smiledr996s

Hello,

i am in the market for an e-class mostly for my wife. I have lower back issues and the seats looked really uncomfortable in the showroom. We test drove an 17 which had comfortable seats. But I am looking to be closer to a 40k price and I don't like a lot of the upgrades.

Looking on line it appears there are three seat choices. The sedans have a base with vertical stitched fabric and another with horizontal stiched fabric which looked better supporting. Finally the coupes had a really nice looking seat with supportive bolsters but I am in the market for a sedan.

Courious on these, any advice would be appreciated

steve

raja777m

Few of the 14-16's have dynamic multi contouring seating, which has massage seats too. Look for the one which has that package and give a test drive. I'm not sure about non-dynamic seat packaged car, but this one has extendendable lumbar and thigh support.
Thigh support isn't enough, IMHO (I'm 5'7"), but the lumbar is fine. The lumbar support goes UP/DOWN & FRONT/BACK!
I know the 17 and above seats are more comfy than the 14-16. So, either wait for it, to get for a reduced price, or pay the price.

Please share city/state, so, others can find a good deal for you.
I use autotrader.com, carvana. They have feature search functionality in their website, so, you can use the keywords to find/filter the car with those features.

I would suggest to give a try with the S-Class, their 2012-2016 will be more comfy than the 2017 E-Class, IMO.

baybombers

I have the standard seats and the adjustable lumbar support does the trick for my lower back. That said, the thigh support is somewhat lacking. I sat in a '17 before buying my '14 and I agree with Raja, the 17s are more comfortable.
For reference I am 6' tall.

Zavato

If you're looking for an E class mostly for your wife what does your wife mostly think about the seats?

smiledr996s

We have not driven one yet. We drove a 17 and we both liked the seats. I am not sure about all the electronic intergration and bells and whistles. There seems like a lot to go wrong when warranty goes out.

I have an 08 gl320cdi and have been pretty lucky with it. I stay up with preventive maintenance. I mostly scroll through the gl forums and I am dumbfounded on the repair issues others have. I had a BMW before the gl and honestly I think with German cars you are either lucky or not. They are not built the way they used to be. So I worry with so much electronic gadgets. And the 17 seems to have much more. As being really more then I would like to pay.

She is also liking the Audi A6. So she choosing between these two vehicles.

courious on comparisons with the coupe seats. They look more comfortable. We will be traveling on longer trips more in this car.

cetialpha5

The horizontal stitched fabric is MB-Tex which is a vinyl like leather, but not really leather. Synthetic leather or fake leather if you will. The vertical seats are real leather. I think you can have dynamic seats with either. I have dynamic seats on my MB-Tex. Lots of threads on here claim it's not that comfortable. My back is fine so I don't really know how it relates to your back, but most people complain that the seat isn't long enough and supportive of your legs and it's bad if you drive for a few hours. Short trips under an hour is fine. With the dynamic seats, there's an option to extend the seat out a little which seems to help on long drives. Also has a massage function and the side bolsters kick in on turns. The 2017 is a new platform, the W213 guess they made some changes to it, but the worst part for some people is that it's just the E300 with a turbo 4 and no 6 cylinder.

raja777m

Mine's MB-Tex, that might be the reason, it doesn't feel that great for long distance rides.

400ixl

I wouldn't say the seats in my E-class convertible (same as the Coupe you referenced) would be good for anyone with lower back problems without a thorough test first. They are fairly adjustable, but aren't the most comfortable I have had in a car.

thenew3

I have lower back problems. Have had surgery to try to fix it, it helped but did not fully resolve it.
That said, I find the seats in my E class extremely comfortable. I've done some long trips in it (as long as 5 hours at a stretch, with 12+ hours a day total driving time in the car).

Edward993

Wife and I have already done several trips in our '14 E350 (last one was 3000 miles round trip) in the last year. Her car, but on trips I drive, and we both find the seats very comfortable ...oh, and leather seats, BTW. And as the long-distance driver, I find the lumbar adjustment is excellent and I can clock miles without any fidgeting or discomfort.


