My butt hurts : (
 

I just bought a brilliant silver 7 speed base model with sports package from Lou Fusz in Saint Louis. Lou is great; he picked me up from the airport personally and made the whole buying experience very pleasant. The car is also great! I am very happy with it – with one exception. I only test drove models with the touring package. I didn’t like any of the stock leather colors so I planed to reupholster the seats with Katzkins. I am also going to install an aftermarket audio system with GPS so didn’t see the point in upgrading things that were going to be thrown out anyway. The money saved by not opting for the touring package will easily cover the upgrades.

The base seats are a joke. Its almost like they are some kind of movie prop – it looks like a seat, but don’t try to sit in it. As soon as I sat down I could feel the metal rails against the sides of my legs. I am not big guy, maybe these seats just don’t fit me well. I had an S2000 and those seats are fantastic. After driving 810 miles back home my butt and back are a mess. I ended up sitting on my jacket to try to make it a little better. As soon as I got home I went to a fabric shop and bought a pair of poly pads that are typically used in patio furniture seat cushions. I removed my 370Z seats and added the new pads between the springs and the cushion and put the seats back in. It seems much better with the new pad in. I am going to wait until my *** feels better before I decide to move forward with the Katzkins or to look for some replacment seats.

Thats what she said! Sorry couldnt help it! But yea s2000 are awesome, thats why they are always getting jacked.

Man I never knew that about the base seats. My touring leather seats are fantastic, so comfy. If you want to try some uncomfortable seats, sit in an 04-07 STi, my 05 STi had some of the worst seats ever. Hard as heck felt like fabric wrapped cardbox boxes.

Scared me thought you had a prison/sodomy story or something.

i dont mind the seats at all, have you ever driven in a 99 miata? those seats are metal rails!

the seats seem very comfortable to me; but i am accustomed to smaller cars with wannabe recaro's

if you are coming from a truck or a luxury vehicle well ya i could understand the differences; s2k's seats werent too impressive to me; i have driven a 2002 s2k and it seemed similiar to the miata's to me

overall to each their own opinion which is why we have a forum; to me the seats are fine, not great but livable; i am in love with my car though; so bear (bare?) that in mind. my opinions are certainly biased

:facepalm: :D

Funny you should mention the Miata - I got a 1st year Miata in 1990 then the S2000 in 2000 and now the 370Z in 2010. Looks like I am on the new car every ten years plan. I wanted to get a coup for this decade, getting too much sun. The Miata seats were fine, basic but very comfortable.

Everybody is shaped a little differently. I am short at 5’6” and about 165ish. With the unmodified seat, it felt too soft and my butt sank in between the rails and they dug into the sides of my legs. It was like the springs were disconnected or the padding was missing. Not a hold you tight sorts car feel, more of a homeless person feeling.

Im saving my prison sodomy story for next week, its not as bad as the base level seats. :wtf2:

Maybe its a defect in your seat? I'm the same weight as you and the base seats feel great to me. I've been on road trips too and it doesn't bother me.

Yeah, I weigh about the same and I think the seats fit and feel great. I haven't done more than 2 1/2 hours straight, but I drive 45 minutes+ all the time and I don't have any issues. Even most of my passengers say how comfortable the seats are.

I haven't sat in a z with the base seats. I drove my car almost the same distance the day after I bought it and was experiencing a pain in my left leg after about two hours. I chalked it up to not being used to the seat. My daily driver is a Saturn and those seats couldn't be more different.
I have not had any discomfort since I've gotten accustomed to the z.
Hope the same goes for you.

:iagree:

love my seats, +1 on possible factory seat defect.

That's what she said.

No problem here with the seats.

:iagree: I love the base seats, very comfortable and snug for an average size guy in my opinion. Definitely don't feel any seat rails poking me, not even when throwing it around.

The one common denominator for all the problems I have ever had in my life is me ;)

Perhaps I have a defective butt. My passenger seat feels the same way. When Lou picked me up from the airport in his red Z that had the base seats coved with Katzkins. As soon as I got in his car I felt the rails and was hoping my car would not be the same. It may be that I have a narrow butt that just does not fit well with this seat. My girlfriend said the seat is ok for her but she is only 85 pounds and grew up sleeping on a dirt floor. (No she is not a 12 year old homeless girl; she is from a farming community in China and she is 13. :wtf2:)

I'm going to state the somewhat obvious. You should have test driven one with the base seats first.

I have a similar plan to you. I bought my Z completely base level, no frills. I have a friend who will help me re-upholster them in leather/alcantara. I don't find the seats uncomfortable, but they strike me as cheaper in appearance and less comfy than the touring seats. I'll eventually customize, but for now, I love sitting in the base seats and karting around in my baby. I doubt I'd drive it more than 4 hours straight without discomfort, but that goes for just about any sports car.

i too like the base seats...actually wanted the cloth one so got the base+sport package.

i only motor my z on the weekends 2hrs at a time so not sure about 800+ mile trip.

Rdav,this is what I noticed in a test drive of a touring model. This was with leather,,or the part leather seats.

The thigh bulsters where hitting on my but sides. I was like hummmmm. After a 4-5 hour trip what is my butt going to feel like?

I then took my hand and felt the bolster,, and it seemed very thin foam,, then you hit the metal frame !!!!!

Im a little bigger at 6-2 and 270,, but other wise the car is ok inside. I find the lack of storage the second problem.

Nice to see you fixxed it yourself. I have thought several times of taking a car/truck to a fabric shop and have them restuff the guts of the seats.

Another bad seat is the dodge ram,, that is fabric on top of a frame rail pretty much.

So I think Im passing on the 370z as my next car.

But congrats on getting it from Lou Fusz! Seems like he has the best deals around!

I also bought a base Z and had exactly the same problem as you. I even went to the chiropractor, who checked me to be sure nothing had been bruised or hurt. I had him sit in the car to analyze the problem. He said the padding was very thin and the metal was pressing against my hip bone. He suggested either extra padding or buying a Lexus. I opted to tke some time to try to get used to the seats and after a month or so, the problem seemed to go away. I had been bothered only on the left hip side for some reason. So now, when I get in the car I scootch over to the right just a bit and I don't seem to have any problem---but I was panicked for fear of having to sell this virtually new car at a large loss. I didn't like for the touring leather as much as the Katzkin offering, didn't need the power seats as I'm the car's only driver, didn't need them heated as I garage the car in winter and didn't care about the better sound system and other electronica on Touring because I don't know how to use it. I now have the black leather Katzkins installed and love the gorgeous red/black perforated insert portion of the seats. I fashioned a personalized logo for the headrest and am thrilled---actually it's sharper than Nissan's offering. So give it a little time. The base seats are quite modest. They should do better on a car this expensive. But I think your body will eventually adjust. I'm taking a 4 1/2 hour trip over Memorial Day and don't anticipate a problem. And don't feel badly about not doing your homework---I test drove 3 base Z's before buying and detected no problem with the seat during any of those test drives. Good luck.

i suppose for those long trips you can use those memory foam wedges/pads. they feel great.

www.autosportcatalog.com

Or memory foam seats! Sparco's feel great. I've done 800+ mile days in these and was still able to walk after..(and I'm no spring chicken!)......:tup:


http://images51.fotki.com/v1586/phot...MG_2163-vi.jpg

^^

Modshack, that is a beautiful interior ya got there, bud!

Just throwing this out there a century is 100 years, 10 years on the other hand is a decade.

But anyway to add to the actual topic, I have the base model I don't find the seats that bad but I do like the 350 ones a little better. Coming from the G37s I don't see that much of a difference, maybe because I'm in my 20s