Poll: Are you Satisfied with the Prius Seats ?

Wth does power seats have to do with seat satisfaction? this poll is lame.

 

The power seat has more adjustments and range than the manual seat.

Mike

 

Mike, do either the 12-volt or traction batteries in your Prius suffer from the extended idle periods? Do you use a float charger for the 12-volt? My experience with small NiMH batteries is a fairly rapid self-discharge over a 1-2 month period, so does the traction battery have that pattern?

I will be trying a slab of mattress-style memory-gel foam for lumbar support this week on and see how that compares to the mesh support I am using now. Cheers!

 

Last winter my car was put away with the battery meter at one bar from the top and it was still there 8 months or so later. I didn't get to drive it until June or July last summer. There was no visible discharge on the meter the day I powered it up and the motor fired up like it never sat even a day. I run a homebrew maintainer on the 14v battery. I have noticed there are good NiMh cells that hold their charge for what seems forever and cheep cells that self discharge in days. It appears the Prius has the good ones. I do not know how long the HV pack would hold a reasonable charge. I guess time will tell on my car if it continues to hold it's charge all winter over the years. I only drove it about 100 miles last season but I do have to power it up and see what the HV battery charge is right now as I do not remember if I worked it on it's last drive to bring it near full charge. If not then I will do the force charge procedure with it in the garage. The roads are salted here now so it ain't leaving the garage 'till spring '14

Mike

 

I find the seats quite comfy. I've driven over 1000 miles in my '13 and wasn't uncomfortable. The best seats I ever sat in were in a Volvo C70 that I rented back in 2001 or so.


iPad using Tapatalk

 

I like the seats; very comfortable for me. I would like more lumbar support, but it's ok as is. Make sure you observe good posture by pushing your butt back into the seat.


iPad ? HD

 

I will experiment with different driving positions, but having higher, cushioned armrests helps.

Prius corners like the Mayflower coming about on a new tack?

 

The full Plus Perf Package corners pretty darn good for a factory street car.

Mike

 

I haven't had mine on a track yet but as an old school autocrosser, I am impressed with the setup. Now if I could only get that software worked over to unleash more of that electric motor torque

Mike

 

Prius Performance Plus.

 

Well someone in another thread got the software reprogrammed to eliminate the 112mph speed limitation so I suppose reprogramming to eliminate limits on current feed to the motors is also possible. But at some point you overload the capacity of the circuitry to handle the current I would think. The Top Gear gang burned out a Tesla's motor a year or two back by flogging it too hard around their track, and I would worry about the long term effects of higher torque output from the motors. Still, might be fun.

 

That was fun to watch, although the part about simultaneously hugging the road and hugging the trees sounded a bit awkward if not dangerous. Perhaps no more so than keeping your ear to the ground, nose to the grindstone and eyes on the goal, I guess.
Think they sell a "Poseur Version" that would be just the badge and the floor mats, though?

 

Those + Performance floor mats are probably essential for the hugging of trees and corners.

Gen III Prius seats are far better than the Gen II seats. We have the manual seats in our car. After some adjustments in steering wheel position, height, lumbar and seat back rake, I've found the driver's seat comfortable for long extended trips.

One thing to remember about these cars... they don't come outfitted with custom memory foam BarcaLounger seats. If you are developing pain from sitting in the Prius seat, it's time to experiment with seat/steering wheel position configurations. That requires some time and effort.

If that doesn't work, the only solutions are modifying the seat, as some here have done, replacing the seat with a more customizable seat, such as Recaro or Corbeau (there are others), or finding a car that has comfortable seats that fit you better.

Spend the time it takes at a car dealership to test a car at length before you buy! If you plan to use the car for long distance driving, rent one for an appropriate drive. It's less expensive in the long run, compared to getting stuck with a car that generates physical pain and having to trade or even sell it off soon after.

I know folks that have purchased a car in a rush of emotion and then have become sorry soon after. A very expensive mistake.

 

I rented 3rd Gen's for 2.5 years (20k+ miles) before ordering my car. I knew what I wanted and how it all worked before I even stepped foot in a Toyota dealer. No regrets

Mike

 

Who and can you please post the thread link or message it direct.
Thanks a bunch,
Mike

 

I checked the last answer, even though I have the "Four" power seats. The lumbar support was poor in the base seats, and was noticeably uncomfortable after a short test drive, and became nearly a deal breaker. I spent some time in a Four as well, and found those fixed the problem. That was an expensive upgrade to get decent lumbar support, so apparently I was willing to spend quite a bit to fix them! There were enough other goodies to make it worth while, to me at least. I keep cars for a long time!