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Most comfortable seat? (replacement)

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Accessories & Modifications' started by problemchild, Mar 29, 2008.

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  1. problemchild

    problemchild New Member

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    The more I sit in the seats the more I dont like them. In fact they are hurting my back. I have tried to look at Recaros, Sparcos, Corbeaus and Cobras but the dealers have such limited stock on hand. You may get to sit in 2 of the 20 seats the company makes. They are usually not the high end seats.

    Recaro makes an orthoped but one seat is 2400. I would rather have a nice seat then a hurting back. Im tall at 6'3'' and 205lbs. I prefer a big wide soft seat.

    Any suggestions for new seats? I need to sit in it before I buy it. They dont take returns of the seats.

    [​IMG]
     
    #1 problemchild, Mar 29, 2008
  2. gman11377

    gman11377 New Member

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    I have no input on this, but am very curious as to what you find. Also keep in mind that I think you lose the side airbag as it is on the seat. I have had some very nice cars with very nice seats, and I think that the toyota seats are the worst that I ever sat in. I miss my Prelude with recaros, or my GLI with factory leather heated and cooled and adj side bolsters. Fairly big myself 6'1" 207ish. Dont care if power or manual, just need adjustability and support. Hell, the CRX that I had twenty years ago had better seats.
     
    #2 gman11377, Mar 29, 2008
  3. patsparks

    patsparks An Aussie perspective

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    I had 1 Recaro in a mazda once and it was brilliant. If you go with the Recaros you can take them out of the prius and put them into your next car too.

    Unfortunately the Recaro I had was stolen. I'm not unhappy with the Prius seats but may replace them, not sure.

    Let us know how it goes if you start the trend to Recaro seats in Prius.
     
    #3 patsparks, Mar 29, 2008
  4. xsmatt81

    xsmatt81 non-AARP Member

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    the prius seat's are a bit hard, usually when I go up to oakland or to tempe, the two places I travel. Ill mix and drive either prius, or my 2000 civic, the seat's are much more comfortable in it beilive it or not. PRius is good for city and sometimes for travels, but yeah lower back get's tired..and im young.
     
    #4 xsmatt81, Mar 30, 2008
  5. problemchild

    problemchild New Member

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    This is an update to my journey. I went to several junkyards yesterday. I sat in honda and volvo seats. The volvo leather s80 seat is a dream. I need to measure to see if it will clear the door and center console. If so I will buy a power volvo s80 leather seat for 250. You can then buy leather re-covers on FLEAbay for a fair amount. I will have the m recovered to match my car. I will also paint the rails gray to match my carpet.

    The volvo seat adjust on 6 levels making it a dream seat for the prius. The honda seats were nice too if you dont want all the hassle. I sat in accord and civic seats. Both were nice and much better then the prius-hell seats.

    I will post more updates later.
     
    #5 problemchild, Mar 30, 2008
  6. Boo

    Boo Boola Boola Member

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    Yes, generally Volvo seats are great. When reading car magazines' reviews and road tests of Volvo cars, you'll frequently see a comment like "the most comfortable seat I've ever sat in".

    I guess a question I have is whether one would be able to install the Volvo seat so that its side airbag works and the sensors under the Prius seat work as intended.
     
    #6 Boo, Mar 30, 2008
  7. mrblaise

    mrblaise Go Lakers!!

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    It must be a new Volvo seat. I had a 2000 Volvo S80 and it was a terrible seat. Sure it was cushy, but it had virtually no lumbar support whatsoever. I hated that seat.
     
    #7 mrblaise, Mar 30, 2008
  8. Boo

    Boo Boola Boola Member

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    Wow. I'm really surprised. Both because of what I've read and experienced personally and because that's the very seat that ProblemChild liked. And I would have thought that the one area that would have been satisfactory to all would have been the Volvo's lumbar support and the ability to adjust it.

    But one thing I've noticed about people and their backs is that it can be a highly idiosyncratic thing. Whether it's a seat or a mattress, what works for one may not work for someone else, or what works for most will not work for all. In my case, in all the Volvos I've sat in since the late 60s, including the one Volvo I owned (a 1995 850 Sportwagon), I thought the seats were terrific. But in the realm of mattresses, it's been real hit or miss for me. Mostly miss, as I'm on my 4th high priced mattress in 10 years, still trying to find one that works best for me.
     
