Is this really leather?

[Michael McLaughlin]

The auto show is this weekend and I spent some time there this  
afternoon. One thing that struck me was that the quality of the  
leather in most of the interiors was not impressive at all — the BMW  
leatherette seemed nicer to me than much of the actual leather, and  
the leather in my nine-year-old Passat is nicer than the leather in  
all but the most expensive cars there (Porsches, for one). There were  
cars in the $40,000-plus price bracket where the leather felt like  
vinyl to me. Am I being overly critical, or has the quality of leather  
in cars gone downhill over the past few years?

-Mike in Spokane, Wash.