There's nothing like a heated steering wheel to make you feel comfy in cold weather. After all, your hands are up in the air on the wheel, and the blood drains out of them, making them even colder. A nice toasty steering wheel makes a heck of a difference in comfort.

So, Acura, how hard is it to put that little heating element in the wheel? I'd be glad to pay another 50 bucks for it.

 

lol.


wait, and is more like it.

50 bucks?

 

Most manufacturers (BMW, MB, Audi) that offer heated steering wheels charge in the vicinity of $500 for that single option.

$50 will get you a box of matches.

 

Pricing excluded from the discussion, I will fully agree with Mike_Tx on the heated steering wheel. That being said Mike, you are hardly going to get any sympathy from a guy who lives in Canada with air temperatures of -27C (-17F) tonight without the wind chill when you my friend live in Texas.

 

you can get them on a KIA Soul as part of their Primo package-

 

This is why Kia is selling so many cars. Because they put options like this on this class of car which is unheard off, coupled with pretty decent cars. That said, I have a friend with a Soul and it is decent at the price point, but it's no RDX.

 

I'll take the cool-vented seats over a heated steering wheel.

 

2011+ ford Explorers have the option too.

 

Nothing heated is very useful here in the AZ desert.

Upper 70's this week...

 

I'm positive the new Lincoln MKC will have an option for a heated steering wheel and I'd guess cooled seats like in the MKZ. The RDX is going to need to step it up.

Now a ventilated steering wheel, THAT sounds cool!

 

I am not going to lie to you guys....I wanted heated everything!! Steering, radio control, floor mats, windshield, tires...bring it on! *lol*

Not to sound like a whiner, but consider than 2 weeks and 3 days ago, the ground was bare, and now this (in combination with -30C temperatures), now you can understand why I am envious of you guys living in the southern States!

 

Too much snow! But it's beautiful at the same time.



<----This is coming from a guy who's never thrown a snowball. One day I will, guys, one day.

 

^^ Wanna swap? *lol* The "beauty" sure wears off when you shovel this white shit day after day after day! Thanks for your comments though

 

I would throw some additional coin down for the seats mentioned above, provided they would be *reasonably* impactful/effective.

Anyone here have much ass time, thus actual firsthand, user feedback in cooled seats?

 

Yeah, I've had them in a couple of cars, and I like them. The ones in my lexus LS460 were the best; the cooled seats in my Infiniti M56 were okay, but not as effective. Either way, they're nice to have in warm climes.

 

I wear gloves so a heated steering wheel is not a deal breaker. I would prefer all interior LED lighting and Xenon's/LED headlights standard though

 

Any mfr charging $500 for a heated steering wheel is a thief.

The $50 example I used is reasonable for a mass-production car, since it involves only a heating element (which is essentially a high-impedence wire), some additional wiring, and a timer switch. If they implemented it across the board, or even in a popular package (like the Tech Pkg), the unit cost would come down.

Like someone has already pointed out, even Kia and Hyundai are including it, because they know marketing and economies of scale.

$500. Ha!

.
.

 

I've driven in a friends Avalanche that had ventilated seats. Practically blew me out of the seat. They were pretty powerful, I think they were just ventilated but very effective. There seems to be a vent under the seat that blew cool A/C air that the seats picked up. Effective.

I test drove the MKZ. It's seats are actually cooled, not passively ventilated. The thing I did not like about those seats were that they did not blow any air until it was cool. So when you got in the car and the seating surface is hot and you want just anything to happen to cool it down, it does nothing for a few minutes. Once they start to blow they are cold and effective, but I don't understand the delay. The saving grace for that could have been the remote start which is standard on that car. So the obvious fix is to leave the cooled seats on, remote start the car so that when you get in the seats will cool faster. But did Ford do this???? NO. You turn on the cooled seats with that damn computer, so until the car starts up you can't even turn on the cooled seats. Dumb. Things like this need a switch.

I would expect Acura to put ventilated seats in an Advanced Trim option. While I don't have first hand experience with Acura's implementation, from the things I've heard there was room for improvement.

 

When I lived in the snow belt, the first snow of the year was great... for about one day... then you just wanted to be rid of it. It is pretty though.

But down here the heat is oppressive. The heat index can be over 100 every day for a month or more. At night it will easily stay above 90. I can't remember the last time I opened the windows on the house. During the fall it is often warm enough to run the A/C during the day and the heat at night. I was running the A/C just a week or two ago.

But living in both places I think I can deal with the heat better than the cold. Hurricanes though are a different story! Don't want!

 

^^ I hear ya....between both the heat and this, I'd take the heat. We are fortunate that we don't have devastating floods, tornado or hurricane up here so I guess things could be worst.

With respect to the ventilated seats...I have never had any of them so I am not sure what I am missing I guess. Up here, it is not as required as a place that experiences oppressive heat and high humidity. I wouldn't object to having a car having them but I would certainly not pay extra for that feature....not if it was part of a luxury package that had other features I needed/wanted, then that would be OK too.

