For those of you that have the TCH with cloth seats. What are your thoughts about the cloth seats? Are the seats comfortable? Is the fabric durable? Do you wish you would have upgraded to the leather seats?

I'm going back and forth between the fully loaded TCH and the base model TCH with navigation. I test drove a TCH with cloth seats but I don't remember anything about them as I was more concerned with the way the car drove. I also test drove the V6 which had leather and I remember the seats being very comfortable.

Any thoughts and opinions would be great.

 

I got the first TCH available in my area.
It came with cloth.
The dealer arranged for me to get aftermarket leather installed.
I did not get seat heaters or power passenger seat.
If you're getting NAV, get the leather, seat heaters and passenger power.

 

Caution on purchasing a "base car with nav". I'm assuming that this is a dealer install.

If so, you WILL NOT have the fuel consumption screens available on the nav display. See the current thread:

https://www.greenhybrid.com/discuss/...ad.php?t=11184

(There is extra wiring in the wiring harness that is not present on the base car for the nav screen to display fuel consumption information. And the nav unit might be different for hybrid cars versus the XLEs)

Theoretically it is possible for the dealer to install the extra wiring, but I doubt they would go through the effort.


How much is the dealer charging for the nav add-on? The top package is around $3910. Plus you get the sunroof, heated seats, and power passenger seat.

Hope this helps!

 

Actually I was going to order it directly from the factory like that (base TCH with Nav). If you go to toyota.com and build your car. You can order the base TCH with the following options FE, HM, NV. It's option #C and the cost is $1230 MSRP. I don't think this is considered a dealer add-on and it should have the fuel consumption screen. Am I wrong?

I'm not sure if the circumstance in the thread you attached is applicable because it took place in Canada. Maybe?

 

I just checked toyota. I used the zip for Knoxville. Sure enough, it looks like there are "new" packages available for your region. My area (Chicago) only has packages A, B and E available.

I bought the top package back in June as I didn't want the car without the Nav and consumption screen features. If I had your choices back then, I'd be asking the same question you are!

$2600 for Leather and a sunroof. Leather is a personal preference as is the sunroof. The engineer in me says that the seats are the same (the frames and foam structures) with only the coverings being different. Simpler and cheaper to manufacture that way.

Personally I'd suggest you try the seats again. Back to back. You are making a $26-30k purchase! Be happy!

Seat comfort seems to be a very personal determination. There are Prius owners who like and hate their seats. You will probably hear the same here.

I'm actually not sure what I think of the seats. On my commute (currently an hour) they are fine. On long drives (like 4 hours+ without stopping), my rear tends to get sore, but I'm probably just getting older!

 

Appreciate the response. I will have to go back to the dealer and check them out back to back. I didn't occur to me that they would offer different packages in different areas of the US. I guess that's why they ask for your zip code

It does seem logical the seats would essentially be the same. I question if they will have the same comfort because when I went to test drive an 07 Altima I found the leather seat to be much harder than the cloth seat. I also wonder about the durability of the cloth in the Camry? I recall reading that some felt the cloth seats felt cheap...I guess I should have paid closer attention to that when I test drove it

Anyway...anyone with cloth seats in the TCH want to give their opinion about the seats?

 

I have cloth seats and NAV. I got the car in August and haven't seen any problems with the coth so far. Very comfortable thus far. Have leather in another car and just didn't think I'd like the leather. Also didn't want to pay for port leather - couldn't get factory leather at the time.

 

I have cloth (grey) because my wife and child don't like leather and because it was the first TCH available to me at the time. I have no issue with the seats. They are very comfortable but I cannot speak to durability because I only have 9,000 miles on the car so far.

 

I, too, cannot speak for durability of the cloth seats, but I love the comfort. They are just right for me and much preferable to leather. I have leather seats with heaters in another Toyota (remember they are all leather trimmed) and the cloth just feels better all around. They are warmer in winter (cooler in summer) when first entering the car and they hold my frame more solidly and comfortably.

 

I have the cloth seats and have had the vehicle for seven months now.
I have no complaints about the seats. I don't like leather seating. If my TCH had come with them the first thing I would have done is had them replaced with cloth seats. (Instead the first thing I did was install the sliding armrest.) Too bad that Toyota doesn't have heated cloth seats like Subaru does.