niklow

I have the 15 f sport

MellonC00

I bought my CPO car only about a month ago and noticed that there is some kind of mechanism underneath the area (or perhaps about 2 inches to the right of) of Coccyx. You can press down with your hand but you'll have to press hard to get all your weight on it. In short, the seats are not well padded and lacks supporting materials. Cost cutting, perhaps? I asked my doc about it during a regular check up and she says I don't have enough fat in my behind. Stated otherwise, people with apple shaped bodies won't notice the pain. However, more muscular and thinner people may notice it like me.

I took 2 steps: 1) bought a sheepskin cover and trying it out but the pain is still there 2) bought a foam cushion made out of latex in the exact shape of the seat (not including side bolsters) from www.foamorder.com. that seems to help. If all else fails, there are a couple of good seat upholstery places in my area that will fix it for me. However, based on my conversation with them, they may need to take out the offending mechanism - seat cooling fans - and redo the entire bottom with a new cushion.

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clarifying my comment about "cushion." I don't mean soft or hard cushion. the most comfortable seats I've ever sat in was an after market Recaro sport seats installed inside of a small RX-7 eons ago. that thing had no give whatsoever and felt like concrete. Yet, it was so comfortable for hours and hours of driving. Second most comfy seats were Mercedes E and S class seats from the 90's and Volvo S80 seats from the early 2000's. The worst seats were Toyota Corrolla's always. And many Hyundai models including the expensive Equus models.
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Ratchey

Funny to find this thread today. I took a 7 hour round trip drive yesterday and noticed the same thing. The pain was almost unbearable. I have a 2013 RX450h that I just bought 4 weeks ago. I went to the dealer today to see about exchanging it (it spent the first 2 weeks in the shop and I was out of town the 3rd week, so have only driven it this week)
The sales manager said the most important thing to them was my happiness and they would work with me.
Picked out a 2013 GS350 to replace it, they gave me the numbers, my jaw hit the desk.
They expected me to take a $6000 loss on the car and pay the full retail price for the GS. (I was fully ready to lose 2-3K) This is for a 4 week old CPO lexus. They literally offered me below "Average Trade In Value" for my car. Said it was the best they could do since they don't mark up the used ones very much. Total BS. (they gave me $19K for my 4Runner trade in and put it on the lot for $24.3K with over 100K miles on it)

It is the same deal any person just walking in off the street would get.

11bravo

I am going to make a statement here that does not necessarily pertain to the OP, but does pertain to almost anyone who drives a vehicle. For whatever reason, most people move the seat waaay too far back. Possibly, they think this gives them more room for their legs. What it actually does is cause the arms and shoulders to have to reach too far forward, while pushing the pelvis too far to the rear. People very seldom have back pain when driving in a full-size pickup because the seats are higher, placing the feet more below the knee, than out in front of the knee. In a car like the RX, try moving the seat forward...you should feel more comfort, and much less fatigue.

bostonsnow

interesting. I actually wondered prior to getting my current lexus whether it may be best to purposely NOT get the heated/ventilated seat option, so that there are not these extra parts under the cushioning that can cause issues. Not sure if people without these options (i.e. who have the base car) have less seat issues over time.

As for other cars, I think it varies depending on the person as to who likes what, but I agree with you about Hyundai - I did not find their seats comfortable, even on the Genesis and Equus which the reviews rave about.

bostonsnow

plus you will have to pay sales tax all over on the new one?

This is the hard part when you don't like a car you just bought - the dealers will try to take full advantage. Although, since its the same dealer who sold it CPO, I'm surprised they can't give you a little bit higher than average trade in....

Could try to sell it privately for a little more $$. Or, since its a CPO, could try to argue that the seat has prematurely worn and should be replaced (might have to go to another dealer to do that though after what this dealer did) . is it a ventilation part or something sticking out?

Ratchey

If I trade it in, I only have to pay sales tax on the difference (one nice thing about Nevada)
I don't think it's anything sticking up. I just can't find a position that let's me feel relaxed. I tried playing with the controls for 3 hours on the drive home. Increased the lumbar, decreased the lumbar, raised the seat, lowered the seat, tilted it, leaned it back, moved the seat forward and backwards.

When I had the 2016 ES350 as a loaner, I drove 9 hours to and from Phoenix and didn't experience any pain until the last 30 min, but it was way too much time in the car all at once anyway.

My 94 Honda Civic seats with almost no cushioning don't hurt nearly this bad. And my Jeep Rubicon had much more comfortable seats for long trips. The 4Runner seats were uncomfortable to sit on but didn't hurt my back.

I may just sell the RX and buy a scooter and be done with it all

bostonsnow

If its primarily a comfort issue on the longer drives, you might be able to salvage the situation with some sort of add in seat cushion.....

bostonsnow

waitaminute - it is a CPO 2013 and it spent the first 2 weeks in the shop? hopefully you were doing some mods to it- not that it had problems already ?!

