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prius 2012 plug in seat covers

Discussion in 'Gen 1 Prius Plug-in 2012-2015' started by Beth Hickey, Feb 14, 2013.

  1. Beth Hickey

    Beth Hickey New Member

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    hi - i am in the process of buying a base 2012 plug-in. im am turning in a lease of a 2010 prius which i absolutely loved!
    the only thing, i am giving up my leather seats, and was wondering if anyone has recommendations for decent neoprene seat covers that wont make the car look cheaper.
    i feel toyota cheaped out on the seat cover material - both in cloth and leather, so i cant imagine the seats looking worse, but i want a good quality and well fitting cover that will make me happy to get in the car everyday.
    please help!
     
  2. SimiPrius

    SimiPrius Member

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    Not sure where you are located, but speak to Dianne at Carson Toyota. She had a number of individuals purchase the base and then have the seats redone in leather for about $1K, I think. Some individuals did a two-tone, the seat and back one color and the side panels another color. You can even get the Homelink mirror installed - which is another item they should have included.
     
  3. Tracksyde

    Tracksyde Member

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    If you're looking specifically for covers and would like leather over neoprene, then take a look at the Clazzio seat covers. They're relatively inexpensive and easy to put on and people who own a set seem to really like them and they do look good.

    If you can spare a few extra bucks, then you can go the route that Simi described above. Have a look at what Katzkin offers. A whole kit can be bought and installed for around $1000-1300 options (type of leather, perforated, etc). The Katzkin kit replaces the OEM seat's upholstery. To install, you basically "skin" your seats and then re-cover them with the Katzkin kit. This definitely gives a more OEM look.

    Here's a pic of my leather installed by Dianne at Carson Toyota

    [​IMG]
     
  4. Ken Blake

    Ken Blake Active Member

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    2012 Prius Plug-in
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    Plug-in Advanced
  5. jameskatt

    jameskatt Member

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    That's really really nice!

    In looking at the Base Plug-in vs Advanced Plug-in, there is NOT much of a difference between the two for the $7000 markup other than the Soft-tex leather seats in the Advanced Plug-in versus cloth seats in the Base Plug-in.

    All the other "improvements" in the Advanced Plug-in are minor and are not worth the extra expense.

    Thus, the Katzkin leather covering - which has an MSRP of $2000 - would save $5000 over the getting a Prius Advanced.
     
  6. Ken Blake

    Ken Blake Active Member

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    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius Plug-in
    Model:
    Plug-in Advanced
    Radar Cruise Control, Hard Drive based Navi, Heads Up Display, Safety Connect, Heated leather seats, Entune App Suite, LED headlights, JBL Premium stereo, Auto dimming mirror with Homelink...It's basically a Prius 3 vs. a Prius 5 and well worth the price difference IMO.
     
  7. Zimmy 1

    Zimmy 1 Junior Member

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    Plug-in Advanced
    It is well worth the price. Bigger nav screen, the HUD alone is a great thing.
     
  8. jameskatt

    jameskatt Member

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    The $7000 premium for the Prius Advanced is equivalent to over 83,000 miles worth of gas.
    It doesn't give you faster acceleration.
    It doesn't get you a better insulated quieter cabin.
    It doesn't give you better mileage.
    What you get are minor cosmetic adornments that don't change the bones of the car.

    Too bad these "upgrades" can't be separated to the individual ones you want - like the fake leather seats.

    I prefer installing a GPS closer to the driver's line of vision. GPS on the center console are too dangerous to use when driving.
     
  9. ggood

    ggood Senior Member

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    I got a rebate that negated the cost difference, but I still would have bought the advanced.

    8-way power seat make a huge difference in being able to find a comfortable seating position and change it at will. I may or may not prefer actual leather, but definitely prefer softtex over cloth (especially with animals). I'm also liking the gripiness of the softtex.

    The HUD is great and shows you your turns (in your line of sight) when being guided by the nav. Shows you speedo and bar graph the rest of the time. Way cool and way useful.

    The nav screen is very crisp high resolution. Much easier to read than my 2010 model nav. Well worth it to me.

    Having had it and experienced it in my 2010, I now consider the dynamic radar cruise control and the related PCS (pre-collision system) essential convenience and safety features.
     
