OV9

I landed in Manchester yesterday (intentionally) and had a car to take me home. E220d.. incredible instantaneous mpg (I saw 70-99mpg quite often!), but don’t know what it actually achieved driving me to London.

But, fuck me, the rear seats were uncomfortable.. completely rigid, so no side bolsters or anything to keep you in place and I’ve sat on comfier park benches! My other halves Evoque seats are as bad.. her daughter is at school in Cheltenham and we both complain of lower back ache after driving there and back!

The M4s’s seats however are luxury! I’ve never complained after really long journeys even though the cars are generally more crashy with sportier suspension setups. In fact, all my BMW car seats have been excellent in this regard.

Is it just my arse that thinks this, or a sport seats actually also the comfiest option!?

I'll say that the Puma Millenniums seats - seemingly based on Recaro Ergomeds - were seats you could do 300 miles in, and get out like you'd just pootled half a mile to the supermarket.

The E46 sport seats are good, but either too much adjustment (thigh support etc) meaning they're trickier to get a good position in, or just not being as apparently oriented towards good posture means I still feel like I've 'been in them' after just fifty miles, never mind 200+

They're alright, but those seats in the Puma were genuinely bloody amazing.

It will be no surprise that e36 sports seats are my favourites, actually one of the reasons for wanting another as a commuter.

Miles more comfortable and supportive than the regular e36 and 46 seats.

My XF has the full blown R seats in it, proper inflatable bolster, every way adjustable 18 way seats in the front, 2 sculpted bucket style ones in the back and they are all comfy, over 10 minutes or 5 hours.

My S60 had proper individual rear seats as well as sport front seats and that was just as comfy.

The V60 has comfort seats, which are comfy but aren't very supportive, which you feel after a while, especially in the back. I like decently sculpted seats in my cars.

My 159 had the best seats I’ve ever sat in.

Yeah, I think it’s the lack of sculpting that makes you ache.. you’re constantly having to hold yourself in place and just fatigue your lower back muscles

You need at least a fold down armrest in the rear seat to help.

Beany wrote: ↑Sat Nov 27, 2021 9:21 pm I'll say that the Puma Millenniums seats - seemingly based on Recaro Ergomeds - were seats you could do 300 miles in, and get out like you'd just pootled half a mile to the supermarket.

Not a mention of the word sport It might be time to call them orthopaedic again

The problem with sports seats is that sometimes they are too narrow at the shoulder, so you end up either needing to recline more. Big fat fatty sports seats like in larger sports saloons don’t seem to have as much of a problem with this. Plus, old style sports seats, like the recaros in the 500e wouldn’t be classed as sports seats now at all.

Dave!

Not my image, but Series1 Evora use the RecaroCS which is absolutely superb. Grippy but very comfortable for a long drive. They switched to (lighter) Sparco seats for the 400 and later cars - much to the complaint of anyone who’d moved up from a series1.

At the other end of the spectrum - the Disco4 seats were non-huggy but also tres comfortable.

I can drive for hours in BMW sports seats - every BMW I've owned, whereas VW seats (from the basic model ones to the sports ones in my GTI) start to hurt after about 2 hours - there's something fundamentally wrong in the geometry of them for me.

I think support is key to comfort. Had a single piece Sparco in my MR2 and although properly awkward to get in and out off it was fine for a full tank of highway miles. Similarly a run to the 'Ring in an Exige wasn't bad at all apart from the getting in an out (and the twonk at Dartford dropping my change under the opposite side of the car )

Mine you maybe that's just coz I'm naturally well padded.

Rich B wrote: ↑Sun Nov 28, 2021 10:34 am I can drive for hours in BMW sports seats - every BMW I've owned, whereas VW seats (from the basic model ones to the sports ones in my GTI) start to hurt after about 2 hours - there's something fundamentally wrong in the geometry of them for me.

In a (E60 onwards) 5-series, the comfort seats are way better than sports seats. But they’re misnamed, they’re a couple of grand option and multi-adjustable including bending in the middle of the backrest but still have decent bolsters to hold you in place - width adjustable too.

The Recaro seats fitted to the ITR were the best seats I ever sat in - closely followed by the Recaro's fitted to the Evora as linked by Sir Mik.

IanF wrote: ↑Sat Nov 27, 2021 9:06 pm I landed in Manchester yesterday (intentionally) and had a car to take me home. E220d.. incredible instantaneous mpg (I saw 70-99mpg quite often!), but don’t know what it actually achieved driving me to London.

