Possible to swap 2016/2016.5 GT leather seats into 2016.5 Touring?

Digbicks1234

16.5 CX-5 Touring/2023 CX-9 Touring
Hi All,

I was wondering if it would be possible to go to the junk yard and purchase the front and rears from the GT and perform a replacement into my Touring. Not sure if anyone has done it before and I did look at previous threads but I figure that Touring/GT were the most similar with heated seats so it should be a simple plug and play/bolt on?

I don't think I'm the only one that dislikes the cloth seats, they don't really feel that comfortable at all and they don't offer much cushion if any for me.
 
I wonder if it might be easier, maybe cheaper, to get genuine leather seat covers or get your seats upholstered?
 
I wonder if it might be easier, maybe cheaper, to get genuine leather seat covers or get your seats upholstered?

I looked at car seat covers before for custom fit leather seats and they're definitely in the $800 - 1k ballpark. Upholstered through Katkins, around $1-2k so I figure I may as well just find the cheapest junkyard with the seats in the best condition and install those unless I can be proven wrong.
 
That is about what I would guess. Surely if you can find what you want for less go for it, but with recovered seats you avoid the compatibilty hassle. I'm guessing you don't have any issues with your current seat frames.
How much are salvaged leather GT seats?
 
That is about what I would guess. Surely if you can find what you want for less go for it, but with recovered seats you avoid the compatibilty hassle. I'm guessing you don't have any issues with your current seat frames.
How much are salvaged leather GT seats?

I don't have any issues with my current seat frames from what I've noticed at least and it seems like the price range for the fronts are 75 - 150/per and the rears are $75-200/whole set.
 
I don't have any issues with my current seat frames from what I've noticed at least and it seems like the price range for the fronts are 75 - 150/per and the rears are $75-200/whole set.
That sounds pretty good. I thought they might be more.
I also noticed in your post you wanted something more comfortable. Maybe they have different cushions, too.
 
I was wondering if it would be possible to go to the junk yard and purchase the front and rears from the GT and perform a replacement into my Touring.
I don't see why not.
Most car makers standardize the hardware points (bolt locations) regardless of trim levels, and most of them standardize the wiring looms as well.
From my own personal experience with my lower trim Pathfinder, I had manual, cloth, non heated seats in it.
I went to a junkyard a few years back and pulled the heated, power leather seats out of an upper trim model.
They bolted in perfectly. All the necessary wiring was already there in my truck, buried under the carpet.
I also took the two switches from the junker, and put them in the blank holes in the dash.
The wiring for them was also there, behind the blanks.
Plugged everything in and they worked perfectly.
I don't see why your situation should be different.

P.S. I also took an overhead console, and wood grain door and dash trim pieces to upgrade the rest of the interior. I love junkyards.
 
That sounds pretty good. I thought they might be more.
I also noticed in your post you wanted something more comfortable. Maybe they have different cushions, too.

I think since the 2016 is now 4-5 years old and it makes sense why it's not worth as much anymore. The only issue I have is that the GT seat junk yards are like 400-1,000 miles away from me and that's like a 1-2 day drive so ($100 in gas) so I may reconsider unless something closer pops up in the future. I'm honestly not a big fan of cushions and I already have sheep skins on my front seats, they're okay but not that great for what I paid for them.
 
I don't see why not.
Most car makers standardize the hardware points (bolt locations) regardless of trim levels, and most of them standardize the wiring looms as well.
From my own personal experience with my lower trim Pathfinder, I had manual, cloth, non heated seats in it.
I went to a junkyard a few years back and pulled the heated, power leather seats out of an upper trim model.
They bolted in perfectly. All the necessary wiring was already there in my truck, buried under the carpet.
I also took the two switches from the junker, and put them in the blank holes in the dash.
The wiring for them was also there, behind the blanks.
Plugged everything in and they worked perfectly.
I don't see why your situation should be different.

P.S. I also took an overhead console, and wood grain door and dash trim pieces to upgrade the rest of the interior. I love junkyards.

I honestly wish it were the case. I mean I'm waiting for someone that actually did it to come in and say that they swapped it so I can feel better about doing it :LOL:. Maybe the only issue that I may run into is the fact that the seats/airbags may need to be reprogrammed? I have no idea but the battery will be disconnected during the swap so I don't know if that's still necessary.

Haha, I will probably do that as well but the costs are definitely going to add up for sure.
 
