I stopped at Toyota to browse after having window tint done nearby. Peeked in a 2012 Five, sure enough there's a power seat in there. So, how do you like the power seat in your Four, Five, PiP advanced ...? Just curious because the driver's seat has sometimes been a hot topic with Prius, little less so nowadays.
As one of the plaintiffs in the case, I took a Prius3/4 with power seats for a test drive and sit down. The power seat totally fixes the problem especially with an adjustment at the seat front edge. Almost like the engineers knew what the problem was with the manual seat and specifically addressed it with the power seat. I'm still mulling whether it is a $6K problem or not, the buy-up/out the dealer offered me to go from my 3 week old P3/3 to the P3/4. Of course the HUD, Auto/on/off headlights, 7" HDD display with XMTraffic are also a draw.
The power seat might save my butt but the HUD might save my life. Driving has turned into a video game where I keep score and watch my game results via the sliding power usage display. This requires taking my eye off the road constantly. With the HUD the game board is in my line of sight.
I'm short (5'3"), and the seats in my 2005 Gen II were very comfortable. I like the power seats in my Gen III Four, but I haven't driven it long enough to really have them adjusted right. The only problem is that my elbow ends up in the cup holder because I can't put the seat back far enough to use the console as an armrest and still reach the pedals.
I thought that might be a problem for shorter folks. The '12 armrest is fine for me, but I'm 6'2". Would be nice if there was an insert to put into the cupholder to act as an armrest. An upholstery shop ought to be able to make up something like that.
I bought my 2012 4 specifically because it has power seats. They are wonderful so far. This is the first time since 1990 that I haven't had to supplement the seat in my car (Oldsmobile Cutlass Classic, 2 Saturns, (with a fabric covered board and lumbar support in all 3) 2001 Prius and 2005 Honda Accord in the meantime (lumbar suppor on the last two). I LOVE the seats in my car. I'm short (5'3") and it works fine for me without cushions or boards.
But then it wouldn't be available as a cup holder. Agree with others that the lumbar support is wonderful. And the seat heaters. I really missed those in my 2005.
Just keep in mind- on the Five, the driver seat is power & heated, the passenger seat is heated only. I agree with the other positive reviews of the power seat- I'm 5'11" and I have it dialed in perfectly now. This is our first car w/heated seats- one cold night after arriving at our destination my wife asked "do we have to get out now?".... she loves the heated seats.
It's hard to imagine not having the power driver's seat since it permits slight adjustments to be made while driving to alleviate soreness. I miss having seat and mirror position memory. With the Prius, if someone else has driven the car I have to start over adjusting everything before starting off. The position of the cup holder / armrest is an example of poor design. I'm 5'7" and it is uncomfortable for me also. For now I've stuffed a couple of face cloths in the cup holder. At least that way there is something softer than the plastic to rest against. Not very elegant, but better than nothing.
The power seat is a welcome addition and if your only problem is needing the front edge of the seat to be higher the addition of this movement solves that problem. The Prius would appeal to a much larger group of people if the fronts seats had more support.
Most people don't notice the bad seats on the 20 minute test ride (I didn't) so it likely has nothing to do with initial appeal and purchase. But when I get a new car in three years, I will figure I have to have power seats in the Prius and that extra cost ($6,000 in current Prius models) might move me to a competitive product that gives me power seats at a lower cost.
I was gonna order a Three non-solar until she told me I better not complain later that I should have gotten this or that. So I bumped the features up a bit to keep her happy Mike iPhone