But, fuck me, the rear seats were uncomfortable.. completely rigid, so no side bolsters or anything to keep you in place and I’ve sat on comfier park benches! My other halves Evoque seats are as bad.. her daughter is at school in Cheltenham and we both complain of lower back ache after driving there and back!

The M4s’s seats however are luxury! I’ve never complained after really long journeys even though the cars are generally more crashy with sportier suspension setups. In fact, all my BMW car seats have been excellent in this regard.

Is it just my arse that thinks this, or a sport seats actually also the comfiest option!?

It’s surprising how poor rear seats can be, even in premium saloon cars. I had to sell our F30 335i after six weeks because adults couldn’t sit for more than half an hour in the back (we’d bought is as a family car). C class and e class at the time weren’t much better, a 5 series was acceptable and the XFR that I replace it with was miles better.
The numerous old E36 that I used to run have more comfortable rear seats than a modern E class (aside from legroom), which is crazy.

IanF wrote: ↑Sat Nov 27, 2021 9:06 pm I landed in Manchester yesterday ...

I assume that was in your company vehicle? How is your seat in that?

Best front seats I've been in have been Volvo R-design seats. They're a tiny bit more comfortable than the BMW Sports seats in the E39 and E46.

Worst was either my '92 Mitsubishi Lancer GLXi or a 1989 Metro. Both made me want to amputate my spine after 4 miles.

The worst rear seats I've sat in was in the back of Ex MIL2's Mini Countryman. Being driven to Buxton was torturous.

The best rear seats were in my old Mk2 Escort which was like the most luxurious sofa.

I unfortunately have loads of opinions to add to this thread

Firstly, anyone talking about sofas needs to try a sixties full size Ford.... like.... for a totally random example.... I dunno.... a 1966 Galaxie Convertible ? ACTUAL sofa. (and don't PM me asking to try it out, btw, that would sound way too much like a dogging thing).

I have had let's say "several" E36s and all were superbly comfortable.

Contrary to Beany's E46 experience, my E46 Compact had Sports seats and I found them extremely comfortable, I did over 40k miles in that car with never the slightest problem.

The sports seats in my 530 (F10, pre-LCI) however were the worst seats I've ever had in a BMW. No support to the mid-back and the headrests forced my head uncomfortably forward. Every other BMW I've had has been fine. I could tolerate them for ~1 hour but after that my legs started to go numb.

The E39s - both Sport & non-Sport - were all good.

As Jobbo already mentioned, BMW Comfort seats are very good. I had them in my E38 & F01. Lovely. I wouldn't buy a 5 or 7 without them.

B6 Passat - no issues.
B7 Passat - introduced that same uncomfortable headrest problem as the BMW F10.

Porsche 996 sports seats I hated, which is slightly disappointing because I deliberately bought a car that had them The "shoulder" wings are too low and too close together. It's lovely that they have a solid rear trim that you can paint to match the car but IMO they're awful to sit in. Nonetheless still hugely popular with teh proch fanbois.

We briefly had an '02 Mazda 6 and that was appalling. The top of the seat was actually below my shoulders. Hate.

The Cayenne has what I think are sport-(ish?) seats and they're OK, but a bit narrow. I've not really had an issue with it though.

The Touareg had ordinary seats and they were... I actually had to think about it. Considering I did several multi-hundred mile journeys and don't remember anything about the seats I will suggest they were good.

So, I'd say it's not exactly about "sports" seats being good, but about seats being good for the individual.

Jimmy Choo wrote: ↑Sun Nov 28, 2021 10:29 pm in the back a Countryman being driven to Buxton

That's a euphemism, right ?

Sundayjumper wrote: ↑Sun Nov 28, 2021 11:37 pm

Jimmy Choo wrote: ↑Sun Nov 28, 2021 10:29 pm in the back a Countryman being driven to Buxton

That's a euphemism, right ?

It probably should be.

The Boxster's seats were no good on a long journey - supportive laterally but the seat itself was too firm. Although this was coloured slightly by it not having cruise so my right leg would start to get sore after holding 70 for long periods of time.

The best seats I have encountered recently were in a Giulia. The whole driving position was extremely well sorted but you had a seat that was exactly the right mix of squishy yet supportive. I think people said similar things about the old Holdens, which suited the character of the car well.

Explosive Newt wrote: ↑Sun Dec 05, 2021 3:28 pmAlthough this was coloured slightly by it not having cruise so my left leg would start to get sore after holding 70 for long periods of time.

you probably don't need to ride the clutch at a steady 70...