Thread: Are you too wide for your Defender?

Originally Posted by Hymie

There's a difference between driving with an elbow out the window of a Defender and an arm hanging down the side of the Commodore and the hat on backwards.

Really!

What if the Defender belongs to the local wood hooker?

Originally Posted by superquag

I just have a philosophical reservation towards a vehicle that NEEDS extensive re-building just to get a reasonable driving position.... - If the designer gets it that far wrong...and Marketing lets it go out the factory gates...

The seat is the most important part of any vehicle, along with the proper placement of controls (steering wheel, pedals etc). Its more than ergonomics or fashion, its your health & Safety. You need to be comfortable and properly placed and supported. If not, then no matter how great is the off-road capacity, you'll lose interest in driving an uncomfortable car.

Bear in mind that it was designed 60 or so years ago, when the fashion was to build cars/planes so.. cozy... - that the machine was an extension of the operator.... People were also smaller back then and stoically accepted what was dished out to them.

Put simply, the Deefer's classical LR shape does not allow enough adjustment in the seats, they often need to be lifted/moved back or sideways.

I'd suggest taking an hour or more test-drive, enough time for the niggles and aches to come through !

My family still rate the '89 Pajero as having a better seating position and more comfortable seats F & R than my 95 Vogue Classic...

Not sure I agree. There are no shortage of cars, old and new, that I find woefully uncomfortable to sit in, or just ergonomically irritating.

Every Subaru I've ever driven has an irritating relationship between gearstick, steering wheel and seat, so that I could never find a comfortable medium where I wasn't either hunched over the steering wheel or over-reaching for the gearstick.

Ford Focus' have seat bases that feel like they've shoved a piece of plywood in for a cushion.

I'm about 6'2" and many cars I can't sit up straight in without my head touching the roof, so then the seat lays back and I'm driving semi-reclined.

Not touting Land Rover as being any great shakes at it, I think you find the car with the seat that suits, modify, or put up with it.