a color you hate you'll have to live looking at it everyday. My black/black here in VA never really bothered me re. being too hot -- like any black car though it was hard to keep clean what with all the tree sap and pollen here, but man does black polish nice.

Coming from another car that had beige leather in it for 9 years, I say stick with black. The light colors are so hard to keep clean and yes I did have rub off from my belts that showed on the beige leather.