I have a G and had lower back pain too from long trips

 

Putting my money where my mouth is, I just did a 6 hour drive last night, felt great.

As a matter of fact, I liked the seats so much, I put them in my classic Mini.

One thing I noticed, my 04 seats with airbags only has one seat bottom adjustment, the 05 seats I bought with no airbags have two seat bottom adjustment *****. odd

Chris

 

3-4 hr drive to Vegas and my butt and lower back used to be sore.

Switched to Sparco Pro2000 race bucket and I have never had back pain since. Of course it's a pain in da **** to get in and out though. LOL.

 

I've done 7 hours before, not in a single stretch though. 1 Hr to destination, 2 hrs to next destination, then 3.5 hrs on the way back. No problems here, I think its quite comfortable.

 

I just did the LA to Arizona drive that took 8 hours due to traffic. I rented a new Jetta for the trip as my elise would have been hell to make that trip. Anyway, I've done this trip before in the Z without any incidents, but this morning, I woke up with horrible back pain, and I've been unable to move around very much today. I didn't think the VW seats were that bad, but it looks like it was applying stress to my back the entire trip. So, for me at least, the Z's seats beat the pants off of the VW Jetta seats.

 

Don't G's have "Better" more comfortable seats then the z?

 

Huh, I never would have figured. I'm roughly the same size as you, but I was very happy with the Z's seat. My friend had a firebird back in the days, but I don't remember how well it fit me. I guess everyone has different requirements with their seats.

 

drove from raleigh to charlotte today and my lower back was really feelin it

 

I drove 12 hours from VA to Kissimmee, FL last night. My right hip was the only part of me that hurt.

 

well, all i know is the z more comfortable driving in long drives than my evo because the cruise control is very usefull and i don't know it just does =)

 

i couldn't imagine a long trip w/o cruise control.... sometimes youve gotta put that on and move your legs and feet around

 

 

on stock suspension i could drive hours on end and the ride would be fine. after coils i get sick of the ride after an hour

 

I drove 11 hours from Sharif's shop in GA to my house in MD, I had no issues with lower back pain or anything else, besides the usual desire to get out and stretch...and this is on JIC coilovers and 19's.

 

I've logged a lot of miles in both. The Z seat was pretty good, the 6MT leather G Coupe seat is better in some ways, worse in others. Neither one makes for a great track seat even w/harness, both are relatively heavy, too. There's a lot of dead weight in the motors for a seat I pretty much put in one place and don't move much. My 2003 Z seat was much less comfortable for long trips, used to hurt my sciatic nerve (butt/hip) badly. Both have good center bolster support. Back support is better in my G, IMHO.

Biggest mistake in the G Coupe was loading all the switches into the right part of the seat which effectively makes the right bolster stiffer than the left one. Adjustments are key, I put the seat height all the way down and same for the wheel height (am 5'10" for FWIW). Some people complain the switches make the seat cut into their leg, I can see that if you are big enough. Check out the left bolster after a few years and you can usually see it has a crease in the leather, right one doesn't.

The G seat at first takes getting used to as it is about 2" higher off the road. But it is more substantial than my Z's cloth seat, as in support is better. My cloth started to fray badly on the Z early on on the left of the driver's seat, too, from getting in and out of the car. Materials were pretty cheap.

If you really want to see the difference, go sit in the passenger seat in the G, then get back in the driver's seat - it really is a true driver's seat for a GT. If only I could fit my harness bar w/o sticking a head-whacker in front of my rear seat passengers...seat belts are a joke compared to a 5 or 6 point harness for agressive driving.

Only problem you cannot address is if you have the sunroof and are over 6' tall, check your head clearance in the G-Coupe. Even at 5'10" I whacked my head on the roof at least once hitting a frost heave or something else rude in the pavement. 99% of the time not a problem, but kinda makes me wonder what would happen to the top of your head in an accident...head clearance is minimal.

 

I know what you mean about the switches... my right side is often more sore than my left when driving distances... I often wonder if the non-power cloth seats are much more comfortable. Great points, SteveZ!

 

I think a big contributor to the lower back/hip pain is the placement of the accelerator - it's too close to the driver compared to the dead pedal on the left. You can feel it when you sit in the seat, and if you look into the footwell from outside the car, you can really see the difference in stagger.

I think this assymetry really hurts tall drivers on longer drives.

 

I lift four times a week and at my age (48), I'm usually sore all the time.
I've driven SUV's for the past 15 years.
I'm 6'3", 240lbs.
So as a big old guy, you would think I would be sore after a long ride, but to the contrary. Love it! The longer the ride, the better. Look for opportunities to take trips. We are cruising this up coming weekend for 10 hours down to NC and back the next day.
Hey, you think it may also have something to do with the shape you're in? Just a thought.

 

6'-3", 195 lbs, 55 yrs old, triathlete

 

Yeah unless you are unusually big or in really terrible shape i think based on this thread so far it looks like all different sizes and types of people get sore and some in different places with different Z seats.