Finding F430 Seats Uncomfortable...

[sealtt]

Bought an F430 Spider recently, it has the standard electric seats ... lines on the insert alternating from left to right (put a photo for reference).

This car is absolutely awesome, but unfortunately i'm find the seats pretty difficult to work with, just can't quite get comfortable at 6'1". End up with my neck aching after about 15mins, not sure if it's because the seating position is sort of high in the cabin.

Has anyone had problems with this before? If so did you bother switching seats for something else / get the sports seats or just put up with the discomfort? Thanks for any ideas.

[moribund]

No F430 experience myself (I wish) but I'll post this in case it helps - I've had two cars where I just couldn't get comfortable, getting backache etc. For both of them in the end I found moving closer to or further from the wheel than I would normally sit solved the problem. Seems for me at least that the relative position of arms and shoulders has more effect on long term comfort than the seat back. Might be worth experimenting?

For my Elise especially I was seriously cheesed off after 2 weeks - just couldn't get comfortable and with fixed seat backs I couldn't see a way of fixing it. Then tried sitting 2 clicks closer to the wheel than I'd normally consider and all came good and I can happily sit in it for hours now.

[mwstewart]

I'm also 6' 1" and after spending five hours in the car it was my knees which ached due to the low seating position/leg angle; I've never had a hint of neck ache so far in the 1.5k miles I've driven.

My seats are manual adjustment and I've found them to be very low in the cabin, so possibly the electric seats are mounted higher to gain clearance for the motors? I would be suprised though as Ferrari should have designed the seat to mount the same way for either type of adjustment.

[purpleperil]

Have electric seats in mine, albeit Daytona style. Did wonder if I'd made a mistake as couldn't seem to get the right position but after levelling the seat base it does appear to go lower - previously I'd had the front set too high.

Took the car down to Italy on a make or break trip as regards the comfort aspect and am happy to report that I found it very comfortable - even after more than 10 hours in the sadle on one leg of the journey!

[Nano2nd]

i've got manual seats in mine and my one critism with the cars is that the seating position is abit high, i did wonder if i'd made a mistake not getting a car without electric seats as i'd read that these were lower than the manual seats... not sure if thats true or not?

[ThreesixtyM]

sealtt said:

Bought an F430 Spider recently, it has the standard electric seats ... lines on the insert alternating from left to right (put a photo for reference).

This car is absolutely awesome, but unfortunately i'm find the seats pretty difficult to work with, just can't quite get comfortable at 6'1". End up with my neck aching after about 15mins, not sure if it's because the seating position is sort of high in the cabin.

Has anyone had problems with this before? If so did you bother switching seats for something else / get the sports seats or just put up with the discomfort? Thanks for any ideas.

Your neck muscles will get stronger as they become used to coping with the acceleration and the aching will go away!!
-I had neck ache after I bought my first one and it went away after a while, this was the only reason I could come up with! Sit with your bottom pressed right into the seat back, this helps; we're the same height.

[T4NG0]

Found the standard seats too high in the car for me. However the racing seats were perfect. Shame they are so expensive.

[sealtt]

Thanks for the replies, I'll just stick with it then and keep messing around with the position - maybe i'll hit gold soon. It even took me about a month to get comfortable in my Range Rover, so I think my body is just really awkward with seats !!

purpleperil said:

Have electric seats in mine, albeit Daytona style. Did wonder if I'd made a mistake as couldn't seem to get the right position but after levelling the seat base it does appear to go lower - previously I'd had the front set too high.

Took the car down to Italy on a make or break trip as regards the comfort aspect and am happy to report that I found it very comfortable - even after more than 10 hours in the sadle on one leg of the journey!

WOW, I can't imagine doing 10hrs straight in this car!! I sat in a Daytona specd f430 at Ferrari and strangely I found it a lot more comfortable, unfortunately the rest of the spec of the car was wrong, so I went with this one instead even though it didn't have daytona chairs. It's strange as the outside of the seats looks to be identical, just the inner pattern which looks different, but was definitely more comfortable when I sat down.

[dopamine]

Hi,

I agree with ThreesixtyM - I did a serious day (350km) in the alps with a group of buddies shortly after I got mine (same seats, just daytona trim) and really suffered with my neck the afternoon and day after... But now I have been driving it for four months, including a few more serious days out I don't suffer anymore.

My wife also complaines of 'whiplash' every time I take her out in it

I think it is just like 360M says, you just need to build the muscles - guess you'll just have to drive it... a lot

Cheers

TC

[Slickhillsy]

Could always put it in auto and cut your feet off!

[Slickhillsy]

Could always put it in auto and cut your feet off!

Edited by Slickhillsy on Thursday 9th October 19:28

[PhilboSE]

I must admit I found the Daytona seats very uncomfortable and poorly designed as the headrest was always too far away from my head! They also made me feel like I sat more "on" than "in".

Sports seats solve both those issues, but at a cost (unless your car was specced up with them).

[sealtt]

I moved the steering wheel forward about 5cm... comfort achieved!! Or at least, no sore neck after driving around for an hour or two at the weekend.

I only intend to keep the car a year or so, not really worth going for the sports seats now - though would have been good to try them.