G8rboy

I do agree with that approach somewhat... my neighbor's GMC has great seat heaters- way warmer than the 8's, however his leather looks like crap for only 4 years old... all cracked and nasty. I do wish we had 2 levels of temp, with the hotter temp being 10-20 degrees warmer than the current level. I put some aftermarket ones in my wife's explorer and they're awesome- 135F on low, 145F on high, plus control over back vs. *** heater elements.

93rdcurrent

I'm going to disagree with this scenario and let me tell you why. BMW and Audi have had seat warmers in their cars for a long time. The leather in these cars is pretty good quality and seems to outlast most leather in American cars. Also the heat generated in the car by the greenhouse effect in the summer is way above that generated by seat warmers. If heat was going to damage them it would be more likely the heat of the sun which gets the seats close to 150*F. Does your friend condition his seats? And if so does he use a quality brand like McGueyer's? Now how much did the after market seat warmers cost you and were they easy to install?

Speed-ER doc

The RX-8 seat heater seems to use the heat generated by the seat occupant's butt to heat the seats. The on/off switch is like the close button in an elevator...just there to give you something to do while you are waiting. :p

G8rboy

Knowing him, he probably doesn't condition his seats, so you're probably right. This is the kit I installed in my Exploder:
http://www.sportsimportsltd.com/unsehekit.html

I think I paid $99/seat for them, but I can't remember for sure. They were relatively easy to install- getting the leather covers off the seat carefully took some time for the first one... the second one went much faster. I pulled the seats out and worked on them in my living room, which made it much easier to do a clean job. I took a bunch of pictures for a DIY for the Explorer forum, but I haven't had a chance to edit them and post a page yet.

They're absolutely awesome... you know they're on within 30 seconds, and they're up to temp in just a few minutes... nothing like the RX-8's.

Sputnik

This has been my experience with heated leather seats too.

---jps

Pavehawk

The heated leather seats in my 2000 GMC Jimmy work much better than the ones in my 8. I originally scoffed at the idea of having heated leather seats in Texas but they come in quite handy in that one or two months of the year it gets really cold here.

I know the passenger side seat of my Jimmy required the seat belt to be latched before the heater would work. It was to prevent the element from being switched on accidentally without having an occupant in the seat. It could aparrently damage the heating elements because they would overheat without something in the seat to absorb it. I thought something similar about the 8 but seeing the diagram I don't think that is a concern here.

Sputnik

If I'm not mistaken, the RX8s only have a single temp version, and most GM vehicles with seat heaters have the dual-temp version. Correct?

Actually, I've found that seat heaters are more useful on cool days than cold days. On a cool day (50s/40s), when you're just wearing a jacket or something, the seat heaters are very comfortable (especially if you want to drive around with the windows down). On a snowy day, you're (hopefully) wearing thicker winter clothes, basically insulating you from the seat heaters, rendering them ineffective.

---jps

G8rboy

Correct.

That's been my experience with them- I have been getting in the habit of putting my coat in the trunk, leaving the defrost/heat off, or very low, and letting the seat heaters do their thang.

zenmoused

Is there any possibility of putting a dimmer-like switch on these things, rather than just the on/off? My A4 has 6 settings, and it's really nice to be able to vary how burnt my *** gets.

gummyAvenger

Mine do. Says so in the manual, too. They won't heat up unless the thermostat is on heat.

Shifty Devil

The heat they produce is not intended to be very high or it could damage the seat or get way too hot when you are sitting on it. I believe when you are not on the seat the low level of heat is just radiated away too readily. Sometimes I lay a folded towel on the seat while it's warming up, as when I'm scraping ice off the windows, and it holds the heat in better and is warmer when I first sit down. You're all correct though, they ought to heat up faster and should be adjustable. I have some heated seat covers for my other cars and they behave about the same way speedwise but at least are ajustable.

CarAndDriver

After experiencing the seat warmers in my mom's VW Passat and my dad's Chevy Silverado, the RX-8's are definitely wanting. They'd be fine if that's all one has ever used. The VW has a 5 different levels and the Chevy has 3 levels for the backrest and the bottom that can be controlled independently.

It would have been nice if the RX-8 at least had a rocker switch that had the current setting as low and a higher setting with the middle being Off. Better what we have than none though.

Baxter Basics

My seats have come on in the summer. The switch is just in the right spot for an errant knock. I did it thrice, then pulled the fuse.

TomAssBender

mine also come on in the summer.

contrary to your gripes, my seat gets TOO HOT. I turn it on (it does take rather long) and once it gets up to full power I turn it off cause my butt is sweating. maybe thats where my extra 5 mpg is going.

SmokeyTheBalrog

That's they way it worked in my previous car, a 2001 Acura CL Type-S

You set it on high to warm up and then on low to maintain temp.

They where great cause I put em on high when I picked up take out. Just double bagged the food. Kept it nice an toasty all the way home.
The 8's seat heater don't work for this. I need to start carrying a mini cooler.

Much of the 8's interior, function wise, is a major down grade from the Acura. The rest of course makes up for it and then some.