I just got my new '06 MCS two Fridays ago & I love it! All except that the seat is killing my back. I have heated leather, and have tried adjusting it all kinds of different ways, but to no avail. Has anyone had this problem & found a solution? Are there alternate seats you can put in? Any help with this would be greatly appreciated. I sure would hate to have to part with my lovely Li'l Mini because my back couldn't take the seats.

 

I bought the leather seats because of their lumbar support. I had back surgery about 10 years ago, and the MINI seats are so good that I never have back pain or leg numbness during or after driving. Most cars' seats cause my right leg to go numb.

 

I also have back pain and am on the strongest Oxycodone the doctor can prescribe.

The heated seats REALLY come in handy. But the reason I hate anyone else drive my MCSC is because it seems to take forever to get the seat adjusted back to my liking - and it DOES takes some time.

Give it a chance, and play with the adjustments. I'm sure you can find that "sweet spot".

 

I have the Leather, heated and sport 'n have found them to be the best I have ever had. I suffer from lower back strains from time to time and I can still find comfort in my seats. Last year at AMVIV2, I spent 14hrs in the car ( with the AMVIV drive on Sunday + drive home) and felt suprisingly good when I got home.
No Complaints Here........

 

Not my back but my hips. After a long drive my hips hurt. Maybe I don't know how to adjust the seat correctly. I am comfortable while I drive but after long drives I have hip pain for days.

I have the Tartan Red interior with half leather/half cloth.

 

I kept having pains in my left thigh. I guess that I have gotten used to it because it doesn't bother me as much any more. I have the heated seats with half cloth half leather and I will say that the heat helps a great deal. It just seems that the seat is rather smallish. When you adjust the lumbar support the back is just fine. I will be going to AMVIV in a couple of weeks and will find out how the seats feel on a long drive. I wish the Mini's came with the same type of seats that came in my wife's 330I sport. Those are the most comfortable seats I have ever been in.

 

What I find funny is how people will respond even though they have no solution...but just to state they have no issues and love there seats ...Well I would guess this is what Not2Tall is looking to achieve also .
Have you looked into aftermarket seating? Like Recaro or something along those lines. I mean if you say you've tried many different settings already..I would think in order to not get rid of the car, you'd try that route. I know I would. Good Luck

 

I find my wife's 05 MCS' leather w/ sport suspension seats to be very uncomfortable, we're considering racing seat replacements if we find a good set. The headrest on the seats are useless and the seat back is very awkward, anytime we take a long trip we make sure to use my car instead.

 

I used to have back pain in the mini, until I got a 4 point harness. I found that my body wasn't allowing myself to sit properly in the seat and the 4 point harness forced me to sit in the seat correctly.

Yes, I use mine for daily driving all the time. The stock seatbelt is more the problem then the seat itself I have found.

 

The MINI seats are incredibly hard to dial in to the right position. I suffer from lower back problems, but our MCS does not have the adjustable lumbar support--fortunately that is not a problem. Frankly, the shortness of the seat bottom is the worst thing for me, the inside of my knee is about 8 inches in front of the seat, so, yes, long drives can make my thighs sore.

I've found that the most comfortable position is to sit pretty upright (no reclining the seat way back) and relatively close to the steering wheel. You should be close enough to rest your wrist on the top of the steering wheel without stretching (otherwise you'll end up with sore arms also). When you first try this, you will feel ridiculously close and, if you're like me, you will curse the lack of a telescoping steering wheel. However, you get use to it and it is much more comfortable.

The other problem is that the angle of the seat bottom automatically varies with the height of the seat bottom (using the pump ratchet mechanism). While many of the MINI flaws are endearing, this is not one of them.

Good luck.

 

my lower back hurt the first several weeks of ownership due to the
awkward position of the clutch pedal.

i got use to the car, no more issues with back.

 

Have you tried adjusting how far away you are from the steering wheel? Sometimes its not just the back/lumbar position but how your legs are, so perhaps adjusting that as well as the steering wheel angle (if you haven't) might help.

I am not tall and have the heated leather seats w/lumbar and am fine with them as is the SO. We adjust the seat back and forth constantly between us and I find that changing up the lumbar and position is good vs staying the exact same all of the time.

 

YES !! Just finished a 4 day weekend of driving and there were only two complaints I could bring on the experience - my big right foot seems too big for the space alloted to the accelerator (too little room to move it around down there) and the lower back issue. Regarding my foot, I am sure that the arrangement will be ideal when I get the hang of heel and toe rev matching in my shifts - but I have not worked out the lower back issues yet.

Man, my back was screaming after hours in the heated English Leather seats - I kept micro-adjusting the lumbar support but did not think to bring the seat closer. I am 6' 1" and put the seat pretty far back (not all the way) so maybe this will help. Short trips are not an issue but more than 90 minutes in the seat and my lower back is cramping. However, if that is the only bad thing I can say at this point, wow, I am not too dissatisfied....

Bill

 

Be sure to try pumping the seat to the lowest setting and see if that helps. It does take some fiddling to get the optimum seat position, but once you do, it is fantastic.

I take lots of cross-country motoring trips in which I drive up to 16 hours a day....no back problems. Just have to stop and stretch my legs every couple hours. Good luck finding the sweet spot!

