I've had my 07 MCS chill red for about 3 months now and have really gotten to put it to use over the last few weeks on various trips etc.

One thing I notice is that I can't really get comfortable in the drivers seat.
I've tried every position and have used the lumber adjustment too.

I have the Lounge leather option and it seems like the backs of the seats have too much of an inward curve. It causes the top of your shoulders to hunch forward as well as your but. (almost like they want poor posture with a u shaped or c shaped position of your back.

I'm 6'2 and in good physical shape. Anyone have the same problem? Any ideas, or should I just shove a small pillow behind my back. Any aftermarket seat adjusters etc to recommend?

 

I have an idea... trade me for my stock seats.

 

I have the same problem with the stock seats, I find myself fidgeting all the time as I drive...

 

Yeah I hear you. It's not like I don't have room either. I find the inside to be roomy for how little the car is given my height.

I guess it's time for the pillow trick.

 

I'm pretty average height and average weight (maybe a little above average?). I test drove a MINI with the sport seats and didn't like it. The stock standard seats in my MINI fit me just fine. I've done several long 6 - 7 hour highway runs, no comfort problems at all. I even like the leatherette upholstery.

I think that some body shapes/sizes just fit better in the particular seat you have. Not sure what you can do, aside from going to an upholsterer and getting them to add/remove some padding to make a more "custom" fit.

Like getting a tailored suit instead of off-the-rack.


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Tried all the MINI interior options and found none that I would consider comfortable.

I visited a local Custom Foam Shop and bought a lot of Memory Foam:


Had ordered the wonderful Wet Okole seat cover kit for the MINI:

(click here to open larger, expandable copy of above photo) Link in sig and more photos in Gallery.

Now it's comfortable, Memory Foam is same as the Swedish mattress and you just sink down into the seats (If they are frozen, it can take a couple minutes to sink).

A 400 mile trip is now less tiring than a 200 mile trip was before the mod.

 

Just took a trip from Tampa to Atlanta...stopped once for gas. I am 6'5" tall and I am super surprised at how comfortable this little car is on the road.

I am very use to luxury type of cars. I've had a 03 BMW 7 series, X5 and X3 and a few 3 series and a Escalade with seats like a sofa. I also currently have a Mercedes CLK550. The stock cloth seats are really nice, kept me cool on the trip and comfortable.

 

Just a quick question about your setup there... So you have what appears to be about 3-4 inches of memory foam underneath your seat covers (and the seat covers already had 1/2 inch of foam in them)? It doesn't feel like you are sitting on a bunch of stuff? Do you slide around in the seat at all? is it easy to put the seat covers on with all that extra foam on the seat?

I bought my MCS used and it had the lounge leather. I had test driven minis before and thought everything was fine. But when i made my first daily commute to work (100 miles there, 100 miles home) i noticed that the seat was poking me in my left thigh (near my hip). The side bolsters are supported by a plastic lip molding (on the left side of the seat at least) and the plastic sits up too high. I have thought about cutting the plastic (not pretty) or buying a base model seat (how much is that?) - maybe even swapping with someone (give up my $2000 lounge leather!?!?). but maybe your approach would be better (fill in the area between the bolsters with foam and get above the part that is poking me).

 

^^^^Memory Foam has the characteristic of compressing a great deal and so when you sit on four inch un-compressed, the lower extremity of your body will compress the cushion down to much less than an inch.

Your'e now 'sinking' into a soft 'depression' that gives much greater 'side' support than you would have with 'springy' type normal foam, no matter how soft.

I bought several 'bushels' of 'remenant' (still expensive) for my project and cut and pieced (using special contact spray adhesive). Memory Foam comes in several 'densities' (like 4 or 5 pound per cubic foot) and you can see (by the color) where I had used different density for different parts of the seat.

The seat in the photo was the passenger side, I had gone much further on drivers side and built up the area below my knees for added support.

I also added Wet Okole's Lumbar 'squeeze-ball' Support, but find that I very rarely need to increase lumbar support and would skip that, if doing it again.

Latest from Wet Okole now is 'electric-heat' but as a Florida MINI, I would not consider that feature.

The Wet Okole's Neoprene material has an amazing amount of 'stretch' and covering an additional four inches of padding was not a problem, the cutouts for Air-Bags, Headrests and Latches remained in proper locations.

 

Which color yellow did you pick from on the Wet Okle site? I also have Mellow yellow and want to buy their seat covers.

 

I had chosen the 320 Solar Yellow from the tiny sample tabs they gave me,
but might select 218 School Bus Yellow if I had a chance to choose again.

16 Neon Yellow is way too 'light' and 218 might be a little dark, but 320 is lighter than the MINI Mellow Yellow.

Just like trying to choose paint color from a tiny sample chip, perhaps you could ask them to send you larger samples of 320 & 218.

I had sent my first armrest cover to MINIBee in Tampa to help him choose.

He should be at the local MINI get-togethers (as an exhibitor) and you could see what he chose,
but his MINI is Liquid Yellow, which would be perfect for 320.

 

I have the cloth/leather sport seats in my 2009 and it took me awhile to get used to them, esp. after the 3 month wait between trade in of my old S and the arrival of my new S, in which I had to drive my old beater 1986 Toy PU with the gawdawful bench seats.

But I just returned from a 2000 mile road trip and I guess Im more used to them now, because I had a couple 500+ mile days and no issues other than a little stiffness the seat heaters helped eradicate.