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      07-24-2016, 10:21 AM   #1
samguan
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How to adjust for comfortable seating.

Not sure why I find seating in cheaper basic cars more comfortable. I have a VW Golf with cloth seat and basic adjustment and I find it more comfortable than my X5 with Premium. I find it the same in my previous E93 compared to other basic cars.

I guess comfortable and good ergonomic are two things. It's like I find sitting in foldable beach chair more comfortable than straight up chair, although the straight up chair would be better ergonomically.

Maybe I have bad sitting posture and habit.

I keep having to adjust my seat every few days, is there any guides out here for optimal and comfortable seating.

What do you guys think.
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      07-24-2016, 03:45 PM   #2
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YES it takes a while longer to find your position in a X5 compared to lets say a 5 series. But eventually you'll find it. What irritated me the most was the distance to the brake and gas peddle in relation to the seating position
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      07-25-2016, 05:05 PM   #3
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I would say it took me about a month to get mine where exactly where I wanted it, making minor adjustments along the way. I mirror your comment, definitely took longer. But compared to my A4, these seats offer a much higher level of adjustment. And I love the side bolster adjustment once you fire it up.
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      07-25-2016, 06:30 PM   #4
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had my car since jan, still moving the seat around almost every day...
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      07-26-2016, 08:57 PM   #5
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Mine did not take that long to find a comfortable position, but it was a bunch of small changes over a half a dozen drives. The worst was when I forgot to backup my profile before coding vehicle. I lost my presets and had to start over.
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      07-29-2016, 10:58 AM   #6
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I like cloth seats too. Warm in the winter and not so hot in the summer. For some reason feels more plush too. I think perhaps it's the hard leather that these car companies use unless you pay for the soft [Napa] leather option.
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      01-27-2023, 09:13 AM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Diper View Post
YES it takes a while longer to find your position in a X5 compared to lets say a 5 series. But eventually you'll find it. What irritated me the most was the distance to the brake and gas peddle in relation to the seating position
How did you go around this issue? I haven’t been able to get comfortable in almost a year. It just seems like I either have to comptlely cramp up my legs, or be so upright that my head touches the roof. Or be too far from the steering wheel.

In any other cheaper car I can find a good position in seconds.
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      01-27-2023, 09:27 AM   #8
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I recommend starting with the bottom seat section first:
  • Adjust for best distance to the pedals and steering wheel. (#1 in pic below)
  • Then adjust height...then front or rear tilt of the bottom cushion.... (#2 & #3 in pic below)
  • then adjust thigh support if you have that feature (#3 in pic below)
Then work on the upper seat section:
  • Adjust upper seat back (#4 in pic below)
  • then adjust for articulating upper seat section if you have that feature (#2 in pic below)
  • Then adjust the lumbar support to find the specific area of your spine that needs to be supported (#4 in pic above)
  • Next adjust the side bolsters for comfort (if you have this feature) (#1 in pic above)

Once you've found a setting that is comfortable...save it to one of the seat memory buttons. That way if someone else uses your remote and then readjusts the seat, then locks the vehicle (this saves the new seat setting)...when you get into the car, you can then press your seat memory button and the seat will return to your setting. When you lock/unlock the car, then your seat memory will return to the remote's profile seat setting.
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Last edited by Qsilver7; 01-27-2023 at 09:44 AM..
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      01-27-2023, 10:46 AM   #9
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I've got the Alcantara M Sports seats, and although they look nice they grip you like a Sumo wrestler, and if you get a ruck in your shirt or something, you cannot wriggle it out!
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      01-27-2023, 10:51 AM   #10
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The trick, at least with the seats in my F85, was to fix the the height first, and then everything else falls into place. In fact, I just followed the instructions from this guy at the M driving school:



Pay special attention to setting your height from the headliner. In an X5, you should be seeing quite a bit of the hood when you're in your natural driving position. Before I adjusted it, I was sitting entirely too low and way too far back. It's going to feel dorky if you're used to a more "laid back" driving position, but after a little while it starts to feel way more natural and correct.

I was NOT happy with these seats originally. I found they had bad pressure points, they'd make my right leg go numb, etc. Using that video as a starting guide and then making minor tweaks here and there made a WORLD of difference. Now I find that the M seats, which most people regard as overly stiff and non-compliant are actually very comfortable, and I enjoy them even on long drives. Give that a shot.
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      02-02-2023, 01:49 AM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ArthurMorgan View Post
The trick, at least with the seats in my F85, was to fix the the height first, and then everything else falls into place. In fact, I just followed the instructions from this guy at the M driving school:



Pay special attention to setting your height from the headliner. In an X5, you should be seeing quite a bit of the hood when you're in your natural driving position. Before I adjusted it, I was sitting entirely too low and way too far back. It's going to feel dorky if you're used to a more "laid back" driving position, but after a little while it starts to feel way more natural and correct.