I honestly wish it were the case. I mean I'm waiting for someone that actually did it to come in and say that they swapped it so I can feel better about doing it
You can start by doing what I did.
I pulled back the carpet under the seats and looked around for all the wiring first, before going to the junkyard.
I also looked under the dash for the switch wiring.
Once I knew everything was there, I headed out to the junker.
Good luck.
 
I don't see why not.

I went to a junkyard a few years back and pulled the heated, power leather seats out of an upper trim model.
.

P.S. I also took an overhead console, and wood grain door and dash trim pieces to upgrade the rest of the interior. I love junkyards.
I wouldn't mind upgrading. There have been threads on this forum with people complaining about leather seats- the bolsters or cushions might be different.
Was the stuff you got expensive?
 
I honestly wish it were the case. I mean I'm waiting for someone that actually did it to come in and say that they swapped it so I can feel better about doing it :LOL:. Maybe the only issue that I may run into is the fact that the seats/airbags may need to be reprogrammed? I have no idea but the battery will be disconnected during the swap so I don't know if that's still necessary.

Haha, I will probably do that as well but the costs are definitely going to add up for sure.
I forgot about the airbags.
I agree it would be reassuring to hear from somebody that's successfully done it.
Let us know how it proceeds😁
 
Imho, coverking makes the best fitting, durable, and waterproof seat covers of the cheaper options.

FYI design logo is for instructional use only.

Its made out of same material as wet suit. Water proof, stays cool, easy to clean.
 
I have a 2014, so it may be different for the 2016's, but the GT leather seats in 2014 were 8-way adjustable and only 6-way in the Touring. I wonder if the wiring connectors would be the same?
 
The cloth seats in my '16.5 Touring are softer than the leather in my '15 GT. You may not be getting what you want.
 
I have a 2014, so it may be different for the 2016's, but the GT leather seats in 2014 were 8-way adjustable and only 6-way in the Touring. I wonder if the wiring connectors would be the same?

I'll need to look into that, you bring up a great point. I wonder if Mazda utilizes the same connector for all of the trims, if not, then that would be a waste of time buying all of the seats to only have 6 way instead of a 8 way seat.
 
The cloth seats in my '16.5 Touring are softer than the leather in my '15 GT. You may not be getting what you want.

Not sure how the leather feels, but I would imagine it would be an upgrade over the cloth still. I just hate the cloth seats, never really liked them in the beginning either and they did break in over time (64k miles) but overall uncomfortable for long rides especially around the lower back/tailbone area due to the lack of cushion and support. Sometimes it makes me just want to trade in the car for something more boring/comfortable like the highlander but I would be missing the driving experience. IDK anymore haha
 
Not sure how the leather feels, but I would imagine it would be an upgrade over the cloth still. I just hate the cloth seats, never really liked them in the beginning either and they did break in over time (64k miles) but overall uncomfortable for long rides especially around the lower back/tailbone area due to the lack of cushion and support. Sometimes it makes me just want to trade in the car for something more boring/comfortable like the highlander but I would be missing the driving experience. IDK anymore haha
Actually Mazda had made some changes on seats for 2016 CX-5, so as 2016.5 CX-5, noticeably the seat bottom length which had been extended a bit further. I feel Mazda seats in my 2016 CX-5 GT are the least comfortable among most vehicles I’ve owned. They’re very firm, and lack of low back support even with lumber support adjustment fully extended. For the long road trip, I’d feel very uncomfortable after an hour of driving, but not on other vehicles I have owned. Leather seats in 2016 / 2016.5 GT feel a bit different from cloth seats in 2016 / 2016.5 Touring and Sport. Some say leather seat feels a bit better but others say the opposite. The most complaints on 2016 / 2016.5 CX-5’s seating were the head rests are too much forward. By seeing so many complaints on seat comfort from gen-2 CX-5 owners, I’d say the seats in 2016 / 2016.5 CX-5 are “the best” among all model years of CX-5.

If you can find a set of leather seats in 2016 / 2016.5 CX-5 from a salvage yard cheap, than go for it. It should be plug-and-play especially your 2016.5 does have the one and only heated cloth seats. If you just want a quality feels of leather seats, you should give up the idea, as IMO the leather in my CX-5 looks and feels like synthetic fabric, it doesn’t even smell like leather like all leather seats in my other vehicles.
 
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