Hi all,
I am in the process of buying a SDV6 MY15.5 SE with Dynamic. We have taken for a couple of test drives and put down a $2k deposit, to be finalized in a month or so . Wifey is not too happy with the front seat, though, ...she has previously had lower back injury and the seats seem to aggravate her condition. (previous car is MY06 Volvo XC90, which has much softer seats) .
So, in order to keep the RRS, I need to come up with something that will provide her more comfort. Something like a pad or cushion designed to suit the seat, maybe including back cushioning as well, that can be moved easily from the passenger seat to the driver's seat as required. Anybody know of anything suitable ? Thanks in advance for your assistance.

A new wife.

Unfortunately my wife has the same problems saying the RRS seats are uncomfortable, more so on long journeys.
Haven't found a solution, cushions haven't helped either.  John

RRS MY12 SDV6 HSE. Sumatra Black/Ebony & Walnut + Dynamic Pack, + Cold Climate Pack + Memory Pack, Digital TV/DVD, Premium Leather, Cornering Lights, Cooler/Fridge Box, & most Options.

Thanks Johnski,
I have since spoken to an auto-upholsterer (been in business over 30 years, so might be ok) who has said that he can remove the cover off the seat base, insert padding to suit wifey while she is there and confirms it is ok, and then replace the cover - he says most times the cover will fit back again, otherwise they can add bits of leather to make up the difference. I may go down this path if a cushion does not work for her.
Also wondering if perhaps the seat bases in L405 are any softer and if they will fit in L494 - anybody have this sort of detail knowledge? The seats in the L494 I am getting do not have heating or cooling, which may help.

I agree with your wife Greg. The seats are less comfortable than the old L320 seats. Something you do not fully appreciate until after you have taken delivery. the re-upholstery route sounds like a good plan.

I will be very interested in how that goes, and if your wife is happier.
In this day and age you would think "comfort" seats would be an option. The Velar seats are meant to be worst of all.  John

RRS MY12 SDV6 HSE. Sumatra Black/Ebony & Walnut + Dynamic Pack, + Cold Climate Pack + Memory Pack, Digital TV/DVD, Premium Leather, Cornering Lights, Cooler/Fridge Box, & most Options.

I will be watching this with interest too.... I broke my neck playing rugby and get referred pain in my lower back and hip. The L494 is definitely not a comfortable seat no matter what seat position it goes into. 2016 RRS Autobiography - 4.4 TDV8 - Santorini Black with Ivory Leather - Grey Alloys - A few toys

Black Bess wrote:

I agree with your wife Greg. The seats are less comfortable than the old L320 seats. Something you do not fully appreciate until after you have taken delivery. the re-upholstery route sounds like a good plan.

seats on my AB are very comfortable, but not so much on the HSE spec loan car I got recently. My 11 year old said 'these seats are hard' the moment she sat on it. I know they have different leather, but could leather alone could make such a difference, not sure.

Coming from a new shape fullfat, my Svr seats are much less comfortable, I haven't experimented much tbh but I have a few long journeys coming up which will be the acid test . Being a rather rangey individual getting comfortable can be a chore.

Always felt very comfortable in the full size .





Regards

James how is the SVR? I heard the seats in that are better than the other Sports seats obviously not! SVR 2018 in Santorini Black.

Evil! The Noise is anyway so is The fuel economy Whilst I think of it! Got a couple
Of trips planned it's been couple of miles here and there apart from that !

Just booked it in for a detail and ceramic coating , it's living a generally pampered life at the moment.

The jury's out on the seats 💺, once I ve properly fiddled with them and cracked some miles will report back. They definitely aren't as comfortable as the full fat ones though .

IMO there is definitely a lack of padding in these even when paying extra for a premium leather option.
So many other vehicles now that are becoming more comfortable and RRS is going in the opposite way, so has the Velar to! John

RRS MY12 SDV6 HSE. Sumatra Black/Ebony & Walnut + Dynamic Pack, + Cold Climate Pack + Memory Pack, Digital TV/DVD, Premium Leather, Cornering Lights, Cooler/Fridge Box, & most Options.

Hi, just revisiting this thread as I have now collected my car. Very nice drive. So in the meantime, and as a plan D or thereabouts, I have been looking at the WorkShop Manual and seen that if a car has cooling in the seats, then the stack of padding above the base frame and indeed the cover itself all have different part numbers to seats that have no cooling, and in fact there looks to be more padding in cooled seats from looking at the manual, so I am thinking that if worst comes to worse, I can acquire a set of padding and covers for the cooled seats and swap those in (not cheap) .
Can anyone with cooled seats let me know if they think that their seats have more padding than seats without cooling?

Next step for me will likely be to visit the auto-upholsterer, even though wifey's back has improved a bit lately.

GregP

A couple of years ago I got my dealer to replace the drivers seat leather (base part which you sit on) and the foam underneath under warranty. The leather was replaced because they got it dirty during a long stayover at the Dealership and the foam because the seat edge on the door side did not have the same resiliance as the other side by the centre console (i.e it was too soft). They allowed me to install both items (which I still have not done). What surprised me was the design of the foam piece. There are recesses in the foam on both sides running from front to back. The recesses are so deep there is insufficient material (top to bottom) to give the foam any degree of strength. The foam which I received (in the original manufacturers box and sealed in a plastic box had tears 50mm deep from the front where these two recesses reside. I think these tears would have occured in the manufacturing process when the foam was removed from the mould used to form it.
The other design issue I noticed with my car was the powered lumber support. When it was pumped up it distorted the leather very badly so when the pressure was released the leather was not taut but very baggy.

Hi, so we have been to the upholsterer and had our front seats modified.
Al, the main guy, did a great job. First dealt with the driver’s seat, taking it out so that he could get to all the clips for the coverings, then putting it back in while my wife tried various combinations of padding. We couldn’t get it just right using the foam padding he had in his shop, so we ducked out in the other car to get some memory foam.
He removed the plastic section towards the front of the seat base (the piece with all the holes in it – had to drill out the rivets). Also removed the wire work inside the seat base padding piece. We settled on a combination of small piece of foam to go where the plastic piece came out of, plus a piece of memory foam covering the whole seat base. Also a piece of memory foam, tapered in thickness, up inside the backrest.
Once we had it ok, we went away for a while during which he took the seat out again, glued the pieces together, reassembled the seat and put it back in the car, then he did the same recipe on the passenger seat. Driver’s seat is now super soft, passengers seat seems a little firmer than the driver’s seat (but still a lot softer than original) even though supposedly same padding combination was used. Some smell of glue in the cabin but should dissipate fairly quickly. Overall quite pleased with the result.
Some photos below.
Driver’s seat removed from car:

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