iDLe*

Anyone else find the seats really badly uncomfortable?

Any tips on how I should set-up my dring position as it really p*sses me off. I have an 02 Bug and the wheels moves and the seat goes up and down but it hurts!

Had a Golf before and I never moved the seat position for 2 years!

Nexuas

Not sure how to find the best seat postion.

I have a classic and have found the seats really comfortable, but I got a 03 model as a curtesy car while mine was serviced and by the end of the day I had crippling back ache, think it must be the newer style seats?

iDLe*

Yep - crippling pain in lower back, all it needs is one of those pump out supports and I'd be fine

scoobypig

scooby seats are awful. The buckets feel good initially but have zero lumbar support.I used to have a towel behind my lower back which helped but still not a patch on golf seats.
The big non reach adjustable st wheel doesn't help either.
Only real solution is recaros but they never bothered to make adaptors for the new age car.
Always amazes me more people don't find this a problem.

iDLe*

Yeah was wondering, seen a lot of other SIAL's on here and thought this would be one of em taking into account the amount of grief my back has taken!

PPPMAT

Back pain was bad for me after I did it in at the gym....I found that reclining the seat back slightly helped a lot

Matt

JohnS

iTrader: (1)

This was a big complaint when Imprezas first started to get popular here in the UK. The solution for most people is:

a) Have the seat in the most upright position, ie do not recline it backwards.

b) Adjust the position of the seat so that with your arms stretched out in front of you, and your shoulders still relaxed against the back of the chair, your wrists can rest comfortable on the top of the steering wheel without you having to stretch forwards.

c) If you have height adjustable seats, the adjust these to suit.

d) Most people find the steering wheel is best in the most topright position, and not any lower down.

If you are used to a more reclined/realxed driving position, you might feel that you are too close to the steering wheel etc. You will get used to this.

What people don't realise when drving a Golf for example, is that the steering loads (more power assistance), and cornering forces are much much less than in an Impreza being driven quickly. If you adopt a "lazy" posture, with arms outstretched, then you'll find that to turn the steering wheel quickly you are using the muscles on your shoulders and back a lot more, with the result that if you don't have enough support you'll get chronic backache.

Next time you watch some WRC events on TV, look at how close some of the drivers are to the steering wheel. You'll find none of them use a position which leaves them with arms outstretched and struggling to reach to top of the wheel. You get a lot more leverage if you can turn the wheel whilst still having some flex in the arms, and it also takes less effort as well. It also means that if you hit a big bump which knocks the steering wheel, you can cope OK with it, rather than you ripping muscles in your arms and back as you try to hold onto the wheel

John

The Gilly

hopefully the sparco torinos I'm putting in my classic will sort this problem for me. I find the buckets really hurt :-(

iDLe*

Cheers for the tips - I'm off to set my seat up as suggested so thanks for taking the time to sort me out!

I'll let you know how it feels in a few days.

barneyrubble

Idle - I bust my back in a motorbike crash years ago and suffer daily, I don't find the seats too bad at all, they have quite a bit of Lumbar support but no adjustment and to be honest I think they are well designed. Problem is everyone is a different shape and size so it's just unfortunately your set up or shape/size/posture.

Tip for you though - I agree with JohnS, also make sure your seat is not in the lowest position because this can increase the tension in your ham strings and lower back as technically your legs are higher up in relation to your ****, so seat back not too upright (again can increase the strain on lower back), arms should be bent not straight when holding wheel and seat set at higher than the lowest setting (I set mine mid way).

If this doesn't work all you can do is mod the seat or change the car. Good luck m8.

Barney