Topic: seat comfort

[dorin]

Interesting.  I have consistently found Mazda seats to be more comfortable than other Japanese brands.  I am particularly not fond of Toyota seats (no side support, and over-soft) and I've also found Honda Civic seat to be on the too short side.

I had a rental VW Routan in Italy and can't say that I particularly cared for the seats.  They were okay but not any better than my Mazda 3's.

As for the problem here, I think it ought to be possible to transplant seats from pretty much any car into a Mazda 3.  With a little bit of work it should be reasonably easy to make the seat rails match.  If VW seats are what she wants, then get a VW seat from a scrapped car and get someone to fit it to the Mazda 3.  That strikes me as the cheapest option.

[hoss]

No one will believe this but the most comfortable sears I've ever owned for my big butt, was in a 1996 Ford Aerostar XLT  They where awesome as for the rest of the van???  I have spent days in cars from Toyota, Honda VW, Mazda, Acura, Ford, Chev, etc.  The worst seats ever,  A Chev A series wagon,  we called the "welfare wagon" (sorry if I insulted anyone on welfare).  The seats felt like it was two sheets of plywood nailed together with fuzz on it.  The damn thing ran for ever, just to torture me.

[safristi]

..yer just a lot O' BUMS...................................small ones....skinny Ones...generous ones   padded ones.......bony ones....J LO ones..................also the shape of yer GUT & BACK has a LOT to do with your COMFORT on long trips as does walkie breaks to give the spine a rest.........as does your seat & steering wheel settings .......i'm sure some amateur ERGOgnomists can chip in 'ere.......................

[sirAQUAMAN64]

I don't understand how seats could be so bad.

Was talking seats to a co-worker - specifically the length of the bottom cushion, and she has the opposite problem to me being 5'-nothing... she finds many too long. Guess you can't please them all.

Most Euro seats are excellent, and offer lots of adjustability. Find the VWs great in general, as well as the compact utilities like Tiguan, Forester, and the new '10 Equinox. The G8's seats are fantastic - long cushion which is angled well, but the car isn't for everyone - certainly not best for Winter climates. Versa has a completely different high density foam wide cushion seat, but I can see the appeal. The Elantra Touring's seats weren't all that bad either - typically find Hyundai seat cushions flat and unsupportive to the lower leg.

I don't get how people buy such big ticket items without spending some time behind the wheel. When I used to sell I'd have people wanting to buy without a test drive and I'd almost find myself wanting to push them into one, then figured why the heck am I bothering?

Question whether seats can be swapped so easily these days with torso air bags and other electronics, even if the seat tracks could be retrofitted.

[superukr]

I think SAAB holds #1 spot on seat comfort. even my GM 9-5 have most comfortable seat I ever sat in. I have tried many merc, bimer, vag, volvo. Usually it's #2 in my requirement list, it is easy to do while checking cars during car shows.
Worst seats are in newest ford, nissan, mazda,mitsu, those are remind me wooden benches.

[toolatecrew]

Since S40/Mazda 3 share a common platform I wonder if an S40 seat swap would be possible? You likley would lose any seat side airbag function but it might be worthwhile looking into. We had a V50 and I drove a 3 for a week and I can say there was a big difference in seats.

Volvo has always made some of the most comfortable long distance seats I've been in.

Most confortable sports seats (that I spent extended time with) were always the seats on my 83 GLI..until now. the seats in my 08 GTI are the best in a less than 40 K car I have found.

Worst seats? 98 neon by far. early 2000 era Corrola was a close 2nd.

I'd seriously look at a seat swap. The depreciation hit would be substantial.

[spicaphone]

We had a Volks Fox 4 door GL and took a trip from Quebec to Florida and back and found the seats very comfortable. I think you could find those in a scrap yard for cheap as those cars were not the greatest but, the seats were the same as in the volks quantom I believe .very comfy. Nice material too..

[TopGun]

I don't get how people buy such big ticket items without spending some time behind the wheel.

Going through this now with the RX-8.  How are you able to spend an hour or two in the car you're buying?

Question whether seats can be swapped so easily these days with torso air bags and other electronics, even if the seat tracks could be retrofitted.

Excellent point...the RX-8 has the airbags in the seat.  My insurance said there is no way they'd pay out anything if an injury happened, and an "active safety device was modified in any way".

Give Gary a ring - he does all kinds of seat adjustments by removing or installing padding.  http://www.diamondtrim.com/about.html

Interestingly, he told me his biggest business is "softening-up" BMW seats.

[RunsinLight]

I've never test drove any car I've bought and have been very happy with the end results. Lol

[safristi]

so you have BEEN UNHAPPY with them all...........................

[ovr50]

I've never test drove any car I've bought and have been very happy with the end results. Lol

Then you have been very lucky indeed................

[y2chuck]

I was planning on getting a compact car before finding the Mustang and found the Rabbit and Astra had the most comfortable seats out of all the cars I tried.  The new 3's seats are much better than the previous gen IMO, but the Rabbit/Astra seats were fantastic.

[rrocket]

I don't get how people buy such big ticket items without spending some time behind the wheel.

Going through this now with the RX-8.  How are you able to spend an hour or two in the car you're buying?

Question whether seats can be swapped so easily these days with torso air bags and other electronics, even if the seat tracks could be retrofitted.

Excellent point...the RX-8 has the airbags in the seat.  My insurance said there is no way they'd pay out anything if an injury happened, and an "active safety device was modified in any way".

Give Gary a ring - he does all kinds of seat adjustments by removing or installing padding.  http://www.diamondtrim.com/about.html

Interestingly, he told me his biggest business is "softening-up" BMW seats.

Or you could find a set of the (supposedly) very good RX-8 R3 seats.  Those would be plug and play, no??

[TopGun]

Or you could find a set of the (supposedly) very good RX-8 R3 seats.  Those would be plug and play, no??
[/quote]

Possible...they're even more agressive.  I have found lots of the other seats, but not the R3 one's.

[rrocket]

Or maybe getting them re-done (memory foam?) to fit your candy-ass??   

[Erik]

Saab seats are number 1 and Volvo always took seating seriously too, even if I never got the amount of room in the newer Volvos that I need. I would put the German cars in second, with the NA cars being a very hit and miss third. VERY few Japanese cars and seats have fit my 6'4 frame comfortably. Having bad knees, the lack of under thigh support was always a killer with their shorter seat bottoms.

The G37 seat is pretty nice tho, with the adjustable under thigh support.

[safristi]

...Mammary Foam.................I'm IN........................

[TopGun]

Or maybe getting them re-done (memory foam?) to fit your candy-ass??   

Well I'm touched that you noticed.   

There's not much there to play with (the seat that is!)...there's a plastic piece that essentially forms the thigh bolster...so there's not much to take out.

The seat dude didn't recommend adding to it either.