Cab Heater Good?

I've got a DCLB OR coming, but it doesn't have heated seats. This is something I use all the time in my Subaru since that car takes some time before the heater really gets going in winter. Is the Tacoma heater decent enough to not really need heated seats? It takes my Subaru well over 15 minutes while driving before the heat really kicks in, is the Tacoma any better?

 

Wife's Subaru has butt warmers too... pretty nice when you need them. Wish the Tacoma had them you can probably find them after market somewhere...

Living in the SouthWest for me they are moot.

 

There are a few threads here about adding heated seats to your taco. It's pretty easy and all the stuff can be sourced from Amazon for fairly cheap depending on how you want to do it.

I did it to my truck and spent about $300 doing it the expensive way. Taco heater is Ok, not great, but not terrible.

 

My heater kicks on after a few minutes

 

It really depends where you live. Here in WA with cloth seats, getting in and driving will have things warming up nicely in just a few minutes. In the cold tundra of the mid-west or NE, it might be a different story.


Note that the V6 Tacos have a PTC heater that electrically adds a bit of early heat while the coolant is still coming up to temperature.

 

I'm impressed with the heat in my '21 Sport.

 

OP, turn the heat to high to get it to run.

 

I find here in New England it akes the engine a bit to come up to temperature and start generating heat on those very cold mornings, especially if you aren't working the engine much (i.e. on a flat on declining road). We find the heated seats a plus and use them a lot in the winter. My Volvo has a heated steering wheel, and I can tell you my 65 year old gnarly hands love that thing!

 

I think it's the better part of wisdom to add them when I can. Better to have them and not need them. I definitely use them in my Subaru on cold mornings.

 

The heater works damn well and cannot heat your body the same way seat heaters work.

That is normal driving time for the truck to make enough heat to get the heater working.

 

I didn’t think I would care much about my heated seats but I’ve come to really appreciate them.

 

I’ve been looking to install the Katzkin with butt warmers sometime this year. I do miss not having that option.

 

Don't they come standard on an OR?

 

No. Have to get one with a sunroof, the jbl and the nav to get heated seats, at least in the southeast. I’m trying to avoid the sunroof and….so I have to give up on useful features so I can just fit in the truck. Lol. This has to be THE worst time ever to buy a Tacoma.

 

I'm in central Texas, so probably not the best advocate for heater performance. I found the heater to be quite average.

 

In Northern Ontario Canada, heated seats are a must. The heated seats in the Tacoma are decent enough, not great but not bad. I wish the heat went higher up the seatback.

I have this system on the Tacoma, and my wife has it on her Rav. Does a great job of heating the cabin without idling the engine:

https://www.toyota.ca/toyota/en/connect/4354/toyota-heating-accessories

 

Now granted mine is a second gen with the 4.0 V6 but if outside temp is about 20F, if I just turn it on and let it idle to warm up with the heat on full, the cab is nice and warm after about 10 minutes. If I drive it right away, I start getting heat at about 1.5-2 miles from my house, so about 3 minutes. Ultra guage reading on engine temp when the factory guage cluster engine temp needle starts to move is about 125-130F.

 

Definitely better than my Crosstrek. 15 minutes for the same.

 

Coming from the forester, the Tacoma heats up much quicker.

 

I've been impressed with the heater through my first winter. It gets cold as hell here and even at -30f (real temperature) and colder this winter I've been impressed how quickly the cab heats up vs my wife's 4Runner and my old ExCab Ranger.

I have heated "leather" seats in my Pro and rarely use them FWIW. They're a definite bonus, and I'd never say no to them, but they wouldn't be a necessity to me.