Upgrading seats

[pb33]

I love my 2004 W211 E320 CDI Avantgarde Estate. It's great in every way......except the seats! I find it impossible to get a decent driving position with sufficient support. I do consider myself "average" at 5'11".

Is it possible to upgrade the standard seats in the W211?

Cheers!
Paul

 

[jberks]

err - aside from putting in some with the massage function and cooling fans I don't think so. In any case, those extras wouldn't resolve your issue.
I remember watching something a few years ago on this subject. Manufacturers spend fortunes getting the seat design right. We then adjust them and complain we're not comfortable. They had an expert look at the way people were sitting. In most cases, they were set in ways that would cause pressure in the wrong places and give back pain. People tend to set seats so that they are comfortable, rather than in the right position for the controls. It tends to be that the seating position that we are comfortable in, in terms of how upright etc, is innapropriate for the design of the car. We switch from another car into this one and subconciously try to replicate the seating but of course, the wheel and pedals are at different places so we twist to accomodate this and get pain as a result.

I usually find whatever car I get is less comfortable than the last one as a result. So, what I do is to position myself in a way that doesn't feel 'natural' but fits the rules in terms of arms straight out, slightly bent at the elbows etc
After a while this feels natural and on you go again...
All I can say is I'm fine in my 04 E class now, although I wasn't originally. Im 6'00 so the same really and a tad overweight but not that much.

 

[Bolide]

Have a look at the Recaro website. Recaro make seat bases and seats to fit most cars and have a great range of seats including orthopaedic models

You might find problems fitting aftermarket seats if your car has seat-mounted airbags & lots of technology but if anyone can make it work Recaro can. Their top model has a side airbag and electric adjustment

http://www.recaro.com/index.php?id=1021

Because the bases are separate you can remove the seat from the car when you sell it, replace the original and re-use the Recaro in your next car with the appropriate base. I had a pair of Recaros in three different cars this way


Nick Froome
www.w124.co.uk