RX-GR8

How happy are you with your heated seats?

zerobanger

I LOVE THE EBW (ELECTRIC BUN WARMERS).

I wish my 3rd gen had them. (How weird would that be?)

blivets

I rate them excellent; they work almost too well. I only have'm on about 3 minutes before I have to shut'm off. Only gripe is that my right elbow likes to flick the switch whenever I shift into 2nd. Slowly teaching myself to have my elbow somewhere else.

RX-GR8

something is wrong with mine then. i can barely feel any heat at all. the dealer told me they are only seat warmers nothing more.

noahprtlnd

Same here - I haven't brought it to the dealer yet though, I was planning on it.

RX-GR8

but wait now. you live in FL and i live in NJ. it's like 10 degrees F here right now. maybe it's not cold enough for yours to get warm because of the ambient temperature.

MEGAREDS

Mine works fine.

RX-GR8

define fine? i told my dealer they weren't hot enough and he said Mazda said they are seat warmers and not supposed to get hot.

Speed-ER doc

Mine seems to warm up in about 3 minutes, the back more than the seat. The seat never gets very warm, the back moderately warm, never hot. It seems to cycle on and off of its own accord.

Lexus btw has a dial where you can vary the amount of heat which works very well.

RX-GR8

it does seem to cycle on and off of its own accord.

wahoo

I would say mine get warm, but not hot. I actually prefer it. I've been in cars where they get pretty hot, and I don't like that Electrical heat feeling.

Wahoo!

Gord96BRG

We have an Audi with seat heaters as well - Audi uses a 6 setting dial. On 6, those will really roast - waaay too hot. The RX-8 heaters are about equal to the Audi's 2 or 3 setting (out of 6).

It's also been noted that the RX-8 heaters seem to vary depending on the temperature dial - set the cabin temperature dial to full hot, and the seat heaters are hotter. I noticed something along that line in August - tried the seat heaters just to check them, and they seemed not to work at all. Of course, the dial was on full cold at the time!

Regards,
Gordon

noahprtlnd

The times when I've tried using them it's been around 50 degrees - not 10, but surely cold enough for seat heat to be noticeable - and they seemed to do absolutely nothing.

santino

i am highly impressed with the seat heaters. i love how the back heats up as well, not just the seat only. my back felt nice and relaxed when i had them on.

just the other evening, i jumped from the 8 to drive the miata on a pretty cold night...and i was shivering in the miata.

santino

rex

iTrader: (2)

Mine seem to be too smart for their own good. 45 degrees outside? Nah, not coming on. 36 degrees? Maybe if you sit there long enough your body heat might save me from having to heat your frosty ***. 28 degrees? Hey, the DSC just told me it's slippery out there, how about a little back heat?

The dog's car (a Subaru) has two settings, mildly toasty and fry your ***. They come on when you press a switch. Such a novel concept. That's what I want in the RX-8. Anyone taken a look at the wiring diagram to figure out how to make them work when you want them do not when it deigns to work?

Speed-ER doc

Wow, I hadn't heard that! Can't wait to try it out.
I wish the seat (butt aspect) was warmer. Nothing like hot buns on a cold morning.

miata2rx8

the colder it is, the warmer they are. I didnt think they worked at all until recently when the temp is dipping into the teens

khoney

I'll second the Doc's assessment (at least as far as the 8 is concerned)

mngpao

Mine work perfectly. The colder it is outside, the warmer the seats get. I usually have to turn mine off because it gets too warm for me. The wife loves the heat and so she leaves hers on until the whole inside of the car gets warm.

rx8ntexas

mine work good.....they don't get hot like a heating pad does, but they get very warm to where by the time the floor heater has warmed the inside of the car, i'm turning the seat warmers off because i'm getting to warm...coldest day i've had them on is about 28 degrees F

RX-GR8

so has anybody who isnt too pleased with how hot they get gotten the dealer to fix them?

gingersrus

Here in N Florida only had a few days when they were needed but they worked great. Almost like a heating pad in the part against the small of my back.

FirstSpin

Having never been a passenger in my car, I can only speak to the issue of the driver's side seat warmer. Mine heats up nicely even though it's never below 28°F in Houston (well almost never). I've flipped it on when it was as warm as 50°F and I can't tell that it's any different than on those 30 degree mornings. It heat the small of the back area quite nicely!! Almost like a med-low setting on a heating pad. If I leave it on, it does cycle off-and-on. I'm not sure if that cycling is related to the overall heat setting in the car. I've never checked.

Now, in terms of butt-warming: I've never noticed it. It's quite possible that the system is pumping some heat to the bottom of the seat but if so, it's a lot more subtle than the back-of-the-seat heater. That might be related to the difference in thickness (insulating capacity) between a shirt (on the small of my back) and pants. Not sure. I'm glad the heaters are there and I'm satisfied with how well the driver's side one works.....

MMGDC

Mine work, but it's definitely more of a "warm" as opposed to a "hot" sensation. I feel them more along the back than the butt, but they're definitely noticeable.

If you're coming from an Audi or Mercedes, they'll probably seem a bit feeble, but they get the job done. At maximum setting you could probably cook on the Audi heaters.

93rdcurrent

Mine work fine but I would love to have seperate settings to choose from. I really like my seat warmers here in Spokane. I had not noticed that the dial setting affected the seat warmer but now I am going to check it out since there have been times that I noticed that the seats felt warmer than others.