Being able to adjust the driver’s seat is important to ensure safe driving, but how much adjustment do we really need?
Take, for example, Lincoln’s Perfect Position seats that offer 30 different adjustments:
- 6 ways to adjust track
- 2 ways to recline
- 4 ways to adjust head restraint
- 2 ways to adjust upper back bolster support
- 4 ways to adjust …
Paging JG, paging JG.
I know in my heart that 30 is far too much. I feel like I would spend far too much time fiddling with the seats only to get it "almost right."
Besides the forward/backward and up/down (powered, of course), I'd just like to be able to adjust the bolster for my back.
'80s Toyotas had like two adjustments and they were perfect. This Lincoln seems to have nearly 25,000 possible combinations of adjustment, none of which matter if the seats suck to begin with.
Forward/backward, up/down, maybe a little seat base tilt action, seat back angle, headrest position and the rare-but-game-changing lumbar adjustment are all I would ask for even in a luxury model.
The steering wheel adjustments can get you the rest of the way there in terms of comfortable driving position.
If the seat is properly designed from the start, 2 will do.
The VW has 6-way seats. They are pretty comfortable. But then the wife drives it and changes everything and I can never seem to get it back where it was before. I've been tempted to set the seat and pull the fuse. That way she thinks it's broken and drives something else.
As long as the seat memory works, I'm ok with that 30.
Nicole Suddard said:Forward/backward, up/down, maybe a little seat base tilt action, seat back angle, headrest position and the rare-but-game-changing lumbar adjustment are all I would ask for even in a luxury model.
The steering wheel adjustments can get you the rest of the way there in terms of comfortable driving position.
This nailed it!!!
Toyman! said:If the seat is properly designed from the start, 2 will do.
The VW has 6-way seats. They are pretty comfortable. But then the wife drives it and changes everything and I can never seem to get it back where it was before. I've been tempted to set the seat and pull the fuse. That way she thinks it's broken and drives something else.
I'm surprised something that fancy doesn't have seat memory. If there are no visible buttons for it, it could be based on the key fob - do you both use the same one?
In reply to eastsideTim :
You have to get the Lux to have seat memory. I rather strongly didn't want leather, air ride, a glass roof to leak, or any of the other useless garbage that the Lux had. I'll deal with the seat so I don't have to deal with the rest of the crap.
Spent the weekend installing E38 sport/contour seats in my E39 and like however many adjustments they have is correct.
Had a 2020ish big Lincoln in the shop yesterday and the seats are incredible
Seat adjustment numbers are listed in 1-way adjustments of each direction individually, even though we think of them in 2-way adjustments of both directions. So forward/backwasrd is 2 adjustments. So I think when people here say '2 adjustments' they mean '4-way adjustable' in manufacturer marketeering speak.
Alternatively, this means that there are 15 types of 2-way power adjustments on those seats. Looking through the list, it's easy to see what they all are. Consider that they also typically only count the 'power' adjustments when the talk about X-way power seats. So manual adjustments, like your headrest height (and angle on newer cars) isn't counted like it is here.
While it's easy to say that fewer adjustments are needed the closer you are to the 'ideal fit' the seat was designed around, the further your body lies outside of that design the better this will be. For a luxury car to fit the widest possible range of bodies, I can see pretty much all of them having reasonable value. I like the thigh and lower bolster adjustments on my BMW seats. I wish my BMW 'sport' seats (that fanboi's rave about) even had upper bolsters, which would then need to be adjustable to not piss off fluffier buyers, and I'd love to be able to make my cushion bolstering more aggressive. So as far as I see it, these 'extra' adjustments aren't nearly as bad as the 'clickbait' number instinctively sounds.
But yes, the more adjustments you have, the more important memory functions become. With memory, I'd rock those 30-way in a heartbeat, but without memory 10-way are already too many when MIL is in town and borrows a car.
My E46 sport seats were just about perfect:
However, the only drawback was that they were manual, so they didn't have memory.
