Warning: Gen III front seats are a torture device...

Not really.
I always advise folks who are sniffing around the Kool-Aid stand to rent a Prius for a weekend.
This allows you to fully explore the whole Prius thing before you sign your life away.

 

My opinion is Toyota failed with it's seats. I just don't get the imitation leather but i can live with it.Real leather should be an option.

Most consumers like me are willing to pay a grand more and get a real comfortable high quality seat. Especially when you get older comfort goes a Long way and your willing to pay for it.

My last car was a BMW upgraded every option man the seats just got better with age. Grant it the car was a nightmare with expensive repairs and maintenance.

 

Then read the many messages on Prius Chat of the "vast majority" of Prius owners who do have problems with the seats.

Telling the "vast majority" who have problems with the bad seats that they are not having problems seems a bit fanboi.

 

Exactly what percentage of Prius owners is a “vast majority?” Start a seat hate thread and you will get seat haters; does the thread you point to contain over 2.5 million individual posters? If it does than you can say a “majority” hate Prius seats. If it contains over 4 million then you could say it is a “vast majority”; I doubt either of these is true. Face it, you didn’t do a proper test drive and you don’t like the car. Not a cheerleader here, I just don’t have sympathy for people who didn’t like the car, but bought it anyway and now are looking for justification from the rest of us for your bad decision.

Most folks who have back trouble, like me, know they have back trouble, and know that you need to drive for a distance to check your seat comfort. They should have rented a Prius to take it on a trip to see if it was comfortable before spending $26,000+ on a car.

How about this for a solution? Go to a junk yard and get one of your favorite Volvo seats and bolt it in. Problem solved.

 

So you sell cars, and drive a volvo, and claim you drank the koolaid.

What a joke.

You have no excuse to whine.


Sounds like selling domestics has got you down with Toyota stomping your buisiness in the ground.



Since your in the buisiness you probably bought the car right and are able to walk away from it without whining due to your poor poor back.



Would you like some cheese with your wine?

 

It's going to look silly. There are some good after market products at The Healthy Back store

 

Why the same "vast majority" who find them comfy.

 

I don't find them so bad myself but I can sure see that they wouldn't hold a candle to the seats in your old Volvo.

 

This thread had me worried as it came up on Prius Char just days before we were looking to buy a Prius. I even warned my wife to pay attention to the seats when she test drove it. She does after all have some back pain already and drives 40 miles one way to work. Anyway, she went into the test drive "hating" the look of the Prius and wanted to buy the 13' Sentra she test drove the night before. After a test drive she loved the Prius said the transmission was so much smoother than the Sentra and had no issue with the seats. After day one of her 80+ mile round trip commute not a single complaint with the seats. I obviously sat in the seats as well and don't see anything to complain about, then again I drive a corolla so I'm not use to "high end" finish. Maybe the issue is you are going from a Volvo to a Prius. I wouldn't compare any "luxury" cars finish to a Prius which is a simple commuter car.

 

I like this idea!

 

I find the drivers seat in my 2012 Prius Plug In Advance excellent. Comfortable, and with the electric seats/lumbar support, infinite adjustments to please anyone. Each without the other would be less than ideal. One of a handful of items that makes the additional cost of the Plug In Advance model justifiable to me.

 

When I sit in a Four model with power and Softex seat, it's ok, but at 6'2", it seems a ways off from luxurious. It's too much to expect a $29k Prius to feel like a $29k true midsize car. Perhaps they ought to put the big bucks into the drivetrain and highest MPGs on 4th gen and go budget on the interior like they've been doing. They could take out the telescopic steering wheel feature, save some money 'cause it hardly moves anyway.

See comments at 3:00. Seems T-Rex works at CR too.

Consumer Reports Video Hub - Cars - Hybrids & Alternative Fuel - Toyota Prius review

See comments at 1:40. Looks like your T-Rex works at Edmunds too.

 

I've had my 2010 Prius 5 for three+ years and drive 110 miles per day. I love the car, but I agree with the complaints about the seats. Admittedly, I do have a herniated and several degenerated discs.

What I have found is that the seat can be adjusted to improve things somewhat. The height control only moves the back of the seat up and down. Those of us with bad backs are always told to sit upright. Unless you are short, this means keeping the seat low. Since the front of the seat doesn't lower, this turns the seat into a bit of a wedge and concentrates all your weight on the lower back.

Raising the seat, and reclining it somewhat for some headroom helps the situation significantly. If you at having seat problems take the time to try out different positions. It might help.

 

If Prius seats are torture devices, then my previous Civic seats are a guillotine. My base Prius seats are clearly a step up from the Civic seats. They are in no way great seats, though. My coworker's BMW seats are great seats and he paid about the same as my PiP before rebates. He gets a faster engine than me and a more plush interior. So what? I could've bought a pickup for the same price and got more cargo capacity. I bought the PiP for superior fuel economy. And that's what I got.

 

Related, but couple things don't think I like about Softex seats .. can't shift weight and scooch a bit like leather seats. Also Softex not perforated. Didn't like trying out Pri v with Softex, but TSX w/ leather blew it away in pretend mode.

 

Well this has been an entertaining thread.

At its heart the Prius is an econobox platform fitted with an advanced drivetrain.

I think a comfort seat option would be a worthwhile option to broaden appeal for the Prius franchise.

 

No complaints here regarding the seats on my 2013 Two with Softex. In fact, I would even go as far as to say they have been quite comfortable thus far. My suggestion would be to schedule multiple test drives at varying distances to ensure they do not pose potential comfort issues.

 

I have a 2012 Prius II and I had a challenging time adjusting to the seats. There is only one position which is tolerable for up to 2 hours driving time, each time I take the car for an oil change it takes me 2 weeks to get my seat adjusted again. I won't be looking at another Prius this is for sure once my lease is up in 11 months. This happens to be my second toyota experience which is negative related to seats. My first was a brand new 2003 Corolla which I purchased in 2002 and sold after 3 months. I have owned many brands of cars in between the 2003 Corolla and the 2012 Prius and not one of those cars gave me a seating experience like the Corolla or the Prius, as crazy as this sounds I have come to the conclusion that Toyota seats are not a good fit for my body type.

 

For those who hate the seats so much, I'll tell you the same thing I told my buddy who constantly complained about the seats in his $300K Ferrari:

Just go buy aftermarket seats and have them modified to your specifications.

When you are comparing the Prius to seats in cars that cost multiples of the price; you should have some extra budget left over for modifications. Are actual Volvo seats an option with the right modifications? There are plenty of Volvos in junk yards.

My wife and I both love the seats in our new Prius. They are vastly better than the seats in our previous car (Honda).

We also don't find the interior cheap or having poor ergonomics. On the contrary; I feel like everything is right where I expect it to be and well designed. One of the reasons I bought a Prius is I was very impressed with the user interface and find it actually fun.

If you want to be utterly appalled at a car user interface; try driving a Ferrari 458 sometime.