We test drove the '10 yesterday and we like it. My wife wants the IV with the roof. I'd rather get the II and not pay the $7000 for leather, Nav and the solar fan (i think you can buy one of those for $5 at AutoZone ) We just had a baby, so the only area of contention are the seat covers. Of course the leather will be easier to clean up. But if we go with cloth (dark gray) and it gets dirty, how much would it be to re-upholsert the rear seats with factory seat covers? I plan to put protective seat covers on the rear seats anyway. Don't want to spend $30K on a $22K car.
This has been discussed in another thread somewhere. Good quality custom aftermarket leather is available for $1000 or so. Google for automobile leather and you will get several hits. I did that once and I think at least one was in Southern California. Another option are sheepskin seat covers which are quite comfy and will protect your original cloth to maintain resale value Roy
I did try a search before posting. I could not find anything on replacing of OEM seat covers with other OEM seat covers once the first set wears out. I do assume that it would be a lot. anything OEM from the dealer is.
If you're worried about baby mess, just buy a cheap seat cover for the back. The leather seats aren't that nice- you can add heat and lumbar to both front seats and get softer leather for less. In the event you do want to reupholster, you'll have a lot more choices of what you want. The leather/cloth itself isn't all that expensive- it's a labor intensive process (and you'll have to give up your car for a day or two). Some have done it themselves though in the Gen II after finding the factory leather on eBay for $200 or so. Call dealers of higher end cars to get a recommendation, but make sure to see samples and past work of any reupholster shop. It's like repainting- it's possible to do a crap job and a great job. Oh, and the toyota dealer will be happy to point you in the right direction for OEM replacements if that's what you want- I'm sure this comes up all the time.
With the Gen II Prius, a complete set of brand new OEM cloth seat covers were available on eBay for less than $100 (I personally paid only $60). These OEM seat covers were purportedly pulled off of new Priuses when leather seat covers were installed at the port or dealer. I assume (but obviously don't know) that with the Gen III Prius, this same thing will happen -- that you'll be able to get a complete set of OEM covers on eBay for cheap -- maybe for not as low as $60, but nonetheless much cheaper than buying a set from a Toyota dealer. Cost of installing new covers at a professional auto upholsterer typically costs around $500 (e.g., I was quoted $500 from my shop on Long Island, New York, but I've heard of others who were quoted or paid as low as $350 to as much as $1000).
You can get the solar roof on the Prius III so you don't have to spring for the leather. It shouldn't be too hard to keep clean. We have a beige 2005 and it's still pretty decent.
I believe Wet Okole seat covers might be waterproof and maybe spill proof. Check it out for yourself though.
Yeah, they don't sell those in LA. In any case, if we are already buying the roof, we might as well get the IV. I had another heart to heart with my wife, and the solar fan and the possibility to run the air conditioning before your get in is important. The baby needs a cool car before my wife straps him in with the car seat. Just typing this out made me think , that if we get the remote start option, I can start up the car and have the air conditioning cool it down before getting in. The remote start is available on the II, right?
Remote Start is available on any vehicle. The difference is that the Remote Start runs the engine like a normal car. Remote A/C is part of the solar roof package and runs the A/C off the battery.