    Hi Burrito! and cjs2000 like this.
  10. lensovet

    lensovet former BP Brigade 207

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    just to correct a minor error here – HDD stands for High-density display (or high-definition?), not Hard drive. All Nav systems with Entune are flash-based. in addition, the Base model does have heated seats (though not SofTex).
    you get increased safety and comfort through PCS, DRCC, 8-way seat, Safety Connect, and the HUD.

    you do realize that the HUD displays navigation commands? doesn't get much closer to your line of vision than that.
     
  11. JacquesTutite

    JacquesTutite Junior Member

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    Plug-in Base
    I was looking to get rid of as much gasoline in my car purchase as I could afford.
    At 32K (before discounts) the basic PIP made sense to me. So I bought it.
    At 40K, there are way better options (like the Volt, IMO) than the PIP advanced.
    The ultimate? I would buy any Tesla, if I could afford it.
    Just sayin'.
     
    Julia Zumba likes this.
  12. Ken Blake

    Ken Blake Active Member

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    Ater Toyota incentives and taxes, I paid about $33k for my Advanced.

    I would not buy ANY GM product under ANY circumstances. The products are junk, and they don't stand behind them. The warranty isn't worth the paper it's printed on.
     
    xPETEx and ElectronFlux like this.
  13. Ken Blake

    Ken Blake Active Member

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    Plug-in Advanced
    Thanks for the correction. I am not familiar with the Base, as it wasn't ever an option for me. We have some DVD Nav updates we sell in parts, and some on a USB flash drive, which is why I thought the base had a DVD based Nav system.

    I've noticed the Nav arrows in the HUD display, it's pretty neat! I also like that it displays the HSI when you are using the normal HSI area for something else, like the Radar Cruise control.
     
  14. ggood

    ggood Senior Member

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    Source? This contradicts what others have said on PriusChat, and the nomenclature used by other manufacturers of HDD navigation systems, such as Pioneer. I suppose it is possible it the HDD system is also using some flash memory, since even some harddrives use that now for caching. I tried just now to find better info with google, and on toyota.com, but couldn't come up with anything.
     
  15. 13Plug

    13Plug Active Member

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    To me HDD means Hard Disk Drive, I've seen HDD used in that context many times as it relates to car NAV systems.
     
  16. Chris_SoCal

    Chris_SoCal Junior Member

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    I worked on Fighter Jets with a real HUD when I was in the Marines, so the Toyota HUD looked pretty cheesy to me...
     
  17. LenP

    LenP Member

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    Plug-in Base

    I installed Clazzio seat covers and they look great. The down side is it took them 5 months to fill my order, and then on top of that, they had to correct a mistake the factory made in the back seat cover design.
    All in all anyone that sees them doesn’t think, nice seat covers, because they do look like factory. The down side is they are a huge pain to install, you need the strength of God, with good strong hands to push, pull, and adjust them to get a good fit.
    By the time I received them I didn't have warm weather anymore, which you need to get a good smooth fit.
    Just look at all the installation videos on U tube and they’ll help you in every way, from removing the back seat, to cover installation. The quality of this product is top notch.
     
  18. F8L

    F8L Protecting Habitat & AG Lands

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    A Plug-In Base with Clazzio seat covers is a good compromise IMO. The extra features on the PIPA are quite nice but if you are trying to be frugal then skip it and go with the Base and just buy seat covers. I actually liked the Clazzio material much better than the SofTex.

    FWIW I would not have gone with the Advanced if I had not forgotten than it doesn't qualify for the full $7500 and $2500 incentives. $36k after the dust settles is too much for my comfort level. That extra $5000 would have made the purchase easier to swallow.
     
  19. lensovet

    lensovet former BP Brigade 207

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    Honestly I was surprised you didn't get your pipa from back east given the pricing.
     
  20. ny_rob

    ny_rob Senior Member

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    I see a lot of posts where people say the got the Clazzio's for the PIP- but when I look for the seat covers specifically for the PIP most sites either don't offer them or say "pre-order, or coming soon".
    Can someone provide an actual working link to a page for Clazzio seat covers specifically for the PIP?