After 16,000 miles I have come to the conclusion that my front seats which are panther black leather suck. The back of the seat is so wide that the side lumbars do nothing. The other thing is they are very hard. You guys may or may not agree but here is my question. How do you shop for a seat if you can't sit in it to try it out? All I want is something really comfortable and fully adjustable. What do I do?

 

Eat more so you wedge into the bolsters better?

 

Go to a MINI track event that the serious Autocrossers frequent and check out their seats. I'd bet that AMVIV (now over for 2006), MINIs on the Dragon or the Colorado event would also be a great place to walk around, peek in windows and ask to try out the seats (and make some new friends in the process).

 

Depending where you live you may be able to find a store that has many of the seats. Go to a few of the seat brand sites (Sparco, MOMO, Corbeau, Recaro, Cobra, etc) and use the "locate authorized showroom" or similar feature. Then call the shop and ask around. I found a shop about half an hour away that carried full lines of MOMO, Recaro, and Corbeau, and I'm glad that I did try them out because they do really all fit drastically different dispite the measurements they give.

 

not that it will help you, but while shopping i noticed that the english leather seats seemed to offer better lateral support. ymmv...

 

Maybe we can help with some Recaro seats.

We are the authorized distributor of Recaro Seats for the Southwest,

Recaro is the seat that fits the best in the Mini and the most comfortable.

We have the trend, Style and Sport seats in stock,

Give us a call or PM

We will be happy to help you.

Thanks
Victor

 

about two years ago in Super Street mag.. there was a buyer's guide to seats..(going to be looking for my issue forgot where i put it) in the guide they had 6 different people in a wide range of sized (tall, fat , thin, short) that tested all the seat available at the time.. in the description of the testers they include Hieght, Wieght, shoulder with, stomach and hips. each test reported how the seat felt which included the side lumbars. If i find it ill post what issue it was.

 

Sport Compact Car Magazine also had a buyer's guide to seats a year or two ago. IIRC they had four different people of different sizes that each rated the seats (over a hundred different seats from most of the major manufacturers) on how they fit. I pretty much agreed with their fitment recommendations based on the seats I've sat in myself.

-Keith

 

maybe it was Sport Compact Car.. i get both.

Havent looked at it in over a year and half.. thats why im having trouble finding where i put it.

 

I forgot I started this thread. Thanks for all the reply's. I think I'm going to wait until I see on in person that I like.