Civic Tourer - Driving position that doesn't hurt

[Johnny Longstaff]

Anyone got any bright ideas or did I buy the wrong car. I've never had this problem before but I can't find a comfortable position to drive in in our Civic, it makes my back and legs hurt after about 45 minutes. Seems daft as I don't have the same problem in our Jazz, didn't in the Roomster either. I'm driving on a cushion at the moment which helps. I think the seat base is too steeply angled and too short for me. Anyone got any bright ideas or had a similar experience and solved a similar problem or do I take the pain of getting rid and starting again.

[RSTurboPaul]

You could change the seats for ones you know are comfortable, although there will likely be warning lights on the dash to deal with if there are seat sensors / airbags.

[EmailAddress]

Back, you're probably too far from steering wheel if it's towards shoulders. Lower may be seat base tilted too far back (high at front).

Explain your leg pain.

[Chris_i8]

Funnily enough we bought a 2017 CRV for the other half to do a fair chunk of commuting miles in last year, after a couple of weeks we worked out that the leg and shoulder pain she was experiencing was due to the CRV seat.

No amount of fine tuning the driving position worked so it was replaced with a non M-sport BMW - problem solved in her case.

As an aside I didn't experience any pain from the seats but I did find myself fidgeting about if I was in the car for more than about 20mins.

[Johnny Longstaff]

EmailAddress said:

Back, you're probably too far from steering wheel if it's towards shoulders. Lower may be seat base tilted too far back (high at front).

Explain your leg pain.

Thanks, you are correct it is the seat base which is too high at the front. There is no way to adjust the angle. The angle stays the same however high or low the seat is. The leg pain varies, can be sciatic nervy but can also be across the middle of both hamstrings. Wife is a physio and has had a look at me and the seat, and she thinks seat base angle, length of seat base and whole seat bolstering and lack of adjustability. She was also kind enough to say it isn't 'cos I'm fat, but just too big for the seat bolsters

[Johnny Longstaff]

Chris_i8 said:

Funnily enough we bought a 2017 CRV for the other half to do a fair chunk of commuting miles in last year, after a couple of weeks we worked out that the leg and shoulder pain she was experiencing was due to the CRV seat.

No amount of fine tuning the driving position worked so it was replaced with a non M-sport BMW - problem solved in her case.

As an aside I didn't experience any pain from the seats but I did find myself fidgeting about if I was in the car for more than about 20mins.

Interesting that I am not alone then. think the fidgeting is probably the first sign of trouble. I didn't test drive it for long enough to find out - oops.

[RSTurboPaul]

Johnny Longstaff said:

EmailAddress said:

Back, you're probably too far from steering wheel if it's towards shoulders. Lower may be seat base tilted too far back (high at front).

Explain your leg pain.

Thanks, you are correct it is the seat base which is too high at the front. There is no way to adjust the angle. The angle stays the same however high or low the seat is. The leg pain varies, can be sciatic nervy but can also be across the middle of both hamstrings. Wife is a physio and has had a look at me and the seat, and she thinks seat base angle, length of seat base and whole seat bolstering and lack of adjustability. She was also kind enough to say it isn't 'cos I'm fat, but just too big for the seat bolsters

Sounds like you need a wedge-shaped cushion to reduce the base angle, although you might then find the lumbar support (if any?!) in the wrong place.

[Johnny Longstaff]

I'm currently sitting on a cushion to have the same effect as the wedge, the lumbar support isn't great and doesn't adjust. At the moment we're thinking sell it and start again. I know this isn't ideal, whatever we have we are planning on keeping until it dies or ICE is taxed off the road.