Seat position for long drives

[Cooper1]

Good morning,

What do you find the most comfortable seat position for long hauls? I know this may be dependant on body type, so I'm just looking for generalities. After 40 years of driving, I really hate to say that my '21 CX5 has the most uncomfortable seats I've experienced. Last summer (doing the same this summer) we took a trip to Minnesota. 18 hours behind the wheel and I was miserable. I adjusted the seat 20 times and couldn't find a sweet spot. Any thoughts?

Thanks

 

[sm1ke]

I'd highly recommend starting with Mazda's driver seat adjustment process, found here:

https://owners-manual.mazda.com/gen/en/cx-5/cx-5_8hd5ee18k/contents/03010207.html

It's a bit tedious to go through the motions, but I did this when I got my first CX-9 in 2018 and it worked wonders for me. I used to get back pain after driving for 30-40 minutes in my wife's 06 Civic, and after applying the same process with her driver's seat position, the pain went away and never came back.

 

[cz5gt]

Second the above post.
Try to adjust as much as you can.

The seats being uncomfortable (beside proper adjustment) is from the fact they are too small for some body types and have thinner harder foam on the outer layers. There are many forum threads where people complain about the CX5 gen2 seats.
Only fix if thats the case is either try some addon seat cushions (not ideal) or auto upholstery to modify the car cushion.

Usually its the bottom bucket bolsters and smaller width thats the problem. Most American cars and some European have better seats. Japanese small crossovers (with some models exceptions) tend to be smaller.

 

[Cooper1]

Thank you. I'll give it a try today.

 

[SimpleCanuck]

A few months after I bought my '22, we drove to a town that was a 10 hour drive one way. I was comfortable until about 1-2 hours remaining, when my left thigh started to cramp up. Same thing happened on the return drive. We have not been on a drive that long since then and I'm not sure when/if there would be a future one, but I have bookmarked the Mazda seat adjustment document shared here as well as the Recaro document in the other (related) thread.

 

[MrMcE]

I noticed that I have maxed out the seat position tilt- the seat rear half is lowered as much as possible, and the front half is raised as much as possible, and it still feels pretty level and I want more. That may be the issue for long drive discomfort where I'm using the cruise control, and pull my leg back, which causes my thigh to come up and therefore be less supported by a seat that doesn't come up enough.
I'm pretty tempted to shim under the seat mounts for some extra tilt beyond what it's capable of stock.

 

[cz5gt]

yeah shims at the front or pull the whole seat backwards from the steering wheel. That will extend and your legs will
"sit" on the cushion (if you can of course).

I have also seen cushion extenders for the legs which can be added.

Sadly the front area is tight for tall drivers and steering sheel doesnt telescope much

I sat in 2026 model and its much larger. They fixed most of the issues from that perspective (incl front seats).

 

[GFrosty]

And here is some adjustment advice from Recaro.

Seat Fit Guide @ Recaro:

RECARO - RECARO Seat Fit Guide

www.recaro-automotive.com

PDF version of the Seat Fit Guide:

https://www.recaro-automotive.com/fileadmin/01-products/seat-fit-guide/RECARO_SeatTraining.pdf

In my own case, on the 2016 CX-5 GT, I generally find that the seat base tilted rearward a bit more and the back tilted slightly forward to be best. But then, I've got some old injuries (in the hip/leg area), so it's about the best for taking the strain off the hip flexor and groin muscles. Thankfully, I'm not in the camp with sciatica or other back issues. Have done several 1000+ mile trips, and a 5000+ mile trip. For whatever reason, I find the comfort level of the seat to be fairly good. Exiting every couple/three hours for a bit of a stretch helps, along with whenever fuel-ups occur.