052SI

The online brochure says:

To help keep you comfortable in all types of weather, F SPORT, Premium and Luxury versions of the GS feature independently controlled heated and ventilated front seats. Offering multiple levels of comfort, the internal heater can be automatically activated to warm you in ECO mode, and the internal ventilation system was redesigned for dramatically increased airflow to help cool you faster.

For those of you that have already have the car do the front seats actually get cold now (with the AC on)? We set the climate control to face/floor on our IS which gets ac under the seats so the fans can blow it up into the cushion; they get cool but not cold and were hoping with the newly improved system they now get cold after driving around for awhile with the AC used the same way.

We had a 2011 Caddy DTS where the service tech got the vented drivers seats to get nice and cold by putting an opening in the floor vent that travels under the drivers seat which got the cold AC air (when set to bilevel) right up into the cushion. Great for summer and southern states and very comforting on long drives.

Appreciate it if you guys can let me know how the new system works and if it gets the seat bottom cushion cold.

Thanks

sydtoosic

depends on what degree of cold you mean. it doesn't get ice cold, but it does get cold. the controls are located behind the cupholders underneath the climate control buttons.

052SI

Thanks that's great, so the bottom cushion actually gets cold vs just cool and how much colder than the previous version or the IS's? Does the lumbar area get cold too?

MY13GS350

Both seat and back get cool. If you lean forward when it's on you can hear the air blowing out the perforations.

Cold is a perspective I guess, In FL if you are hot and a bit sweaty it really feels cold but if you are just dry and warm its not as noticeable.

I use it a lot so it's definitely a good feature for me anyway.

caddyowner

The seat cooling on my 4GS is great compared to my 05 LS430. It's not quite as strong as the cooling was in my 07 Lincoln MKZ and some of the DTS loaners I had.

052SI

Thanks guys. Are you using the AC on bilevel (face/floor)? It should help the seat get colder.

Liferules

I'm not sure you need to have bilevel activated. My impression was that there was specific flow going to the seats if activated. I'm not sure its necessary to blow under the seats...

danjb

I was under the impression the air flowing through the seat ventilator is not cooled separately, but is just air from inside the car cabin (e.g. room temperature air). I test drove an Infiniti G37 convertible, and the Infiniti dealer made a big deal pointing this out, that the G37 air was actually piped straight from the AC system rather than from the inside cabin air, since in a convertible obviously the "inside" air might really be outside air. He claimed other seat ventilation systems (like Lexus) did not do this. Of course, he may have been making this up.

I find the seat cooling to be nice, but not especially powerful. I compare it to seat cooling in a Ford F-150 a friend has, which definitely seemed stronger. In the Ford you could feel the air rushing around you, and it didn't take too long before it was "too cool" to leave on full blast. In the Lexus, you feel air when you first turn it on, and when you lean forward to give it some room behind you to pump out air, but otherwise it is not extremely noticeable (to me) even at full blast. Maybe it's just because I have a black interior in Texas and it gets pretty hot!

jtrue28

I've found that the F-Sports seat are awful for ventilation now.

MarkGS

My understanding is that the GS has air cooled seat ventilation and the LS has air conditioned seat ventilation. Quite frankly, while I enjoy the cooling, I don't find the LS that much cooler (a/c) than the GS (air cooled). I wouldn't say it gets cold, but definitely makes a difference.

052SI

Certain cars do have actual coolers in the seats, they're thermoelectric devices with a blower made by Amerigon and the LS460 is the only Lexus with them.. The GS just has ventilated seats but are supposed to have a much improved airflow for 13.

If you direct the climate control/AC to the bilevel setting the fans under the seats should pick up the cold air and suck it up into the cushion...someone please give it a try and let me know if it helps.

If you'd like to try an easy mod to really get the seat bottom cold make an opening in the top of the vent that goes under the seat which provides air for the back seat passenger, make sure the AC is set to bilevel and the rear AC is also on. This worked great on our Caddy DTS and the bottom cushion got nice and cold even in the hottest days....ahhhh

This will only hold true if the new system for 13 is still blowing air out the perforations up into the seat not pulling it down/through like the German brands do. An easy test for this is place a tissue over the seat and see if it blows up or gets sucked down...please post findings.

Thanks

Jim1755

I just got back from doing a test drive in a new GS 350 an it seemed like the seat ventilation worked well. It is pretty cool here today, about 95ºF, so it probably wasn't the best test. We did about a 6 mile drive and when we got back to the dealership I noticed the seat ventilation wasn't turned on so I flipped it on high while we were parked and I immediately felt the effect as the cabin air moved through the seat.

My Infiniti has cooled seats and quite frankly I'm not impressed with them. It takes forever to cool down to the point I usually don't even mess with them unless it is really hot and I'm going to be in the car a long time. The best ones I have ever experienced were in a Hyundai Genesis Sedan. Man, those things would refrigerate the seats in a mile or two. Funny thing is, I didn't particularly like them. As they got cold it felt really strange to be sitting on a cold mass like that. Similar to sitting on a wet towel.

052SI

Good info thanks. If it gets too cold on Hyundai or any other brand for you just remember to start off on the mildest setting vs high and keep it there. . Jag has excellent true cooled seats that get very cold in the first 5 mins. I've tried Infiniti and they're fair-ok on the G but maybe better on the M? I'd bet the ones in the new Equus must be excellent and if Lexus improved the fans in the GS the new LS will get those too plus the cooling units.

052SI

Went for extensive test drive today, the vented seats got only slightly cool even with AC on bilevel. I checked the floor vent under the drivers seat and it's and easy mod to cut an opening in the top of the vent right under the center of the seat, also need to put foam in the vent opening thats there for the floor/rear seats..