The good, the bad, and the ugly . . .

[MadHungarian]

First, A warm welcome to the Prius Family from this Gen II owner. Now, the reason for this post: As some of you may know, seating comfort/lack of adjustment/poor support/etc. in the Gen II cars have been major complaints by many owners since the early days of the forum, and was never addressed during the progression of the USA/Canada/elsewhere(?) model from '04 through '09. Please provide an evaluation of the good, the bad, and the other noteworthy features of your '10 driver's seat. Replies by those between 5'10" and 6'4" (and taller) would be especially informative. Thank you, and as they say, keep the painted side up!

[ggood]

5'10''. Huge improvement in 2010. Seat angle and height adjustment can make a big difference on finding the right fit. The non-leather seats are probably not quite as good, due to lack of adjustable lumbar support. The leather seats seem also to feel a bit firmer and have a bit more of a bucket feel. Telescoping wheel helps a bit too, but they should have have given it more reach. On longer longer trips, I have noticed a little bit of numb butt syndrome, but that was easily overcome by varying the seat position. A little more cushioning in the seat bottom would be nice. Still not as comfortable as a Camry, but a lot better than the 2004.

[DeanFL]

Originally Posted by MadHungarian

First, A warm welcome to the Prius Family from this Gen II owner. Now, the reason for this post: As some of you may know, seating comfort/lack of adjustment/poor support/etc. in the Gen II cars have been major complaints by many owners since the early days of the forum, and was never addressed during the progression of the USA/Canada/elsewhere(?) model from '04 through '09. Please provide an evaluation of the good, the bad, and the other noteworthy features of your '10 driver's seat. Replies by those between 5'10" and 6'4" (and taller) would be especially informative. Thank you, and as they say, keep the painted side up!

I'm 6' 190. First time Prius owner so can't compare to Gen II.

1. Miss power adjustments...but.
2. Would not have bought the '10 if it didn't have the vertical seat adjustment. Works nicely.
3. I have a V with power lumbar - use it once in a while and positioned well for me.
4. The bottom seat cushion is too light on cushioning, especially in the tailbone area.
5. The seat bottom feels too flat and/or tipped toward the front (not "bucket" enough). I installed washers under the front two seat-to-floor mounting bolts to raise the seatframe front up about 1/2". Made a nice difference in the bottom angle.

My bottom line- comfort is OK. I squirm a bit after 1/2 hour or so, but they're not truly uncomfortable - just could be better. I simply cannot understand why Toyota and some other makes cannot design comfy seats for average people. Toyota has been bashed for years re this.

Recommend you take long test drives of the III to ensure you're OK with seating comfort - you probably will be coming out of a II.

[wvgasguy]

6'2" / 250#. Tried out the seat before taking mine. Concerned about all the comments, including knee room. I have nothing negative to say about the comfort, but am irritated that it is not power operated. I usually leave it adjusted to my wife's setting when I drive since she uses it daily. It has a lot of adjustment available to you. I have the V with the lumbar support which I use. I don't see it as any more uncomfortable or comfortable than my past Camry Hybrid. I believe the leg room is better than in my current Highlander Hybrid. The seat is certainly more comfortable than the Infiniti FX45 I had as the side bolsters/power seat adjustment cut into the side of my legs and hurt after a while of driving.

[dfran1]

Hi,
5'11" and I love the new seats in the 2010's compared to the 2005 that I had (not that I hated it), on some trips on my 1 1/2-2+hour drive from southern MA to southern NH (depending where I am going), I had to put a cushion in the bottom back drivers seat, then sit on that so back pain would not be present, on the 2010's I no longer need it at all plenty of adjustment! (that is one reason we now own 2 2010 Prius's).

On my 2009 v6 XLE w/nav Camry loaded (that I traded in for the Prius V w/AT), seats were a little (very little) more comfortable, but my right knee would hit the center console and cause pain in my knee, had to use a cushion in between my knee and center console all the time while driving, not with the 2010 prius at all

I have a IV base (wife's) and V w/AT so both have leather and lumbar support. If this means anything to you I (personal opinion, no offense people) definitely love the leather better than the cloth, hands down (both of us do).

The reason Prius's do not have power seats is weight, and personally we do not care either way.

Best of luck
Don

[energyandair]

6'2", 200 lb, long legs

Seating completely ruled out the Gen II for me. Inadequate space for my legs other than for short trips.

Gen III seats (cloth) seems to be fine. It has much more driver leg room plus the ability to get more thigh support by lowering the seat and far easier to modify if more leg room or base tilt is needed.

I would like to have more lumbar support (not necessarily adjustable) but so far it does not seem essential.

I'm glad the adjustment is manual. It is far quicker than automatic w/o memory. I guess automatic with memory would be OK but it would add to the cost.

[cossie1600]

As far as sitting position, you should be fine as a tall driver since it comes with height adjustment and limited telescoping wheel. On the other hand, the cloth seats are okay in terms of seat comfort but nothing exciting. The material is another material, it's going to look real bad after 4 years of hard use