3rd row seats removal

" I really don't know why Toyota insists on incluing these rather less than useful seats in the 200 Series."

Because adding them to these "Toorak tractors" as after market is an expensive exercise.
Cheers,
Peter
OKA196 motorhome

Hi Robert,

If you didn’t want the “extra” seats, why didn’t you buy the GX instead? For the difference in purchase price, you could option up a GX. :-)

Macca.

Hi Macca,
Of course the GX is a very adequate 200 Series , however it did not have the features we wanted. Barn doors, lack of leather seats, average AV, in general lacking some of the modern features you tend to expect these days. Our previous Altitude came with leather seats and a cool box. Unfortunately we had to compromise with respect to the cool box as it only comes with the “bells and whistles” Sahara.

Paying to have leather upholstered seats stored in your shed is waste of money isn't it? A GX would as mentioned, allow for upgrade to AV "if" that was deemed essential, seat covers, a small fridge freezer and the tailgate doesn't drop onto trailer hitches and allows non reach access to vehicle rear.

Hi Guys,
Thank you for all the comments regarding my choice of a VX over a GX. Certainly the GX is eminently upgradeable, however I made a clear choice and it was the VX option!

Me too...4 models at the time...VX ticked all our boxes...Sahara had extras that were of no use to us. Choice made. I think it’s called consumerism :-).

Maybe it’s just me but isn’t it just easier to remove the seats than to sell it and buy the model below that didn’t come with the extra seats :)

Trust you to take the easy way out Alby. :)
Dave.

Yep Alby, seems pretty obvious. You buy the model with the features you actually want and either live with those you don't or make some changes.

Robert - if you google you'll probably find detailed instructions and likely even videos if you need them. Rear seat removal - long or short term - is an extremely common mod on many vehicles .

Hi Robert,

No problem with you choosing what you have, many people do choose the higher end Landcruiser models and remove the third row of seats. I just could not justify the added cost for what I intended using the vehicle for.

I chose the GX for a number of reasons, one being that as we do a lot of remote traveling, up market leather seats would be a bit of a waste, even with seat covers on, dust and dirt would damage the leather. I did not want the third row of seats as they would hardly ever get used. There is generally only two of us, plus the dog, so no need for the extra seats.

I am “vertically challenged” so reaching into the rear over the tailgate was an issue, so the “barn doors” were a better option for me.

Also, I think the “cool box” is a bit “gimmicky” and find the centre console storage more valuable and would get more regular usage than the cool box.

As I said, you chose what you chose for the reasons you stated, and I chose what I chose for the reasons I stated, nothing “wrong” with either choice.

Macca.

Sorry Robert, I meant George of course :-)

In Qld you can remove the seats for a temporary measure. No one has come up with exactly how long temporary is.i.e..I,ve pulled my 3rd row and 2nd row seats out for my vehicle to be used as a touring car. This is only a temporary measure as I will install them when I sell the car...if it was permanent I,d sell the seats or dump them.

Only becomes an issue if you need to change the registration, as it is registered as a 7 Seater, if it does not have 7 seats, it will not pass a roadworthy for registration purposes, this is in Victoria.

My Brother-In-Law had this issue when changing the registration over from his sisters name into his name after she had passed away. They had taken the third row of seats out of the GXL and had to have them reinstated in order to pass the roadworthy. Even had to have the headrests in place on the third row of seats, as they were original equipment. Once the registration was changed over he removed the seats again. Other states may be different of course, and the mechanic doing the roadworthy may choose to overlook this item, as let’s face it, it really does not make the vehicle “unroadworthy”, it is just a technicality.

Macca.

Had a similar experience. My seats are wrapped in plastic and reside in the wardrobe.