Blooming Recaros...

[texasjohn]

I've had the car 3 days now, and done about 400 miles...It really is fantastic and I see why someone has termed the car 'Super Mario Kart'.

However, at the risk of sounding like a whinging so and so, my back and legs haven't stopped aching. After about 20 mins in the Clio I begin to get pain. Of course my test drive was about 10 minutes, if that. My bad. Anyway, I am sure that it is the fact that I can't adjust the seat height on the Recaros. I am not sure I had this problem in the FFs I test drove, despite the fact that I read the Recaros are 10mm lower than the FF seats. Having said that, it was only 10-15 min test drives in the FFs I went to see...

Does anyone have any suggestions? I read about Recaro subframes that might effectively lower the squab height another few mm or so. Maybe I am better off just going back to the Renault dealer although there is not much they can do to solve the issue; are they obliged to do anything, even? I guess it doesn't hurt to ask but there is nothing wrong with the car as such, it is just seemingly the seats or perhaps the fundamental ergonomics of the driving position and my own dimensions, although I dont have particularly long or short arms or legs, I am just your average 14st (a few pies ) 5'10 bloke.

I came from a roadster so am used to a completely different driving position, but had a saloon car before and a Fabia before that, no problems with any of these cars, apart from the Fabia after about 5 or 6 hours.

There is a thread on here or CS, I forget which, where a chap goes on about replacing some 6mm nuts on the seat rail, or removing them and tightening it all back down, but I don't seem to be able to work out what he means due to the broken english he uses...any ideas, anyone?

Any suggestions gratefully received, I am just going off for a nice lie down!

 

[g40steve]

Never had a problem & i'm 6ft.

Maybe your just bedding in

 

[texasjohn]

I hope so!

Can I ask do you have the steering wheel located in the up position, mid, or low?

Seat far back on the runners or near the pedals?

ETA, what about backrest? totally vertical or slightly back, how many degrees off vertical, roughly?

If I have seat too far back I cant reach the gearstick, and too far forward my legs are bent and not in contact with the squab, thus leading to pain.

I am prepared to give it a bit more time of course. 8)

 

[g40steve]

Seatback almost upright, holds me in better.
Seat set about, sitting comfortable with wrists touching top of steering wheel if you get my drift.
Closer on track.
Steering wheel, think midway.

 

[Karlos]

I hope so!

Can I ask do you have the steering wheel located in the up position, mid, or low?

Seat far back on the runners or near the pedals?

ETA, what about backrest? totally vertical or slightly back, how many degrees off vertical, roughly?

If I have seat too far back I cant reach the gearstick, and too far forward my legs are bent and not in contact with the squab, thus leading to pain.

I am prepared to give it a bit more time of course. 8)

Took me at least two weeks of "bedding in" before i got comfortable. Now its perfectly comfortable.

Know its a pain tho cos until you're comfortable you don't feel like you can push on properly!

Trouble is the driving position is compromised so you have to constantly tinker with it until you find the best set up. I found that the gear stick was too far away at first but when i moved the seat forward my knees touched the rim of the wheel.

Perservere and tinker with it and you'll find an agreeable set up. No issues with comfort anymore.

Karl.

 

[Jimboss]

Ive had 452 for just under a month now and im 6ft. Done a few long distance journeys and had no discomfort from the seats although my seat is pretty upright. The seats on my girlfiends 182 FF are slightly softer and are better geared up for comfort. IMO everyone's back is different hence some find seats comfortable/uncomfortable.
For instance I find that the Porcshe Boxter seats are really uncomfortable! A trip up to sheffield and i felt that i need traction on my back!

On another note one of my driver recaro seat plastic adjusters fell off and when i tried to put it back i ended up pushin the whole internal metal ajuster out the other side! Pain to put right. Sorry to stray from the thread.

 

[SirSimon]

someone is actually selling there car on pistonheads, due to not finding the seats comfty.

 

[Karlos]

someone is actually selling there car on pistonheads, due to not finding the seats comfty.

Thats stupid.

I'm 6ft 2 and found that initially i had back and leg pain. THat goes once you've tweaked the driving position. If the steering wheel adjusted for reach then it would sort it IMO.

After a few weeks the pain went and now i find the seats v comfortable.

