Do Leather Seats Have Better Back Support Than Cloth On A 2008?

Hi Walker,

Toyota does not use 2 different leathers. For 2008, the perforated ones are from the factory.

The plain ones that your dealer will sell to you is a non-Toyota, aftermarket installation.

BTW, if your dealer is doing an aftermarket installation, I would ask it if it could also install some sort of adustable lumbar support.

Good luck.

 

Toyota factory makes a Package 6 for all 2008 Prius, Package 6 includes FACTORY LEATHER seats and steering wheel AND vinyl door armrest and console cover, instead of cloth for those.

Dealer has a leather seat package that they can install, I believe in all areas, but in my area, the dealer installed seat package has a gel insert that is supposed to make the seats feel better for comfort, to justify cost I bet. But the dealer installed leather, only includes the seats, no steering wheel and no change in the door armrest or console from the original cloth.

And Boo I believe is right, perforated are factory, dealer may not be.


Hope that helps clear it up.

 

LOL, EJFB -- you've edited your post (I was just about to knock you senseless for offending me).

Anyways, to supplement what you said about the dealer's aftermarket leather, from what I've read here I think they vary from dealer to dealer. Some might have perforated leather available (but Walker's dealer only mentioned the plain type), and some may also include covering the armrests and center console (but from what I've read here, that would be the minority). But definitely, OEM type leather steering wheel will not be in the aftermarket install.

 

Hahaha, well I thought I was going to post first Boo, but since you explained it, I had to correct mine.

Walker, other than a Package 6, the leather will be dealer add on, if your dealer has no ability to do that, they will be looking for one from another dealer that has installed the dealer add on leather package. And the armrests and console cover being covered in leather or vinyl, would be a bonus, but probably not what happens, but possible. Oh and its technically not aftermarket, if its a Toyota upgrade dealer installed package, even though to the average person it would be.

 

I have an 08' package 2 with leather seats from "factory". I quoted factory because if you look carefully at the new car sticker, it has an area of optional equipment installed at the port of entry, in my case it is Jacksonville, and that is where the leather seats show up, they are not a dealer installed option and are covered under my bumper-to-bumper warranty.

To answer your question though, I find that my leather seats do give me considerably better back support, I test drove one with cloth seats and I noticed the difference right away. Also, leather is much easier to clean than cloth seats.

 

Perforated or not, I think both would be comfortable, mine are, and I have factory perforated leather package, the difference is supposed to be that they are a little cooler in hot weather, they breath more, but leather is a wonderful material, it blends to your body temperature pretty quickly anyway, I've had both and I've never felt a difference between perforated or not.

 

Holy you are partly correct, the Toyota add on can be installed either by the dealer or the "Port", Toyota has a very weird network, their distribution system is not totally Toyota owned, different regions have a middle man, "the Port", which is like the "mother" dealership, they add on options to give their dealers a big bonus, paint sealant, undercoat, leather seats, and a bunch more things. In my area its Gulf States Toyota, almost a seperate company than Toyota, and they are the "Port" that dealers get their cars from, so any options they put on, are "factory" installed in Toyota's mind. But dealers also have the option of installing the leather package as a dealer add on, for vehicles on their lot.

 

Yes, the qualities of the leather seat covers is the only thing that matters. Some aftermarket covers will be even better than factory, e.g., you can get (but it'll cost a lot) 100% leather seats aftermarket, instead of the standard "leather trimmed" factory or aftermarket leather seats.

LOL, that picture is of Robert Duvall from around the time of those Fugitive episodes. But it's from his first movie, To Kill A Mockingbird, where he played Boo Radley -- my all time favorite character in literature or movies -- hence, my tag name "Boo".

 

You may want to save your money and try these after market leather seat covers. I did. They install over your existing cloth seats, and because of the extra layer give more support. Cost approx. $400.
http://priuschat.com/forums/prius-main-forum/42420-clazzio-leather.html?highlight=clazzio

 

I offer a dissenting opinion. I recently bought a 2008 and spent too much time trying to decide between a red package 6 with leather or a black package 4 without. We went for the package 4 because both my wife and I found the cloth more comfortable. We found that we tended to slide a bit on the leather and the cloth was therefore more comfortable. But I am told that the leather will hold up better.

However, I did get a red Prius today at Rite Aid.

 

Lol and only $3.99 with very supportive plastic seats.

 

You are correct Boo, and those hard plastic seats do offer the best support. Too bad Toyota doesn't offer them -- only the Chinese prisoners who make the Rite Aid model.

 

Sweet guy and boo boo, dissent all you want, but my seats look and feel better than factory leather. Take that to rite-aid.

 

re: Clazzio seat covers reference. I'm not sure if the side airbag in the seats will work properly with this seat covers. Anyone with Clazzio covers know?

That may be a reason itself to not go with the seat cover approach. However I'm sure there are other manufactures who design for that concern.