So I went out and bought a bookshelf, tried to put it in my car.. and well I couldnt figure out how to fold the freakin rear seat down? Does it?


I looked like an *** trying to angle the wood through the drivers door into the passenger side.. lol

 

the seats dont fold down, theres only that small passage way in the middle through the handrest. forgot what the sales person told me as to the reason, someone here should have an answer though.

 

The reason for the seats not folding down? I believe it is so the car is more rigid. The seats serve as a brace.

The reason for the small passage? So you can transport your skis or other long skinny objects.

 

Only the little passageway opens.

 

I was wondering why they don't fold down either. Seems like a great feature to have in a small car. I would have let the seats fold down and put more bracing under the rear deck and along the trunk floor to compensate.

 

Ha we just asked this question when we picked up our new car on Friday. We asked if ANY Lexus sedan had folding seats and were told No, due to "safety reasons." I guess all those other car makers are unsafe?

 

One of my big gripes is the lack of folding rears. My M3 has it, the MB CLK has it and Lexus is telling me they can't do it?

I think Lexus is being lazy/cheap here since to properly design it would require more engineering & materials.

 

I always thought the lack of fold down seats were due to comfort, not safety. The car is rigid enough with or without fold down seats. Fold down seats are just not as comfortable (the IS seats are quite bolstered, so it would not fold flat anyways) as rigid seats...

 

I agree.

Bimmels--just another salesman making stuff up.

 

I wish we had fold down seats, so large items could be stored inside the car. Oh well, I'll have to settle for some Thule roof racks for when I go surfing or snowboarding.

 

did the is300 have folding seats?

 

Given the lack of legroom in the back of the IS, sacrificing potential cargo capacity for a more padded rear seat is not a tradeoff I'd have made.

Coincidently, my old Audi S4 had folding rear seats, and they seemed to be at least as comfortable as the ones in the IS.

 

no the is300 did not have folding rear seats.

 

Lexus makes "luxury" cars. It is probably their belief that people should not use luxury cars for hauling things around, thus no need for a fold-down rear seat.

I wouldn't mind having one though...

 

hmmm Steve... our BMW is a luxury car. ;-) It's nice when we're going on a golfing weekend and can fold down the seats to accommodate both of our sets of clubs/luggage and don't have to worry about mussing the leather seats. But we're going to trade the Beemer in for something new - and the fact that my car's seats don't fold down will probably factor in to the decision for my husband. It would be nice if one of our cars has that feature, so another Lexus might not be in the cards. (But OH how he covets my ventilated seats!)

Interesting point re: sacrificing comfort for that feature. I guess I've never sat in the back of the BMW for long enough to notice. It's a good thing - i doubt I would have gotten the is250 if I was worried about back seat comfort. no one taller than 5'2" can comfortably sit there as it is. But since I almost never have anyone back there for long, I didn't care. I think I'd rather have the seats fold down.

I hear ya, Tex, re: the salesman being full of it. When he said that I thought of every other car we had that had folding seats, and how they managed to score well in crash tests.....