I was NOT happy with these seats originally. I found they had bad pressure points, they'd make my right leg go numb, etc. Using that video as a starting guide and then making minor tweaks here and there made a WORLD of difference. Now I find that the M seats, which most people regard as overly stiff and non-compliant are actually very comfortable, and I enjoy them even on long drives. Give that a shot.
Thanks for sharing. I used this guide to adjust my seat a little higher, slightly closer, steering wheel slightly up and out. I think it feels a lot better so far, keep in mind I generally sit close to the wheel based on similar but not as detailed instruction from similar coaches. After 60 miles I decided to save it as my main memory position--I've made a couple tweaks and will be going on a long drive tomorrow so I'll see how it feels after several hours.
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      02-02-2023, 06:50 AM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by samguan View Post
Not sure why I find seating in cheaper basic cars more comfortable. I have a VW Golf with cloth seat and basic adjustment and I find it more comfortable than my X5 with Premium. I find it the same in my previous E93 compared to other basic cars.

I guess comfortable and good ergonomic are two things. It's like I find sitting in foldable beach chair more comfortable than straight up chair, although the straight up chair would be better ergonomically.

Maybe I have bad sitting posture and habit.

I keep having to adjust my seat every few days, is there any guides out here for optimal and comfortable seating.

What do you guys think.
Best "leather" seats are in my sons HONDA FIT / JAZZ, nearly every day I am re-adusting the leather seats in my X5 40e. I think it also has to do with the thicker (and less comfortable real leather) in the BMW. Compared to the - actually thinner plastic leatherlike material used in the HONDA.

I could have saved some money of the 'comfort' seats in the BMW
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      02-02-2023, 11:00 AM   #13
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I've only had my F15 for about a month now but I'm going to say that this is the MOST comfortable car I've ever had. I have comfort seats and I honestly haven't adjusted that much but man the seats are so good.
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      02-02-2023, 08:11 PM   #14
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I've done many long trips in my X5 with the comfort seats, and I find the comfort seat very comfortable. But like others said, keep trying different settings until you find one you like.
Then when you find one you like, after a while try different settings again, and you might find something different is better still.
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      02-03-2023, 04:42 AM   #15
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I had mine perfect. Took the car to valet. Came back and seat setting was erased. Now i keep a back up on proflie 2.
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      02-03-2023, 08:21 AM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by osmansiddiqui95 View Post
I had mine perfect. Took the car to valet. Came back and seat setting was erased. Now i keep a back up on proflie 2.
You can also keep a back up using either of the seat memory buttons. The seat memory buttons will retain their initial setting even when your remote is given to someone else and they then readjust the seat. If they lock the door, then your seat/mirror settings for the remote that was used will change to the last settings (the valet's).

But if you had the same memory programmed to one of the seat memory buttons, you can return your seats & mirrors to your original setting by pressing the button you saved it to, then when you lock/unlock the vehicle...your settings will be what is remembered again with the remote.
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      02-05-2023, 06:01 AM   #17
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Qsilver7 View Post
You can also keep a back up using either of the seat memory buttons. The seat memory buttons will retain their initial setting even when your remote is given to someone else and they then readjust the seat. If they lock the door, then your seat/mirror settings for the remote that was used will change to the last settings (the valet's).

But if you had the same memory programmed to one of the seat memory buttons, you can return your seats & mirrors to your original setting by pressing the button you saved it to, then when you lock/unlock the vehicle...your settings will be what is remembered again with the remote.
Yes, I already know about memory seats. What i'm saying is The valet guy used the seat setting 1 and 2 and accidentally clicked save and reset my saved setting with new values. The "SET" button is hard to see at night he clicked it than pressed 1 or 2 causing it to reset and resave. That is what extra profiles are its pretty much the profile for the key as each key has its own profile. Profiles can be manually changed and added without additional keys via Idrive. On my f10 i used to have 4 or 5 extra keys as i had the BMWs key replacement coverage. I made one key for (1)comfort and (2)spirited than another for a (1)Low style and (2)race for seat settings. The key profile also saves the climate and other custom Idrive preset settings aswell as sound settings.
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Last edited by F15_SGM; 02-05-2023 at 06:13 AM..
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