Upgrading Seats Again

Hey all. I have a single cab that came stock with the standard bench seat. I replaced that fairly quickly with the standard Tacoma bucket seats and center console. It’s almost 3 years later and now I’m considering changing out the seats again. They’re not totally uncomfortable for me, but I enjoy a good, cushy, supportive seat.

I’m looking at either the 3rd gen 4runner cloth seats with lumbar, or the upgraded Tacoma seats with what appears to be a power lumbar.

For those who have swapped to 4runner seats, do you think it’s worth it? I sat in a 4runner while on vacation and it seemed nicer, but I’m not able to compare seats directly. These also appear to have tilting headrests, which are a nice addition. I’ve read that the seat tracks need a little massaging and an adapter to fit, as well as swapping the seat belt buckle, which is fine with me.

For those with the nicer Tacoma seats, are they noticeably different from the standard seats? Also, I believe there is an unused plug under my driver’s seat, which I assume would hook up to the lumbar feature?

In summary, I’m looking for opinions on these seats and if anyone can tell me how the power lumbar is connected.

 

That plug is for the seat belt switch, just leave it unplugged and you won't get the annoying light.

I found some Celica seats at a junk yard, bought a set of leather replacement covers, and modified some aftermarket brackets. This ended up being much cheaper than aftermarket replacements, but took a lot of work to make it all fit.

That being said, the seats I used for my truck were smaller than aftermarket seats, and probably newer Toyota vehicles. I'm 5'9" and 160 pounds and with the seats all the way back in a comfortable position, is almost too small. If you are any bigger than me you might run into some problems.

Single cab problems.

 

I’ve seen a few people mention Celica seats, but I’m not really interested in doing any fab work for the rails.

Do you mean that the seats are too narrow? Or small in another way?

 

Owned a 1st Gen Taco, hated the seats.

Owned a 3rd Gen 4R, enjoyed the seats more but not that comfortable.

Owned an 80 series LC, and the seats were better than both above vehicles.

Bought an aftermarket seat, made me hate the seats in the above vehicles even more.

For me, it was the Sparco seat that made the biggest difference.

 

What model did you get? Did they sell seat mounts or did have to fabricate your own?

 

I’ve considered aftermarket, but worried about the switch since I’m not aware of any way to test them out before buying. I’ve got the same questions as Sean.

 

00-04 wrx seats are a great fit. I’ve heard it’s a similar swap to the 3rd gen 4Runner ones where you need to drill a new hole and bend a foot. I ended up cutting off the Subaru bases/feet and welding on the ones from my oem seats. I did get some wet okoles to cover them.

Can usually find these for dirty cheap too. I paid 125$ for mine and couldn’t be happier. I love it more than the supercharger I put in.

 

I meant to say that the seats I used are smaller physically than a lot of newer car and truck seats, which might be an issue when trying to fit a larger seat and person in the single cab Tacoma.

 

They sell seat mounts for many vehicles, but fabricating your own would be easy too.

 

What adjustments do these offer? Unfortunately there don’t seem to be any near me that I can easily try out. Seems like these could be a good budget option.

 

I did 4th gen 4runner ('06) and it was a lot of work . Have a look on my post. Seats are nice enough . A marked improvement over the oem 60/40 bench.
Power lumbar on drivers sucks . It pushes on mid back not lower like other vehicles I've had and it got stuck requiring seat removal , seat cover partial removal and a hot wired motorcycle battery to activate lumbar motor .
Still glad I did it even with the obstacles . Good learning experience ./