The V70 is similar, and is power with memory. I don't need anything more than that.
All I need is forward and back (I like to sit close to the wheel, but need space for my lanky frame), up and down (all the way down - almost always), and tilt (I like to sit straight up, though). It doesn't need to be electric, either.
I find the more these seats get "advanced," the higher they get, which means much less room for my noggin.
Nicole Suddard said:Forward/backward, up/down, maybe a little seat base tilt action, seat back angle, headrest position and the rare-but-game-changing lumbar adjustment are all I would ask for even in a luxury model.
The steering wheel adjustments can get you the rest of the way there in terms of comfortable driving position.
This nailed it!!!
42?
The seats in my BRZ are pretty nice, I just can't get them low enough.
That's my big thing with ANY car. I want the seat nice and low so I feel like I'm in the car instead of on the car.
My e36 Vaders are uncomfortable heavy seats, but the adjustability is perfect+
Fore/Aft
Up/Down
Tilt
Backrest Angle
And then for some reason:
Thigh Bolster
madmrak351 said:Nicole Suddard said:Forward/backward, up/down, maybe a little seat base tilt action, seat back angle, headrest position and the rare-but-game-changing lumbar adjustment are all I would ask for even in a luxury model.
The steering wheel adjustments can get you the rest of the way there in terms of comfortable driving position.
This nailed it!!!
We heard you the first time.
alfadriver said:As long as the seat memory works, I'm ok with that 30.
Agreed, that is probably my favorite feature in my GC.
More adjustments are good if they are intelligently-designed. Adjustments for the sake of claiming you have all the adjustments isn't worth much. I'm 6'2" so many non-adjustable seats suck for me. There are a few that are key for me: 4-way lumbar adjustment, length and/or angle of the bottom cushion, and headrest height. Lumbar support too low isn't good, a seatback that stops mid-shoulder-blade isn't good, and a bottom cushion that doesn't fully support your thighs isn't good for long-distance driving comfort.
I realize the world isn't built around outliers, but I also always find it a little amusing how many people in the 5'6" to 5'10" ballpark tell me it can't be as big a deal as I make it out to be. 
Caveat...I also sell aftermarket automotive seats for a living, and regularly get to see people 6'4" and/or 4'11" on the verge of tears of joy when I get them in a properly-adjusted seat for what might be the first time in their life. Totally makes my day! 
Does anyone "use" a headrest? My head never touches it unless im trying to or if im stretching. I assumed it was more for protection from your head whipping in a wreck. I like manual seats.
with all those adjustments, the seat assy must weigh a ton. My e36 power seats were stupid heavy. The manual ones i swapped in were lighter but still pretty heavy.
Every manufacturer should just copy 2nd gen CRX Si seats; those were perfect.
I'm a big fan of memory systems for this. You ca spend a bunch of time initially and then when you have it nailed, save the settings.
Only potential issue is one I came across - I also set the seats in our Z4M for my wife in case she ever had to drive the car. All was well until I got into the car once and mistakenly hit the wrong button and the seat tried to fold me into a compressed wife-sized bundle which pretty much left me unable to reach the buttons again....
wspohn said:I'm a big fan of memory systems for this. You ca spend a bunch of time initially and then when you have it nailed, save the settings.
Only potential issue is one I came across - I also set the seats in our Z4M for my wife in case she ever had to drive the car. All was well until I got into the car once and mistakenly hit the wrong button and the seat tried to fold me into a compressed wife-sized bundle which pretty much left me unable to reach the buttons again....
Memory! Yes! This! I love that when getting into the Z4 after Mrs P3PPY I can press the appropriate button while I'm getting in and it will go through its contortions while I'm getting buckled, etc.
It wasn't until I got a minivan with height adjustment that I realized I'd always wanted that. Never have found lumbar useful.
The one I want more range in are steering wheel adjustments. I want one that will almost sit in my lap so on long drives I can rest my hand on my knee and steer with a finger or two. Or hold it with my knee if needed.
You'll need to log in to post.