Ratchey

There is an intermittant issue with the auto tailgate motor. Although it only happened right after I bought it and the salesman was showing me some features. I also asked them to buff out a couple of scratches in the hood. They added $100 to my contract for that (kind of pissed me off). But instead of doing that simple thing, they tried to buff out a couple of spots that looked like bug splatter. Ended up being bug splatter that had eaten through the clear coat so they had to send it out to have the hood repainted.

I just think they don't want the vehicle back since it was on the lot for a month. It's the Fire Agate Pearl color so not high on everyone's list. I will end up wrapping it a satin blue if I keep it, as I am not a fan of Brown at all.

charley95

The main problem with the 3X seats is lack of thigh support and width of the front seating. They could have made the seat wider and not have the flip open door compartment. I'm a small frame guy with a 32 inch waistline and the seat still seems too small for me. Most manufacturers make the seats too small and don't consider the comfort of a larger frame person. Had a 91 Caddy years back that had the most comfortable seats of ANY car I've ever sat in but, a Cadillac is no Lexus! As I've stated before,- a Lexus seat you sit on it and a good seat you sit in it. I never got fatigued in my old Caddy seats.

F250

Vehicle seats.
Comfort on long drives.
Challenges to finding a comfortable position due to inherent lower (or other) back problems.
RX seats feeling "too thin", yet somehow being comfortable on at least short trips and local driving.

I, too experience all of the above. I'm a wide-framed large man (6', 255lbs, linebacker build -- 36-38" waist with a 48x37 shirt measurement), and I have no fat in my butt. I initially found the seats in our new-to-us 2010 RXh (3 weeks of ownership) to feel very thin with little hope of comfort, but have since been exceptionally and pleasantly surprised at finding a seating position which has made it just that... very comfortable... at least on short local trips. That is getting ready to be tested with a couple of 3.5 hr drives next weekend, and then a couple of 6 hr drives several weeks later. I still feel a little apprehensive about how well the thin foam will hold up for me over longer runs, and had the exact same issue with a 2006 Jetta TDI several years back which was outstanding in the short haul but I could not stand the seats after 2 hours in them.

What has helped me to-date in terms of a good seating position in our RXh is my ten years of driving in my '02 F250 diesel crew cab and my '03 diesel Excursion. Both of these vehicles have thickly padded and well contoured seat cushions with minimally effective lumbar supports, but I can manage 15 hour trips in either and still be able to walk around pain free within 5 minutes of leaving the vehicle. First, for me, long trips require a walk around break every 3 hours for at least 10 minutes, and then I charge ahead. As for seat position, a High seating position, as high as possible, is always my starting point regardless of the vehicle I'm driving. My next step is moving the seat back enough to position my legs in a semi-stretched out manner and balancing that effort with a steering wheel position such that my arms are about 80% extended while my back and shoulders are resting completely against the seat back. I only recline the seat back as much as I can manage to let my head rest against the head rest without having to look down my nose through the windshield -- a natural viewing angle. I then angle the seat bottom to the point where I can feel some moderate thigh support, but not so much that I'm sitting in a hole. The final adjustment for me, then, is pumping the lumbar support as far as possible or until I can feel firm support in my lower back, whichever comes first.

Maybe that might help someone else find their sweet spot. I'll find out if this works in my RXh within the upcoming month for longer highway runs, but in all the vehicles I've had and driven on long trips, the above "formula" gives me the best success for pain-free or minimal-pain long distance driving.

JT4

I really feel bad for you that are experiencing pain when you drive because it really stinks... I know, years back I picked up an 11 CPO Accord SE for my middle son and after about two weeks in we noticed how uncomfortable, and at times painful the lumbar was on drives any more than 45 mins..

Checked one of the Accord forums and there were a lot of complaints, took it the dealer who said it was due to the active head restraint, and there was nothing they could. It still amazes me how we didn't feel it on the test drives we took because it was so annoying.

So I had my son sit in the back seat and slightly push forward on the headrest and when he did the lumbar went down substantially. Couple of people on the Accord forum put a small spacer between the headrest post and where it inserts into the seat-back and what a difference it made.

Back to the RX, does anyone know if the seats in the F Sport are different than in the non F Sport? I don't think so but I'm asking anyway because as I mentioned in another post, I find the seats comfortable in our 2015 F Sport which overall rides much stiffer than a regular RX.

bostonsnow

This situation does stink,.
My situation is somewhat different - got the ES300h recently , which I otherwise really like, however can't get comfortable - and I think it is largely because the seat sits so low and my legs are too straight. THis is even with it set at the highest setting. I can't imagine how people drive with it at the lowest setting, if I do that, I cannot see over the dash at all LOL (am only 5'6")

I considered the RX also in my search, probably would have been better off with it, but don't find it perfect by any means. When sitting as a passenger in my friend's RX 2015 I struggle to get comfortable even with the passenger side lumbar support.
I'm going to try a seat wedge type cushion to raise me up and see if that helps. If worse comes to worse, I may give the nice new ES to my wife to drive and take over her older Acura RDX.......

F250

Good question, JT4. If you run a quick search on one of the Lexus parts sites for the two model choices, and compare front seat part numbers, that should answer the question. I would do it out of curiosity myself, but just don't enough spare time for a "search and destroy" mission right now.