Seat Comfort - or lack thereof....

[TheITGuy]

Hi

I've owned a 66 plate A4 TSI Sport with a manual gearbox, manual cloths seats, no lumbar adjustment, for the past 2 years.  The seat has always given me some upper back pain on longer journeys, which I sort of got used to.  Now I'm driving the car at lot more since some Covid restrictions have lifted and work has returned to pre-Covid levels, I'm experiencing more discomfort than ever.  I finished one particular week with:

• Aching upper back muscles
• Painful right neck and shoulder muscle
• Pain in the tendons underneath my upper legs
• Pain in my right buttock

I downloaded a really helpful article from Physiomed regarding adjustment of driving position and applied their advice, specifically:

• Inclining the front of the seat (it was previously quite flat as being short - 5" 6" - I was needing to reach the pedals!)  This was done on the assumption that my upper legs weren't being supported by the front of the seat, causing the pain in the underside of my legs
• Lowering the seat slightly
• Making the seat back more upright
• Moving the steering wheel a bit closer
• Lowering the seat belt mounting 

I am giving myself some time to get used to the new driving position and will see if any of these changes help.  My biggest concerns are the upper back support (which has been a problem throughout my time with the car) and the offset pedals causing my right leg to be at an odd angle.

I would welcome feedback from other A4 drivers, especially those with similar seats who are a bit "vertically challenged" like myself - are you able to get comfortable?  How about those of you with leather seats with lumbar support as fitted to later versions of the Sport model?

If this discomfort persists, I may have to sell the car, which is a real shame as in all other respects it is great.

Thanks

Glen

[Steve Q]

Hi Glen, I can get where you're coming from as I have a similar issue of lower back pain in my works Ford connect van. In my case I have to add something to support my back but I appreciate that's not possible in your case. 

[ANW194]

Hi, interested to know the outcome of this. Doesn’t look like anyone else has issues, is that correct?

[TheITGuy]

Hi Andy

Certainly I seem to have less issues with seat comfort, perhaps as a result of the changes made (as detailed in my post) and maybe I've just adjusted to it more.  I also own a 22 plate Seat Ateca which has lumbar support and pedals fully inline with my feet yet can still get back ache after driving a couple of hours.  Perhaps it is just me 🙂