FWIW, I test drove the seat with active bolsters and found it monumentally dumb ...simply intrusive and ridiculous, not to mention another useless item to break. IMHO, of course. Though I don't have back problems, I am "getting up there" in years ...I'd personally stick with the regular seats, but I do feel the leather is a significant improvement in feel.


Edward

Darel

Guess I need to be Debbie Downer here.

Our '14 (MBTex seats) is my wife's car. She has about a 75 minute commute one-way almost every day. She thinks the seats are fine but she jokes she has "more padding back there" than I do (which really isn't true at all...she's got a great ***).

I take the car on 3-hour trips periodically to my drill weekends and I believe the seats in this car were designed by ISIS to torture infidels. After less than an hour I get shooting pain up my back and my lower legs start to go numb. I can't have my wallet in my back pocket for even a 15-minute trip to the store. I've tried every position and I can't find anything even remotely comfortable. I just think they are simply too hard. It's like sitting on a park bench. The lumbar support does nothing for me at all, feels like I'm getting held up at 3am at a liquor store in any position. I had to go to Wal-Mart and buy one of those gel / memory foam seat cushions just to make the seats tolerable for short rides, so now I'm stuck with this stupid looking teal-colored old-man cushion on the seat. But, while it doesn't make the seats comfortable, it does make them tolerable and I can get through about 2 hours before I start fidgeting.

I honestly believe it's just too hard. The bottom cushion is big, wide, flat and made out of the finest German granite countertop. It's unfortunate but I still hold up my '07 Silverado's seats as the end-all be-all of La-Z-Boy-esque automotive comfort. One day I'd love to try out the adaptive seats but I doubt I'll see that day in my lifetime.

dacia

I have to agree with Darel, the (full leather) seats in my MY2013, face lifted model, are the biggest PITA (pun intended) ever.
The sides are too high and the center is too low so my legs are squished together. I had to put a hard foam pad, about two inches thick under my butt to raise it to a height so that sitting is bearable, but it is still really uncomfortable. I can't understand who the hell test drove this car with these seats and approved them. Now I drive a, when new, $80,000 car with a stupid *** brown foam pad on the seat.
For reference I'm 6'2" and about 200lbs, hardly a lard ***.
So make sure you take it for a long test drive and see if the seats are to your liking.

Darel

To back up what Dacia said, take that LONG test drive. My seats were fine for the 30 minute or so test drive we took. It wasn't until after I bought the car and took my first road trip over an hour that I found out what a cruel mistress these seats can truly be.

Edward993

Well this goes to show you that opinions/reviews on seat comfort is like asking "do I look good in this" ...waaaaay to personalized and rife with one's own bias of what constitutes "comfort."

Some like firm, supportive couches/recliners/beds, others the pillowy-soft ones. Personally, I think the soft ones are more comfortable for short trips, but feel "confining" over the longer haul. Conversely, I find a firm but supportive-in-the-right-places seat (no, not a bench ) for longer stints feels better. This is why I tend to favor european cars for seats (e.g. Volvo, Porsche, and now our E350 ...never owned BMW/Audi but my initial impressions have always been good when trying) as most other US/Asian marques tend to go toward more "pillowy" for that immediate "ahhhh" moment in the showroom because that initial "comfort" helps sell.

But again, seat comfort --like taste in music-- is all very subjective. No net-pinions are going to help the OP ...must try before you buy!

Edward

NickTH

Just buy a memory foam seat pad &/or back rest from Amazon...

davidjohnbamber

I find the Dynamic Seat option on my E550 to be far more comfortable, than the M-B Tex in my previously owned 2014 E350. YMMV

musclegto

I have a hank hill butt and they're just fine for me, granted the longest trip I've taken is about 2 hours

smiledr996s

I test drive a coupe and found the seats comfortable. Although they were not dynamic. It was a 2016 e400. I was told that e coupes were on the same chassis as the c coupes. Which changed I think this year.

So so my next question is if on the same chassis, other then engine packages why buy a e class over c?