I have had my 2006 MINI Cooper S Convertible since November. It has been parked in the garage for most of the winter and I have put about 250 miles on it so far. Short drives have been great, however longer drives are killing my back. There is way too much lumbar support. According to the VIN number, I have the S481A Sport seats.

Is this a common complaint?

Is there an easy solution?

 

I'm pretty sure this is a known issue with the 1st get sport seats. I always have a sore back whenever I drive my car more than 3 or 4 hours at a time. I think (not 100%) there were seats offered with adjustable lumbar support that you could swap in.

 

 

So I was driving home and I think I found the problem. Its not necessarily the seats, in my situation, but the lack of telescoping steering wheel. I'm 6'2 and, because I sit so far back for my legs to not be bunched up, find myself leaning forward to get comfortable on the wheel. It's the leaning forward to the wheel that gives me lower back pain, rather than the actual seat geometry. I reckon if the wheel came back an extra 3 inches or so I could sit normally in the seat and be super comfortable. That being said, I do constantly consider buying a set of sportster cs seats for my car...

 

The 2nd gen JCW Recaro CS’s are higher at their lowest setting than the stock sport seats when installed in a 1st gen car. At 6’2” your head might hit the headliner with the Recaro’s.

 

Theyd have to be way taller than the stock seats to cause much of an issue with clearance. I have obnoxiously long legs so the stock seats give me like 6+ inches of headroom. That is really good to know from a positioning standpoint, though. I hate sitting up high in cars so they may not work that well for me.

Just so we're on the same page...youre talking about the sportster cs seats that only seem to have been offered in the uk....NOT the recaros you could get on US spec cars, right?