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I am new to Porsche after a life long love affair with this brand. I bought a cherry 2009 Carrera 3.6 with PDK. This car is awesome except the seats. The upper seat is too narrow and is noticeably uncomfortable as my shoulder blades don't fit. I am 6'0" and 195 lbs. I am not overly large and have never had this issue in any other cars including Corvette and Mustang. Am I alone or do these seats suck unless you are a smaller person?????
Wow. I’m 6’1” 215 and love the seats in my 2009. Very comfortable and support is perfect. My 2006 Z06 Corvette has the worst seats of any sports car I owned.
They did have a flatter profile profile both top and bottom. Foam was much softer. Not sure of the different option seats for 997s. Might be a different version that suits you better.
I felt exactly the same shortly after purchasing my ‘09. I guess I got used to it because I’ve done two long distance road trips and never even noticed it. I am 5’11” and 200 lbs. Give it a little time.
Take a picture of your seats so we know which seat option you have. There is the sport seat plus, and the normal sport seat. I did not like the sport seat as much as I like the sport plus seat. The sport seat resembles more of a triangle, getting narrower as it goes to the top of the seat whereas the sport seat plus has wings near your shoulder areas.
We have ss+ on the 997? Thought it was comfort/memory, sport, adaptive, buckets. Plus I thought the backs on adaptives were pretty much the same as sport seats. So if it’s too tight in the shoulder area for OP then maybe the comfort seats are the only choice.
I feel you. We went from comfy partially manual seats in our 996 to much stiffer 997 14 way electric seats. I can live with them but my wife hates them.
Also, what seats do I have in each (sport, sport plus) and are 996 and 997 seats interchangeable?
The standard comfort seats are anything but that for people our size. I'm 6'1" 200 lbs and the standard seats in my wife's car are very uncomfortable for me in that exact shoulder area where the edges of the seat go right between them.
You need the adaptive sport seats, either full power with side air bolsters (plus versions) or the manual versions which have power seat back recline, manual fore/aft, and manual height adjustment.
It's the shoulder wing supports that make all the difference. They're so good, after putting the plus versions into my 997, I put a manual pair into my 928 Convertible, and even built an office chair out of another one.
Yiur regular seats are worth about $800. The manual sport versions cost about $2,000, and the plus full power versions about $3,500.
Yep ... Uncomfortable. But with a 28" waist I may not have normal proportions. Still, I don't know what Porsche was thinking of when they designed these seats.
The lower part allows you to slide all over the place in turns while your shoulder blades rest outside of the upper part leaving no support for the center of your back.
But my version has ventilation while the truly super comfortable version does not. So I haven't looked to upgrade.
I've learned to brace my knees on either side when turning. I've learned to ignore my shoulder blades. I've got 100K miles driving so it's become a bit more natural.
But a friend's GTS has the better seats so I speak with some experience when I say those are pretty much perfect. Well ... They still don't have ventilation!!!
5'10" 185# here and I find the manual sport seats very comfortable but others do not. A slightly bigger guy at a cars&coffee asked to try out my seats and he hated them since it felt like his shoulders were being pushed forward. One thing to keep in mind with the manual, is the height adjustment isn't as flexible as the power seats. In order to have the seat bottom tilt back as I like it, I need to have the height adjustment all the way down. I've gotten used to it but adaptive sport seats would be better in every way but weight I guess. *** for every seat as they say, it's worth test-sitting in everything at a Porsche dealer to see what works for you. Changing seats is expensive but changing cars would undoubtedly be more so.
Last edited by wolfsburgde; 09-04-2020 at 12:10 PM.
Not a fan of my power heated/ventilated comfort seats but not for the shoulder area but for the lower back/lumbar area. Any drive longer than 30 minutes and I have to stop to get out an stretch. Looking to swap out for adaptive sport seats or buckets. Anyone know if seats are simply plug and play or will you need to source similar options (e.g. power, heat, etc.)?
Memory seats make it less plug and play iirc. Buckets go into memory pnp. Powered anything and memory don’t get along but the fix is simple.
Originally Posted by JT77
2009 C2S 6'2 190lbs.
Not a fan of my power heated/ventilated comfort seats but not for the shoulder area but for the lower back/lumbar area. Any drive longer than 30 minutes and I have to stop to get out an stretch. Looking to swap out for adaptive sport seats or buckets. Anyone know if seats are simply plug and play or will you need to source similar options (e.g. power, heat, etc.)?
Another option might be to stick with them for a bit and see if you acclimatize to them.
I'm 6'5" 220 (ish—it's been a long quarantine!) and my 2008 has the standard seats in it.
The first time I sat in them I found them to be restrictive in the shoulder area as well, and then I...kinda just forgot about it.
Now I find them to be comfortable enough. I've driven about an hour and felt just fine when I got out of the car.
So maybe as you collect info about swapping seats, go on a longer journey and see how you feel at the end.
If you feel good, maybe save that seat $$$ for something else!
Anyway, I hope you work it out—it stinks to have one little thing spoil the whole experience!
I think heavysixer22 makes a good point. Give it a little bit of time to see if you can acclimate to them. You may find that by working with the adjustments, you can find a seating position that makes the existing seats work for you.
I am new to Porsche after a life long love affair with this brand. I bought a cherry 2009 Carrera 3.6 with PDK. This car is awesome except the seats. The upper seat is too narrow and is noticeably uncomfortable as my shoulder blades don't fit. I am 6'0" and 195 lbs. I am not overly large and have never had this issue in any other cars including Corvette and Mustang. Am I alone or do these seats suck unless you are a smaller person?????
rick
I'm about the same dimensions and both the stock and sport seats fit me fine. You must have broad shoulders. If anything, the sport seats will be even more constrained.
I go back and forth on this. 6'2", 185 lbs. Shoulders hang off each side at least 4-5 inches, which is just weird. But in fact I don't notice while driving. Made me look into the lightweight buckets, but they are quite pricey, and they are even more difficult to get into.
09-03-2020, 07:34 PM
My seats suck
