My lady friend and I just got back from a 400 mile round trip and she mentioned something I had noticed too, the seats in my 96 VDP are not very comfortable for long distance cruising.

The seats see to be a little stiff and not much depth to them, this may be due to the low overall height of the vehicle. I also have a 93 XJS and that car in my opinion had terrible lumbar support. I installed mesh lumbar supports in the car and that made a world of difference.

My lady friend has a 2007 Chevy Impala and we have traveled all over the country in that car and it has very comfortable seats even over long distances.

I have been thinking of looking for some kind of seat pads that would not look too much out of place, any recommendations?

I would like to take the Jag. on longer trips but if I cannot improve the seat comfort for both of us this probably will not happen. Around town I really do not notice it much, just on long trips. We are both in our mid sixties.

 

Yeah I understand, and I have the XJR seats which are arguably "worse"

I can't really recommend much, other than to perhaps experiment with various aftermarket seat pads.

I've had various European cars, especially prior to the 2010s, and the seats are not designed for what most Americans are used to. My Volvo seats actually exacerbated a pinched nerve problem in my back because they were so narrow, very nice, but not a good fit for me.

Now the "couch" seats in my Buick Roadmaster and Riviera.... all day comfort on multi-hour drives, no pressure spots, no cramped tight feel. But it's a different design goal for those cars.

The "sporty" seats in many European cars of this era were designed with different goals in mind, and possibly not entirely taking into account many American physiques. But for many, they prefer the "sporty" firm seats for long distance driving as opposed to soft and couch like. So it just depends.

But unless you replace or rebuild the seats, there may not be much you can do especially if it's not just the padding but the dimensions of the seats that are a problem for you.


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