I have seen an advertisement for a Prius available with leather seats. What package is this? Package 10?? What else is included along with the leather? I don't see leather seating listed as an option in the prius website.
I believe that it's a dealer putting in the leather They have a company do it so they can increase the price Chris
check the appearance mod section for aftermarket seats that others have had installed for 'normal' pricing. they are beautiful.
The reason it's not an option from Toyota themselves is because of concern of interference with the side air bags when covering the seats with leather. Personally, I love the soft fabric in the Prius and wouldn't want to stick to my hot seats in the summer and freeze to the cold seats in the winter, hence the lack of interest in leather. But to each their own! -m.
I also suspect that Leather adds weight. Remember, Toyota intentionally engineered every aspect of the Prius for low weight, and thus higher mileage. The featherweight headrests are an example you can compare to other cars. In addition to mileage, there's another concern adding weight to the base car. The load capacity of the car includes all passengers, and stuff you're lugging around. It's not that much for a Prius. 825 pounds is your max capacity and 4 passengers and luggage can hit that in a heartbeat. If you add static weight to the car, you have just subtracted that amount directly from the amount you can safely and efficiently carry in the car. That's one of the biggest problems for SUV owners, particularly car-based SUVs. Just because you have all that interior volume doesn't mean you can fill it up with bricks. You exceed the load rating of the vehicle at your own risk. It hurts handling, and braking, risks tire blowouts, and in SUVs, greatly increases the rollover risk. It's not unusual for SUV owners to way overload the vehicles without having a clue they're even doing it. I'm taking a very 'clean' approach with the Prius and not carrying around anything I don't need. I used to lug around all kinds of stuff 'just in case' and never needed it. When I got the Prius, I did a major triage on my junk and decided I needed very little of it in the Prius, even though there is that lovely under-floor storage in the back that I could have loaded up. I like the Prius seats just fine, and really didn't feel like giving up mileage and limiting how many people (with Junk) I can take on the next vacation
If you go into KBB.com to configure a new Prius, you will see leather seats as an option in the Southeast region only. Carl
I spoke with my dealer (Sunnyvale Toyota) about leather. They recommend Classic Soft Trim - they are qualified to install leather over side air bags. Here's a link to one of the two patterns they have for the 2004 Prius with air bags: http://www.classicsofttrim.com/find.jsp?ma...0946-PT#pattern My dealer indicated the cost to me would be USD$1395 to have leather done, and it only takes 2-3 days. Classic Soft Trim comes in, pulls out the seats and door side panels, leaves the car with the dealer, then returns in 2-3 days with the leather coated seats and leather-highlighted side panels, and reinstalls them. Cheers, /Gordon
I wouldn't be surprised if leather is a turn-off to many would-be Prius owners. By nature, most Prius owners seem to be more of the liberal/environmental persuasion and less likely to want to sit on dead cow while they're driving.
