putting the speculation to rest. 2009 carryover from 2008 CONFIRMED.

[Danny]

I confirmed with the Prius product head this afternoon that the 2009 Prius will be a carryover of the 08 model with no changes. They don't even expect any package changes.

[kazie60]

One thing for sure they aren't going to improve the seats in the '09 model. I talked to one of Toyota's customer service reps at their headquarters. He has never heard of anyone complaining about the comfort of the seats. No letters, no calls, never heard of priuschat.com either. He was genuinely surprised to get my letter and he followed up with a call.
I wrote to complain about the seats and said I loved the car but hated the seats and asked when they will change. He said there are no plans to change the seats. He thought everyone loved them!!
So much for being in touch with the customers!

[Tideland Prius]

well 09 is a carryover. They'll never change something major like the seats until a full redesign.

[HomeandRanch]

Do the upgraded seats even stink? I paid the extra grand to get the upgraded leather, hopefully they are decent.

[R1200GS]

upgraded only in that it has animal skin on it.

[DeadPhish]

Originally Posted by kazie60

One thing for sure they aren't going to improve the seats in the '09 model. I talked to one of Toyota's customer service reps at their headquarters. He has never heard of anyone complaining about the comfort of the seats. No letters, no calls, never heard of priuschat.com either. He was genuinely surprised to get my letter and he followed up with a call.
I wrote to complain about the seats and said I loved the car but hated the seats and asked when they will change. He said there are no plans to change the seats. He thought everyone loved them!!
So much for being in touch with the customers!

For the size vehicle they're in I think that they are the most comfortable seats I've ever had. I had 4 Camry's before the Prius and all were too soft. Our Highlander is worlds better though.

I hope they never change the seats they just fit me better than any other.

[yes.ittransforms]

I really feel that we can all say what we want or dont want but if we want any of these things stick we need to voice our concerns to Toyota HQ. maybe if they have a in-rush of concerns from us loyal consumers they can get word of this website and than they have tons of feild reviews without paying a dime.

sounds like a win win to me. I am going to look up there link or e-mail address now and I will post what I find.

[McDonald]

Originally Posted by DaveG

Hmm, interesting

Link pulled before I had a chance to have a look, but a bit of Googling revealed it on another site.

It's interesting that they seem to be dropping the Magnetic Gray from the new lineup, and that's a shame because it's already what I had hoped to buy on the new model when it's released - hopefully one of the other unreleased colours will make up for it (Winter Gray?)

Can I get a link to this, or at least a rundown on the color options? I tried Googling, but nothing good came up with what I searched.

[arnoutterschure]

Originally Posted by cycledrum

I'm looking forward to seeing the 3rd Gen Prius at the SF auto show around Thanksgiving time.

They had better! ...

*give it a bit more power for steep hills

* put in that darn pump handle for driver seat height adjustment (why do they not have that now !!!)

* telescoping steering wheel so tall folks who must put the seat almost all back don't have arms outstreched, duh, every $15k Corolla has telescopic wheel.

what else ...

those are my 3 biggies

cycledrum, you nail it! those are the BIGGEST 3 Biggies indeed. I am 6'4" and have ABSOLUTELY MUCH more head and leg space in my kia spectra5 compared to my wife's prius, simply because the driver seat cannot be height adjusted in the prius, whereas it can in the kia... (note: kia is ~$10K cheaper, so please don't see it's a $ issue...).

I was thinking of selling my kia for the 09 prius, but if there are no major changes, especially not on interior and leg/head space (read: comfort) I see no reason too, and will wait for the 2010 GEN III instead. If the current gas price trend (currently almost $5 gallon in nor-cal) continues, I should be able to sell the kia, which gets a decent 30mpg on average, for decent $s because everybody and his dog will be scrambling for fuel zippy cars, as they are already starting to do now.

Maybe I'll buy the Kia Soul instead: with a proposed 1.6 diesel engine option it will do 40-50mpg on average... but, it will still be $10K cheaper than the prius GEN III.

[kazie60]

Don't hold your breath that the Gen III will have better seats. I talked to Custom Service at their main headquarters and the guy in charge never heard of one complaint about the seats. He said they will be the same. He acted shocked and like I had to be the only person in the world not to like them as they were. I suggested he check out this site!