Most uncomfortable car seats on a modern car (to you)?

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Corsa / Astra

[Alex_225]

RizzoTheRat said:

I've yet to find a modern Vauxhall that's comfortable, the seat bases always seem very flat and hard.

I recently hired a new Insignia and was very pleasantly surprised. Did about 750 miles of mixed driving and found it good. I'm relatively tall but the base extended out to support behind my knees and overall I was impressed. It was the SRI model so not sure if that makes a difference.

[roverspeed]

An interesting one for me.

I have an Insignia SRI, complete with "sport seats" and I find them very comfortable for me.

I don't do huge miles anymore, but have done 6 hour drives and felt fresh on the other side.

Now,on the other hand, I was in our UK office and driving one of the NON SRI Insignias and the seats were awful. No support at all, after just an hour I had a stiff lower back.

So as mentioned, it might even be trim specific on certain models!

Base Model Seats



SRI Seats

[toon10]

We use diesel Golf's as pool cars at work. They're OK and comfortable enough but on my last trip they were all taken so I was given a leased Audi A4 Avant (one of the sales guys left the company and we still had the lease on the car.) My back was aching after a couple of hours drive. I tried to adjust the seats to a better fit without much success.

[Shrimpvende]

Jaguar XJ (current model, but mine was an early 2010 version)

I've never been so uncomfortable in a car. They were the infinitely adjustable armchair looking things, but no matter what I did I just couldn't get away from a bar running across the seat right where my lower back was. I even looked in to opening up the seat to try and modify the backrest somehow, but ended up just making my own cushion.

I obviously didn't learn, as my F type has the early version of the performance seats which are rock hard, they're supportive enough but have no give at all so you can't sink into them on a long journey. I've been in the newer cars that seem to have sorted this with a much softer backrest so it must have been known to Jag.

I also currently have an Octavia VRS and I'm surprised to see them mentioned here. I love mine and find the seats perfect, even on long journeys.

[AmosMoses]

The Vambo said:

While not actually the most uncomfortable seats on a modern car, the Scirocco R leather seats must have the biggest gap between how fantastically comfortable they look and how arse and backpain inducing they are.

These get my vote, i have the same in my non R Scirocco and they are horrible.

[Cambs_Stuart]

N111BJG said:

I made the mistake of buying BMW F31 320d MSport without checking it had electric seats, I thought all £40k cars would have them. The manual seats, M Sport suspension & run flat tyres were hell for me.

We had one in a similar spec as a pool car at work and i found it exactly the same. Sat too low, suspension too hard in every setting (especially for a motorway hack), run flats appaling, and no matter what i did i could not get comfy in the seat. And I'm a generic medium in every clothes shop ive ever been in.
The mondeo titanium that replaced it felt like a slow, squidgy sofa by comparison but despite the lack of power it ate the miles.
The seats in my passat CC are fantastic, if a bit slippery.

[RizzoTheRat]

Shrimpvende said:

I also currently have an Octavia VRS and I'm surprised to see them mentioned here. I love mine and find the seats perfect, even on long journeys.

Same here, but my arse width is clearly on the top end of what the seats are designed for. If I have anything in my pockets the side bolsters start to get uncomfortable so I can see anyone wider than me might well not like them.

[BrettMRC]

Pre-Facelift Outlander PHEV, and lower spec versions of the current one.

[CharlieAlphaMike]

You would think the standard multi adjustable leather Recaro's in a Ford Mondeo ST220 I owned a few years ago would have been extremely comfortable. They weren't. Quite the opposite in fact. The worst 'Numb Bum' seats in any car I've ever owned/driven.

[thecremeegg]

For me, every car seat I've ever had has been uncomfortable - might be the fact I'm 6'5 and they clearly aren't designed for me.
Tried sitting in a new Z4 the other day with the sports seats - the fixed headrests came up to the top of my neck

[anonymous-user]

The standard seat in modern Audi's are horrendous bearing mind I have owned Audis for the last 15 years, the current one is a 2005 Audi S4 with recaro electric seats.

Due to known corrosion issues I was loaned a B8.5 A4 Avant and it was agony inducing, tried all the adjustments, even bought various cushions, etc to try and improve things. I did try and get it replaced but was I so glad to see the back of it.

