Advice on Leather Seats

[Hubble80 Member Find all posts View Profile Close Hubble80]

Hey guys,

I am having a little trouble. I am looking at replacing my 120 GXL with a new 150. The issue I have is what model to buy VX or GXL. We have three small kids (2.5yo and 7mth old twins) all of which are in car seats. I am wondering what peoples experiences are with putting car seats onto leather seats. We live up in Central QLD so the days are quite warm during summer and spring. Does the leather get hot during the day if the car is parked in the sun, ie burn your legs?

I would really like the VX, however I don't want to buy a car with leather seats if the are going to be ruined by the car seats...

Any advice would be great.

Thanks ... Pete

[BNEGXL Member Find all posts View Profile Close BNEGXL]

Re: Advice on Leather Seats

For what it's worth,

We've got a VX, great car with 2 down sides,

1/ Leather seats, the seats do get hot in the sun,we usually have a couple of towels in the car to drape over the seats, a bit messy. I would rather good quality cloth, the seats in our 120 GXL were much more user friendy.

2/ Factory GPS, what a piece of sh@t! Our Garmin 1390 is much better, last weekend we were going to an address in Tamborine, the Toyota unit couldn't find it, the Garmin took us to within 10 metres of the driveway. This happens all too frequently.

Other than these issues and the 2400 rpm deadspot, great car, glad we bought it, after all nothings perfect.

This is of course just my opinion, my advice is to try sitting in a car with leather seats on a hot day, you can then either get used to it like we kind of have, or it will give you the sh@ts. On the plus side, this car has the best Air Conditioner of any car I've ever been in so the interior is cool fairly quickly.

Plus, don't get the factory GPS, it's terrible.

[LaoK User account deleted at own request. Find all posts View Profile Close LaoK]

Re: Advice on Leather Seats

I have privacy glass from the rear doors back. It is just that, privacy glass. So, ALL of the glass has been tinted with heat and UV resistant film. Even my windscreen is treated.

My wife parks the car in the hot Western Australian sun all day and she says that the seats are never too hot to sit on. She puts a sun shield up on the front windscreen.

The vehicle is Sandstone colour so some light is reflected and not turned into heat, like on darker vehicles.

I guess that any constant chafing will damage the seats. If the child seats are fitted tightly and don't move around then all should be fine. I don't have personal experience with child seats and leather vehicle seats; only cloth seats. I never had any problem with them.

[dannyson Member Find all posts View Profile Close dannyson]

Re: Advice on Leather Seats

The fitted full screen sat nav on my LC4 (VX in Aus I believe) works very well here in the UK..... maybe an Aus thing? ... the leather seats do get very hot even here in blighty on hot sunny days obviously - but not enough for us to worry about ... they also get damn cold .... so we use the seat heaters quite a bit for at least a month or so when its nippy. :wink:

[Hubble80 Member Find all posts View Profile Close Hubble80]

Re: Advice on Leather Seats

Thanks for the replies guys... I think the GXL will be the way to go, might be able to upgrade to something a litle flashier next time!

[casiochris Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close casiochris]

Re: Advice on Leather Seats

Hi, I went from GXL 120 to VX 150 and love my leather seats. Mine are beige and don;t get too hot, although they do get warm. The problem I have with mine is that they have already started to wear after 4000km on the leading edge when getting in and out. I was worried bout this before I bought it and am always very careful gettig in and out. I have not mentioned it to thedealer yet and will in the next short while. Not happy, especially as a fastidious owner who liks to look after things like that!!!

[aferrigi Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close aferrigi]

Re: Advice on Leather Seats

Just had driver seat replaced under warranty for the same problem leading edge deteriorated after 2 weeks the leather part of the seat was ok just the vinyl part. Other than that I love this car VX D4D Auto. 18K so far.

[dannyson Member Find all posts View Profile Close dannyson]

Re: Advice on Leather Seats

Wheres the vinyl bit? any piccies?

[casiochris Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close casiochris]

Just had mine in for its final warranty service. Replaced the tailshaft, adjusted door, fixed rear seat rattle with the dampener kit AND replaced the bottom leather of the drivers seat!! I have complained about this for 3 years. The service manager took some pics and said "doubt they will do anything" following week a new leather seat base! Yay. Very happy with Toyota servicing and support and will certainly be looking at Toyota when we are going to update next (probably very soon update the wife's 2003 Rav).

[Guest Close Guest]

I've had my leather replaced 3 times under arrange, no issues at all.

[mickmac_42 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close mickmac_42]

Wheres the vinyl bit? any piccies?

Looks like its all vinyl.

http://news.drive.com.au/drive/motor...212-2ea7d.html

Mike

[juc33_prado Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close juc33_prado]

I sell furniture, sofas and chairs with leather included. A huge proportion of leather nowadays is not leather. As long as the customers don't know, the companies don't care. Real leather is supple and slightly grippy when felt, but pvc/vinyls are generally smoother.

Pvc and vinyls are fine for use on areas that are generally untouched, but if they put it on leading edges of seats that are rubbed/touched often; expect it to fail.

[Sprocketz Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Sprocketz]

I made a claim today under the accc ruling and have been sent a $200 gift voucher. Basically I had a 2006 Grande and as they were advertised with leather seats and parts of the seats weren't the corrective action from toyota was to give a $200 voucher for Toyota parts services etc if you purchased another toyota. The scheme finishes DEC 31 but you can claim it after you have purchased the replacement Toyota. They now have a detailed pic of what's real and what's not. So I'll be putting it towards a set of aero bars for xmas.

http://www.toyota.com.au/static/pdfs...r_accented.pdf

[farmernz Member Find all posts View Profile Close farmernz]

kdss is worth getting the vx for.

[juc33_prado Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close juc33_prado]

I made a claim today under the accc ruling and have been sent a $200 gift voucher. Basically I had a 2006 Grande and as they were advertised with leather seats and parts of the seats weren't the corrective action from toyota was to give a $200 voucher for Toyota parts services etc if you purchased another toyota. The scheme finishes DEC 31 but you can claim it after you have purchased the replacement Toyota. They now have a detailed pic of what's real and what's not. So I'll be putting it towards a set of aero bars for xmas.

http://www.toyota.com.au/static/pdfs...r_accented.pdf

its interesting to see that diagram, toyota covering their arses for claims made...