[lajoiedp]

I have had my 718 now for about 5 weeks and have put on just under 900 miles so far. I have the 14 way seats and I find myself still adjusting them to my liking almost every time I get in the car. I just haven’t found that sweet spot yet. How long did it take you to settle on a permanent seat position?

 

[GTS]

I have the two-way manual seats in my car. It took about 60 seconds to adjust to a comfortable position - lower the seat to the floor, slide back until my legs were comfortable, adjust the recline position so that I'm sitting pretty straight up. Done.

I would probably still be fiddling with my seat position if I had the 14 or 18 way seats, too.

 

[aeronca65tl]

I'm OK with mine (manual seats / base car). I've been driving my car a lot in the last few days.

Today I made a two hour run to Asbury Park, NJ and my 67 year-old back wasn't happy after about 90 minutes. I tried a rolled up towel in my lumbar area and that helped. I'm looking at lumbar cushions on Amazon right now.

This may be just an issue with me and my slightly wonky back....but the discomfort is more pronounced in this car as compared to our Honda, my truck or even my MGB

 

[Choppen]

I have a base 718 with 2way seats. It is coming to 10000 miles...One trip of 3200 miles in 6 days. The seats worked well ( down on the floor, 1/2 forward, pretty upright). But I did pick up a thing called an egg seat (google it). It is very comfortable and cool, and it makes lumbar support unnecessary (for me).

 

[Tailwagger]

I have the 14 ways as well. One of the problems with so much adjustability is too many variables. Took me a little while to get everything together... especially as I hadn't realized initially there was a set to key function and things kept reseting each time I got in the car. I guess, I'd ask whats actually bothering you that you feel the need to keep twiddling?

Typically I start with setting with leg position. I make sure I'm comfortable with the arc for pressing the pedals. Slight knee bend with the clutch fully depressed. I normally concur with first dropping the seat to the rails, but I have found that the arc of the clutch pedal in my CS has me with the seat slightly elevated. Once happy with how the lower half of the body aligns to the pedals, I try to find the optimal seat back angle both for comfort and vision. From there, I stop mucking with the seat and adjust the steering wheel, by a general rule of thumb, which is to be able to stretch your arms over the wheel and have your wrist fall on the top of the wheel. That typical gets one a little closer to the wheel than some might prefer, particularly in the air bag era, but its what I prefer. Key point is that the relationship between the upper body and steering wheel isn't fixed on either end. Perhaps its obvious, but often its easy to forget that adjusting one's driving position isn't limited to shunting the seat around. After all that I'll do the lumbar.

Despite having only had the car for a bit over a week, I've done several 3 hour+ stints in it. No back pain or discomfort, at all. The only accommodation I make on a long drive is that given the ultra firm seating, I move my wallet from back to front pocket. Otherwise it tends to make my butt sore and slight torque my driving position to the left.

 

[lajoiedp]

I have the 14 ways as well. One of the problems with so much adjustability is too many variables. Took me a little while to get everything together... especially as I hadn't realized initially there was a set to key function and things kept reseting each time I got in the car. I guess, I'd ask whats actually bothering you that you feel the need to keep twiddling?

Typically I start with setting with leg position. I make sure I'm comfortable with the arc for pressing the pedals. Slight knee bend with the clutch fully depressed. I normally concur with first dropping the seat to the rails, but I have found that the arc of the clutch pedal in my CS has me with the seat slightly elevated. Once happy with how the lower half of the body aligns to the pedals, I try to find the optimal seat back angle both for comfort and vision. From there, I stop mucking with the seat and adjust the steering wheel, by a general rule of thumb, which is to be able to stretch your arms over the wheel and have your wrist fall on the top of the wheel. That typical gets one a little closer to the wheel than some might prefer, particularly in the air bag era, but its what I prefer. Key point is that the relationship between the upper body and steering wheel isn't fixed on either end. Perhaps its obvious, but often its easy to forget that adjusting one's driving position isn't limited to shunting the seat around. After all that I'll do the lumbar.

Despite having only had the car for a bit over a week, I've done several 3 hour+ stints in it. No back pain or discomfort, at all. The only accommodation I make on a long drive is that given the ultra firm seating, I move my wallet from back to front pocket. Otherwise it tends to make my butt sore and slight torque my driving position to the left.

I'm not having any issues with the seat comfort, just finding myself tweaking the variables a little each time I get in the car, although the amount of tweaking is getting less and less with every ride.

 

[CDH]

I found this article very useful in getting the 14 way seats set right, with a few tweaks:

Recaro guide

 

[blk18tq]

I have the two way seats and been having issues, maybe because of my long torso, I find myself fitting to rest my left arm on top of the door panel..
I don't like to sit low, i like to see the road far and near, I feel more in control. if its not finding the right sweet spot wasn't enough, I find it hard getting out of the seat!
LOL! im 41, Im not that old.. or am I

 

[Choppen]

blk18tq: I am twice your age, and I slide the seat all the way back each time I exit my 718. Enter/drive might be useful for this reason, but I find the base seats worth this minor inconvenience considering weight and cost of 14 way. My Macan S has 14 way seats with enter/drive, and I don't find much difference in seat comfort and convenience between the two....but yoga does help....

 

[GregW]

<snips>
Typically I start with setting with leg position. ... After all that I'll do the lumbar.

Good set-up process.
14-way here too (with memory).
I just kept making and saving corrections as I noticed them and pretty soon there weren't any to make.

<snips>The only accommodation I make on a long drive is that given the ultra firm seating, I move my wallet from back to front pocket. Otherwise it tends to make my butt sore and slight torque my driving position to the left.

:laugh:
A number of years ago I was told about the many money making medical treatments for "hip pocket sciatica". What you did was the prevention of the problem and is free!

 

[Viffermike]

A number of years ago I was told about the many money making medical treatments for "hip pocket sciatica". What you did was the prevention of the problem and is free!

I stopped putting my wallet in my back pocket in my late 20s (I'm 48 now) -- mainly for safety reasons while traveling, but for this very reason as a secondary one. I now carry only 5-6 cards and a few cash bills held together by a binder clip -- still the best money clip I've ever come across. It's ghetto, but it's minimal and stupid easy to deal with.

BTW: I have the 14-way power seats. I'm like most others: I futzed with the settings for a couple of weeks, and haven't touched it since except when someone clears the key memory (car wash, dealer) -- in which case I simply press the '1' memory button to return to seat settings, reset everything else, then hit the 'key' button. Easy peasy.