But if they'd package the lane keep assist, avoid collision braking and ventilated seats then I would say that I would not bother as none of those are a must for me.

 

What is all that white stuff??

 

MDX offers it. Wonder how hard it would be to find out if it's cross compatible.

 

My understanding is there are two different types of the ventilated seats: cool-ventilated and ventilated. Cool-ventilated seats actually blow AC and the latter just blows ambient temp air. I've been in cars with both setup and of course, the cool-ventilated wins!!

 

It appears that we have some features available here in Canada not available in the States....I wonder if this will be the case with the TLX. It would be great if they provided the heated steering wheels for our market.

The question I have is why go through the effort of making cars differently for Canada and the US, especially since our market is so small compared to the US. I mean why not put the heated steering wheel for the American model too? We have different wood trim in the MDX as well. In addition, we can build the RDX with a white exterior color and black interior while in the States, only the tan color is available. An other example is the headlight washers for the Canadian market....not available in the US. That makes no sense to me....they roll off the same assembly plant. Why not make them similar? Including the price!! (grrr)

 

their are 2 after market co that make cooled & heated seats they use thermo electric devices to heat & cool then a fan blowes the air thru the leather. katzkins makes one & roadwire makes the other they are both the same design. $1300 installed on both front seats. getting mine next wed.

 

@ Mike_TX - thx for the feedback brother, hope all is well in the Metroplex.

@ weather - I am w/ you re. the options available to you folks up north & not us down here, somewhat of a head scratcher but I'm sure $ is the driving force once again.

@ dmaxv8 - thx for the input, curious as to your location, which you chose & SURELY you will keep us posted w/ your experiences, correct?

 

One last thing about the cooled seats (since this thread took a swerve ) - they take a little getting used to. The first time I used them, it felt just like I had spilled a glass of ice water and it was running under my butt. Once you get used to having chilled buns, though, you'll love 'em.

My wife, btw, never got used to them and hates 'em.

 

i have a feeling 2015 will offer heated steering and jewel headlights

 

im in SW Florida still 80* today that's why we need a/c seats. im having a leather guy install the seat heaters-a/c as you have to remove all the leather & do a little cutting on the foam. I will give you guys a full report after I try them for a week

 

I didn't know Katzkin offered cooled seats. If you can take pictures during the install that would make a good thread of its own. Do you need to replace the seat covers as part of this? Or does it retain the existing seat covers?

 

You are 100% correct the soul is no RDX-price wise, insurance rates, warranty and features. I compared both and for me the Soul was a better choice so I bought one. I not about trying to impress anyone. Did not think I would need a heated steering wheel but it was cold last night in NC. The heated seats came in handy also but I will enjoy the cool seats in the summer.

 

Heating & Cooling System• 2 Premium Degreez Quick Switch Heating / Cooling Systems
(2 Seat Kit)
• Requires Perforation of Your New Leather Interior (all seats)
• Aeration of Your New Leather kit (cooled seats)
• 3 Year Manufacturers Warranty
Cooling and heating system requires perforated Katzkin Leather interior option to function. This kit can not be installed under factory cloth or non perforated and aerated leather.
*System NOTE: Not all vehicles are capable of adding a Seat Heating & Cooling systems due to the type of passive Occupant Detection System (ODS) the vehicle may be equipped with. Click below for the most current list of excluded vehicles. This list is subject to change and updates as information becomes available.
Excluded Vehicles for Seat Heating & Cooling systems

 

we have had our cooled seats for a few days not very hot here now but you can feel a difference in about 3-4 minutes & cold in 7-8 minutes the fans are very quiet have to turn radio off to hear them at all. we were able to mount the new switches in the place of the old factory ones. the cooling area is not as large as a factory set up. it does about 1/2 of the seat back & 1/2 of the bottom. you can position the fans anywhere in the drivers seat you wish but the passenger seat has air bag sensors you have to work around (no moving them)

 

pics of the new switches

 

Thanks! So is that the factory seat cover? Or do you need to substitute Katzkin? Can you tell us how much this cost?

 

factory leather works fine I got prices from $1000-$1400 installed on front seats. I went with the higher quote cause I liked the guys answers better & they were booked out 4 weeks with brand new cars from all the local dealers. they had 7 cars in the shop the day I droped mine off. the install takes 2 full days to do correct as glue needs to set up on the foam before you sit on the seats some places told me they would b done in 6 hours RED FLAG.

 

**************


You said it... $50.00 does not buy you anything much especially, as an option on a car. It buy a round of beer at the Hooters ...and maybe a 10 piece buffalo wings

 

how about 1 beer & a $40 tip

 

now that I got my seat switches done im pullinh the center consol & dash , door pcs to get them coated. cant stand the ugly factory wood grain it looks so fake

 

I agree I'd pay for the cooling seat option over the heated one