 

[artdealer]

We're all different with posture etc, even a great seat isn't going to suit everybody without loads of adjustments.

 

[SirSimon]

http://pistonheads.com/sales/322899.htm

"The reason for sale is that I find the driving position of the Clio uncomfortable on longer journeys; other than that it is a fantastic car and ticks all the boxes. My loss will certainly be someone else's gain!"

 

[texasjohn]

Yep thats me, I put the car up last night on PH to see if there is any interest. To be honest I didn't think you guys would be so eagle eyed!

If I can shift it on for around what I have it advertised for then I've lost nothing, and it has been a fantastic experience for a few days. It took me a fair while to sell my last car so I am anxious that if I can't get on with it I want to have it marketed and out there on sale.

That said, I do seem to be bedding in a bit better now. I've been to see the previous owner back at the dealership and had a bit of a chat with them about it. He's shown me how he used to have it set up.

It seems a bit better to be honest. I certainly agree that if the steering wheel adjusted for reach then the problem would be resolved; I could then have the seat base further back giving me the legroom I need and can live with reaching forward for the gearstick.

If nothing else, I am getting quite a lot of hope from some of the comments above where others have stated it took a good couple of weeks. Believe me, I really dont enjoy buying and selling blooming cars!

 

[hoolio]

Nothing like giving a car a fair crack of the whip then :wink:

 

[hon_bris]

I hope so!

Can I ask do you have the steering wheel located in the up position, mid, or low?

Seat far back on the runners or near the pedals?

ETA, what about backrest? totally vertical or slightly back, how many degrees off vertical, roughly?

If I have seat too far back I cant reach the gearstick, and too far forward my legs are bent and not in contact with the squab, thus leading to pain.

I am prepared to give it a bit more time of course. 8)

Took me at least two weeks of "bedding in" before i got comfortable. Now its perfectly comfortable.

Know its a pain tho cos until you're comfortable you don't feel like you can push on properly!

Trouble is the driving position is compromised so you have to constantly tinker with it until you find the best set up. I found that the gear stick was too far away at first but when i moved the seat forward my knees touched the rim of the wheel.
Perservere and tinker with it and you'll find an agreeable set up. No issues with comfort anymore.

Karl.

This is the main problem I have with the Trophy. If I were to sit in my optimum "racing" position, lol, then I would have to stretch and lean forward to change gears. If I move the chair forward, the trophy doesnt really accomodate my 6ft frame.

 

[texasjohn]

Well I am sure things will work out one way or another, if nothing else all this various testing of driving positions is an excuse for lots of drives out in the country

 

[SirSimon]

To be honest, when I got my trophy I just moved the seat and got on with it. Come to think of it I should actually mess about abit with it, to get the best seat!!

 

[texasjohn]

How long have you had yours and did you have similar problems at the start of your time with the car?

 

[SirSimon]

three weeks mate. Can say ive had any problems with the seats...

 

[texasjohn]

Fair enough, although at least it is not just me it seems and I will see how I go, another 180mi trip tomorrow so I am getting lots of bedding in opportunity ATM 8)

 

[Cue]

most people's problems with seating positions come from not having their upper half correctly positioned before trying to sort the lower half.

put the seat base as far back as possible, the back os upright as you are comfortable with and the wheel as low as possible. Then move the seat forward slowly until you can just balance your wrists on the the top of the wheel, this will give you an approximate distance now, vary the height of the wheel with the distance from the pedals, always maintaining the wrist to top of wheel distance, adjusting the the steep of the backrest to help maintain this.

You will find you optimum position within 5 mins and have hours of pain free motoring. You will also have proper control of the car as you will have full control of the wheel and pedals at both ends of the steering spectrum.

 

[keith185]

When I first drove my Clio home from Cheltnham to Caernarfon (N Wales) around a 6 hour drive my back was killing me after around 4-5 hours.

Found that it it takes some time to adjust the back of the seat to suit, also found that pulling the lap belt tight so that the base of my spine was on the base of the seat helped.

Had it 5 months now and regularly drive 1hr to work without any problems.

Always found that the rule of thumb of that you should be able to rest your wrists on the top of the steering wheel helps with the positioning of the seat.