 

Is this your first manual transmission in a while? Your left leg supports your back by being planted on the floor when you drive an automatic. You lack this extra support when you drive a stick. Presumably the more you drive the more self supporting your back will be.

 

There are aftermarket seating options available; however, you will loose seat airbag functionality and most options are not inexpensive. I recently installed Recaros as the factory seats simply do not offer good lateral support and are fairly short for my frame. The improvement is significant imho.

 

I, too, suffer from the lower back pain, especially on long drives. I have leatherette and only regret not getting leather for the lumbar support.

I got a back pad at Wal-Mart that is sort of like a foam pillow that is curved to fit against your back and the seat. It just covers the lower back area. It was like 5 bucks and has been fantastic for curing the lower back pain. I originally got it for my truck, which has bench seats, but it works anywhere. I just have to remember to put it in the Mini for the longer drives.

 

I'm having sort of the same problems after a good hour or two behind the wheel.

For me, at 6'2" tall and around 200lbs, I think it's what others have said, the seats are just kinda small. The seat backs are not too bad (although I wish I had the english panther or regular leather so I could adjust the lumbar) but the seat part of the seats are very narrow and short.

If anyone finds an aftermarket solution in heated cloth or leather with functional airbags, please let me know.

 

That is why they make Standard Seats, less bolstering, less confining = less back and leg problems and easier to dial-in. Sorry to say but some people just aren't made for the Sport Seats.

 

I've had racing seats in three of my cars (Konig, Corbeau, and Recaro) so far that wer far more confining than the sports seats in the MINI and all of them were much more comfortable for long trips than these ones.

 

I have lumbo-sacral issues and have had no discomfort in my MCS.....largely due to the lumbar adjustment. I have also found that keeping the steering wheel in a lower position improves my back comfort. It allows me to keep the seat position a notch or two further back to permit more leg room.....and also increases the 'go-kart' feel of the steering.

 

I am 6'2" and 220 pounds. I get most of my height from my legs. MIB is the first car where I have found that I actually prefer to have the seat forward of the rear most setting. I have trouble reaching the controls with the seat all the way back. I also am finding that I also prefer to be a touch closer to the controls than in other cars.

I have found that I have the seat all the way down (it also helps to lower the CG). Then I set upright or mybe one setting reclined. I have the head rest down and it hits at the mid point of my skull.

About the only thing I miss is a arm rest. I know that there are options out there, but I don't know if they would make me more comfortable.

 

I've read this over with some interest. I'm 6'2" but most of my height is in my torso (so, long back but relatively short arms and legs). I have resolved most of my seating discomfort problems (with the MCS sport seats and no lumbar support adjustment) by moving the seat forward--farther forward than I would ever have imagined. If you can't comfortably depress the clutch pedal completely without even bending your ankle (like to tip-toe position), you are probably too far back. If you are stretching your arm at all to reach 5th gar, you are probably too far back.

Sit as upright as you can. I'm reminded of the story (urban legend) that when Sir Alec Issigonis was tasked with designing the original Mini and told to build the smallest car that would comfortably seat four adults, he arranged four chairs in two rows and had four adults sit in them. Then he asked them to get as close to each other as they could and still sit comfortably. Then he drew a chalk line around them to define the cabin size. The point here is that the original Mini was designed around a chair-like seating position--experience forces me to conclude that this original design feature has carried over into the current generation MINI. If you are sitting at the same angle as the reclining lounge chair in front of your TV, you need to sit up straight.

I've also found it helpful to lower the steering wheel somewhat, though there is a practical limit as it begins to obscure the tachometer and will eventually bump your knees. This position also maximizes your ability to control the steering wheel and minimizes air-bag induced injuries to the face.

Well, that was a bit long winded. Sorry. The points are:
1: seat as far forward as possible
2: sit as upright as possible
3: lower steering wheel as much as possible

I'm not going to pretend that the MINI seats are awesome, they don't hold a candle to Volvo, Mercedes, or BMW seats--not by a long shot. However, it is possible to get them to a reasonably comfortable spot.

 

I find the seat adjustments to be poorly engineered and I have been trying to decide what to do. I like to adjust the seat up high so I can see over the dash but that brings the back of the seat cushion up so that I am sitting on my tailbone and don't have any thigh support. It gets to be tiring on longer trips. I had other cars where the front and rear of the seat adjusted independantly as did the up and down so this was not a problem. Has anyone looked into changing the seat mounts or anything like that or am I looking at replacement seats? I currently have the seat as low as possible while still giving me visibility and it is barely adequate.

 

Thanks to all of you for your suggestions. It's good to know that I'm not the only one who has problems with the seat. FYI, I have sport seats with lumbar support. I have the seat as far down as it'll go (I'm 6'2" & need the head room), and have the seat just about as far forward as I can stand it. Also, I have the steering wheel adjusted fairly low, such that it won't hit my knees, but even so, the top of the tach is obscured. I've played with the lumbar, but haven't found the sweet spot yet. I emailed my dealer & asked about swapping sport for standard seats, if it seems, after a trial, that standards fit me better. He hasn't responded yet, so we'll see. I'm really not into paying the megabucks for aftermarket racing seats, so that's not really an option. Anyway, thanks again.
Never give up & KEEP ON MOTORING!