As I am now considering replacing the S4, seat comfort is top of the list but Audi aren't..

The sports seats in 911 are lovely but they should be shouldn't they.

[NewUsername]

I'd say a lot of this is down to driving position as much as the seat in a lot of the examples given

[The Vambo]

NewUsername said:

I'd say a lot of this is down to driving position as much as the seat in a lot of the examples given

[Mr Whippy]

DoubleD said:

oceanview said:

DoubleD said:

BMW SE seats. I presume that these were made for, erm....a larger frame than I am.

I actually prefer the SE seats to the sports seats!

I don't like the extra bolstering on the sports seats ( and I am only 12.5 stone, 5'10") and I find the SE seats absolutely fine when pushing it through the bends over Exmoor.

If I could change one thing, it would be to make them cloth- I hate leather ( well vinyl in BMW), just like I hate leather sofas!

My dads Honda Civic velour seats would be ideal in my Z4 coupe!


As for the worse seats, a few months back, I had the misfortune to be a rear seat passenger in a hired Vauxhall Mokka- they were terrible- like sitting on church pews. Apparently not much better up front- not ideal for a 500 mile drive to Scotland!

I was sliding from left to right on SE seats in a Z4(the older one), they didn't hold me at all. But I found the sport seats were ok.

Z4 SE seats are horrible, not uncomfy per se, but useless to hold you in place.

The sport seats i retrofitted were better in every way and saved the car from being sold.

Those seats were very similar to E46 M3 seats too.

That entire generation of seats was good.

My E81 130i seats are soggy crap in comparison (but comfy enough)

The E90 sports seats in my 335Xd are nice, firm but soft.
Not sure why only 2 mem positions though, that’s stupid vs 3 on the older cars.


Fiesta ST Recaro seats were nice if you sat bolt upright but that felt daft, if you wanted to have a bit of lean then instant back ache ensued.
Every Ford Recaro I’ve sat in has been crap as they want you to sit like a rally driver but that in itself induced fatigue.


If I could take my old Z4 m sport mem seats with me to every new car I would!

[Sporky]

NewUsername said:

I'd say a lot of this is down to driving position as much as the seat in a lot of the examples given

I'm inclined to think that most grown-ups are capable of adjusting a chair to suit them, if it can be so adjusted.

Certainly with the Mondeo (which everyone else at the company was fine with) I did my best on my own, then tried the ROSPA and Recaro guidelines on adjusting a car seat, and had Occupational Health look at it. They just didn't fit me.

[NewUsername]

Sporky said:

NewUsername said:

I'd say a lot of this is down to driving position as much as the seat in a lot of the examples given

I'm inclined to think that most grown-ups are capable of adjusting a chair to suit them, if it can be so adjusted.
.

Two things

1) I understand that sometimes the position cant be adjusted to be correct - this isn't the fault of the seat its'self though and with that in mind my point stands

2) i do not agree that most grown ups are capable of adjusting the chair to the correct position, I doubt that 50% of the people I know even know the 'correct' position let alone bother to get their car set in it. Having had a bad back most of my adult life I know the difference that a tiny adjustment to driving position can make can be huge and its worthwhile pursuing the best solution :-)

[Alex_225]

roverspeed said:

I have an Insignia SRI, complete with "sport seats" and I find them very comfortable for me.

Exactly the model I hired. Surrey to Devon via a stop off in South Gloucestershire and I was comfortable the whole time. Did a few hundred miles driving round the other week and over 200+ miles there and back, I was genuinely impressed.

I was impressed with the overall car too, not just the seats.

[A Winner Is You]

My dad had a B Max until recently and they were utterly awful, like sitting on a church pew.

[Pig benis]

Any new Mini with the leather seats option. My gf has a new Mini Cooper S, and whilst the seats are supportive when cornering, they are incredibly uncomfortable on any trip over 1hr.

Within 45 mins my lower back is aching and my shoulders are starting to ache.

My first car - Citroen Saxo in poverty spec had way better seats. Strange really when the Saxo was 5k, and the Mini was over 20k.. both secondhand prices..