    #8 Boo, Mar 30, 2008
  9. mrblaise

    mrblaise Go Lakers!!

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    I agree, it may be an idiosyncratic thing. Best seats I ever had were in my 1994 BMW 530i. Sheer heaven.

     
    #9 mrblaise, Apr 1, 2008
  10. problemchild

    problemchild New Member

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    I saw a pair of M3 seats on fleabay for 1500.
     
    #10 problemchild, Apr 1, 2008
  11. problemchild

    problemchild New Member

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    Another update...

    I went to Bellflower foam and fabric and had them custom make a contoured a piece of foam to fit my back. I stuffed it under the sheepskins. The seat is now better then OEM but not perfect. I also placed 6 big washers under the front seat bolts. It lifted the seat about 3/4". The front seat bolt is metric and 10mmx40 thread. You can buy soft foam blocks and trim them with electric turkey knives.

    I found a wrecking yard that has all kinds of like new seats. Vandsautodismantlers.com
    They have volvo seats for 600/pair.
     
    #11 problemchild, Apr 1, 2008
    Speedfink likes this.
  12. texnet

    texnet Junior Member

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    Which specific Volvo (model/year) seat do you think would fit the Prius?
     
    #12 texnet, Apr 6, 2008
  13. problemchild

    problemchild New Member

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    The newer the better. They measure the same width in the seat cushion but longer from front to back (more leg support) and higher in the back (10 inches) for taller people. The junk yards want 300 each. I went and sat in one and its pure heaven.
     
    #13 problemchild, Apr 7, 2008
  14. don_69sbo

    don_69sbo New Member

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    Aren't the bottom measurements (where the seat rails bolt into the floor)the important ones or do people use custom seat brackets?
     
    #14 don_69sbo, Apr 7, 2008
  15. dogfriend

    dogfriend Human - Animal Hybrid

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    When my GF was looking for a car a few years ago, we were sitting in a lot of different cars because I usually have issues with headroom. I thought at that time that the Volvo S80 had the best seats of any of the cars we tried. My GF ended up buying a Toyota Avalon because we were not impressed with the reports on the 'net about the Volvo S80 reliability.

    I also wanted to add that Recaro offers seats with Side Air Bags now, but I do not know how much they are (I assume they are many $).

    I'm actually ok with the Prius seat except for the lack of height/tilt adjustment.
     
    #15 dogfriend, Apr 7, 2008
  16. problemchild

    problemchild New Member

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    UPDATE .............


    I went to 9 more junkyards today and the Volvo seats are by far the most comfortable. I really like the Volvo V70 seats. They had some seats that were like new but would not sell them. The seats were electric black leather with all electric motor adjustments. Boy I would have bought them on the spot for any price but he wanted to sell the whole car (no thanks).

    Talk about a travesty.........

    You have volvo cars stacked 3 high for 300 yards and every seat is left sitting in the elements ruining the leather. They probably had over 500 seats and all were destroyed from the sun and rain etc.

    I did find out one piece of interesting info. The seats have airbags and can be adapted to work in the prius. Thats a huge bonus for the paranoid among us.

    Nice seats range from 200-450 ( 6500 at the dealer new).
     
    #16 problemchild, Apr 7, 2008
  17. AlanInAustin

    AlanInAustin Junior Member

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    Have any of you tried the new "LiquiGel" seats Toyota has for Prius? What were your impressions? (I think they're only for leather seats.)
     
    #17 AlanInAustin, Apr 23, 2008
  18. Boo

    Boo Boola Boola Member

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    Gulf States Port Installed Leather w/LiquiGel

    Hi Alan,

    The LiquiGel is part of the after-factory, port-installed leather upholstery available in the Gulf States. I've read some good things about them in terms of comfort.

    I know that there are quite a few Texas or Gulf States PriusChatters who have them. If you don't get enough responses to your question, maybe you should start a new thread with your question in the title.

    Good luck.
     
    #18 Boo, Apr 23, 2008
  19. priusrick

    priusrick Member

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    I'm in Dallas, would like better seats.

    HTC One V ? 2
     
    #19 priusrick, Oct 9, 2012
  20. Justdidit

    Justdidit LVNPZEV

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    Found a Prius online with this pix:

    [​IMG]

    Not really what I'm looking for, but looks more comfortable...

    Would like to know more about this Volvo seat swap...i HATE my '08G2T seats.
     
    #20 Justdidit, Oct 15, 2012
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