Better seat position

[Portal Pat]

Hi , As a newbie on here, in what year did LR address the inadequate seating position in the Defender range?

[chook73]

December 2015.........

Personally however I like the seating position....

[AndyT]

I'm not sure they ever did address it. I'm not overly tall (180cm) and even with the seats fully back in my 2008 Defender it felt like I was sitting in a bucket! The first mod I made to mine was to fit these...

MUD Seat Rails - Seat Rails and Bulkhead Removal - Products (http://www.mudstuff.co.uk/products/rails-and-bars/mud-seat-rails.html)

Fitting was a piece of cake and I got 100% improvement in driver comfort.

[Lagerfan]

December 2015.........

:D love it


Personally however I like the seating position....

Same here, though did fit the rails (from Mulgo) but found what you gain in front-to-back movement you lose in height so it's a trade off. That's with a 90 BTW which features a cross member behind the seats, a 110 with rails gets you more front to back movement.

[Loubrey]

I imagine its all about personal proportions (leg length/ body length/ arm length etc) as I've seen 190cm guys fit into a Defender with Mulgo rails with no issues and an 180cm guy's head touching the roof lining!

I'm 183mm myself and while I've never had an issue with the seating position, I never had the option to do anything about it as I've always driven 90's and they've always had bulkheads preventing any additional seat slide with any type of rail.

I bought the Mulgo rails as an experiment and I can honestly say I'm more than happy. I actually find myself sitting quite upright, because with the seat fully back I can just about reach the steering wheel with the recommended amount of elbow bend!

So... calling the seating position "inadequate" might be a bit strong - especially in this section of the forum - :), but with the aftermarket mods you can alter it to personal taste.

Cheers,

Lou

[ATH]

I've got a 110 and agree the seat rails are a worthwhile addition. I'm also 185cm but don't have tp put the seat right back to get comfortable now.
AlanH.

[pannawonica]

:D love it



Same here, though did fit the rails (from Mulgo) but found what you gain in front-to-back movement you lose in height so it's a trade off. That's with a 90 BTW which features a cross member behind the seats, a 110 with rails gets you more front to back movement.

I bought mud rails and found the same height problem, so I took them out.I then fitted Scheelmann's and it solved the for and aft and height issues and the Toyota back I was getting.:D

[TeamFA]

I still don't get the problem - perhaps I'm just short enough to not have a problem. I'm 180 cm (84kgs, so not a lightweight), and the stock seat on the stock rails, at the rearmost position, is plenty comfortable for me.

I've done a week of 7-hour driving days, and no problem.

[isuzurover]

The defender seating position is binary. People either love it or hate it...

[skidrov]

I had a weird recent occurrence/observation that fits in this thread...

I've always been happy with the seating position of my 2010 Defender. No seat rail mods or anything needed, it just meant I was one of the binary "ones" that liked it, to follow on from the words of an earlier post.

So, I thought to myself, if it's good now, if I swap the seat cushion from driver to passenger, meaning the squab for me becomes the one that has had less proportion of bums on it in the 90,000 or so km the car has done, it'll then be BETTER, won't it!

Wrong. That few mm of compression that various ...err... drivers had inflicted on the foam meant I couldn't get comfortable! Seat forward, seat back, angle adjusted up/down, couldn't get there. I eventually just swapped the squabs back and bliss returned.

So, for those not happy, perhaps the reverse will be true! Turn the other cheek, so to speak, and switch squabs!

[Mudnut]

Land Rovers addressing the problem is ignore it for 50 years, and it might go away!!

It is a bit subjective, as I have the Mud Rails, but only on the passenger side. I find the position fine, with the seat back all the way, but my wife was cramped with the air con box in her footwell. Mud rails seemed to alliviate this. The seatbelt latch is more difficult to access on her side, with the seat elevated however.

[ezyrama]

I have the mulgo seat rails on drivers side, i still have to make a flat pair for SWMBO's side because she is vertically challanged and doesn't want the seat raised as high as mine, also made a draw to sit under the cubby box which raises it 70mm and the draw slides open into the rear seat for storage. With the raised box and seat, thx to the rails, the left elbow doesn't need to move off the cubby box when gear changing and with the seat so far back, the handbrake makes a good foot rest when cruising in top gear now.8886488865
You can see the difference between the two seat positions fully back. Love it!

[Portal Pat]

Comprehensively answered. Thank you all.