Looking to buy a D4 - couple of questions

[Ape_Man]

Hi everyone,

I was given a D4 TDV6 for the weekend to test and my wife and I have fallen in love.

But it is not unconditional.

I am pretty tall and broad (hence the Ape_Man nickname haha) and my questions pertain to the front seats and what modifications can be done. I have done multiple searches and couldn't find any answers.

The short of it is that I need just a little more space. In both seats I could use an extra inch of leg room. In the drivers seat about a cm in height and in the passenger seat about an inch in height.

So the questions are.

Do electric seats give any extra space over the manual ones?

Has anyone tried to modify their seats or gone to an auto trimmer to shave a bit off the padding?

Will doing this affect anything like warranty or air bag deployment?

I asked these questions to the dealer and he said he wasn't sure if the electric seat gave any more space and that there should be no modification to the seats done at all.

He could be right, but he hasn't been the most knowledgeable sales guy regarding the D4. An example was he said there was no dual battery systems available..

Hope someone out there has some experience with the seats.

If I have any more questions I will post follow ups to this.

Regards

Justin

[roamer]

Hi Justin
Didn't the dealer have a D4 with electric seats for you to try ??
Dual battery, probably none LR recommend.
If you modified the seat you would kiss seat warranty good bye

Cheers Ken

[Ape_Man]

Thanks Ken,

the dealer only has 2 in stock and both had the manual seats. I think I could live without seat warranty just to get the awesomeness of the rest of the car.

The dual battery situation is strange. Toyota and Nissan locally both are happy to get dual battery systems installed for you, I would have though LR would be the same.

Being a big fella makes car buying really depressing . I want an off-roader and my choices are (in order of preference) only D4, Jeep Grand Cherokee, LC200 and the Patrol. I currently have the Nissan and would love to have a look at the new model but I think the second coming will happen before it goes on sale here in Oz. Other than that I just can't bring myself to replace my GU with a GU that has rear air vents. But I do love it and if it is my final option I will just do it as at least I know what I am getting.

The cruiser is just to blah for crazy money. I want some niceties for my money as this is going to be, by far, the most expensive car I have ever purchased. I can't get the VX as the sunroof destroys headroom.

The Jeep has very little in the way of after market mods at the minute. It really needs a rear wheel carrier as the spare being inside isn't really ideal for touring. It also doesn't have a cargo barrier available.

I love the Disco, just need to make sure that I am going to be perfectly happy and comfortable if I take the plunge. My other current car is a Ford Territory and I hated that 3 weeks after purchase as on my fist long drive I found the front seat to not be as supportive as I would have liked. Nearly 3 years later and getting trade in prices and I loathe it even more haha.

Sorry for the rant, I needed to get it out of the system.

[Tombie]

Quite amusing isnt it..

It is against the Law to install non-OEM approved products to a vehicle before delivery.. (I have a copy of the relevant data somewhere)...

As for the seats... Mate... How big are you?

I'm Long legged, tall and broad (in most dimensions) and think its great... And plenty of head room

I'm surprised you struggle to be honest!

[Ape_Man]

Hi Tombie,

I'm not that tall, just on 196 cms. With the seat all the way down and back my left knee is pretty jammed into the corner. There is a bit of give, one more centimeter would be nice.

There is about 1cm above my head in my normal driving position. My hair kept rubbing against the roof and it was driving me nuts so I tried lying the seat back a bit more but then my shoulder was the problem. Whilst not really tall, I am really broad. Once I lean back a bit I am jammed too hard up against the pillar. It is too uncomfortable and I would probably cramp after a few minutes. So I sit a bit straighter so only part of my right arm is up against the pillar, but then I get annoyed by the roof. To get an idea, with the door open my right shoulder sticks out almost exactly to the width of the cars body.

This is a problem I have with nearly all cars. Some vehicles, like a Defender, I can't close the door without leaning far to the left so I don't break a collar bone.

It does make for nice stable left hand cornering though.

It would be lovely to be able to just go to a car lot and say 'I'll take that one thanks' if only I was a wee bit smaller. I sometimes dream of a world where my choices were as vast as 'regular' people.

I just want to buy a car that I love for once, rather than a car that fits me. I don't suppose the government has tax subsidies for people with limited choices?

That's an idea. I am forming a new minority group.

[roamer]

Tombie... for crying out loud don't upset him,
he's extra large and goes by the name of "Ape Man",
you must be insane

[oldsalt]

Ape man - you could always go the "aftermarket" seats such as Recaro ... they are very supportive and a good bit "flatter" in their design (I think) - look up the importer and give 'em a bell for details (check out their N-joy series)... I'd be surprised if they couldn't fit you into the D4 a little bit better than standard seats. Worth a try anyway....
cheers

[Thinkbig]

Hi Justin

Well I’m 198cm (6’6”) and carrying way too much condition (wrong side of 20 stone) and I find the D4 with manual seats the most comfortable & roomy car I’ve had. I assume you jacked the seat down as low as it would go and adjusted the steering column up. I know after my wife drives (she is 5’2”) I have to make quite a few adjustments to fit in properly. Also, I find reclining the seat a fair bit adds more room. I have never had an issue with headroom which makes me wonder whether you had the seat jacked down all the way.

I do have problems sitting in the passenger seat though - definitely not enough room. I tried to solve this problem by driving all the time - but this failed to pass by the wife.

My biggest problem was with the pedals. I have size 16 feet and with certain boots I catch the brake pedal when shifting to and from the accelerator. I tried to get the pedals adjusted through the dealer, but they would need to get an engineering certificate to move them - so I just adjusted my driving style (and got new boots - much cheaper that way).

I can’t fit into a Territory very well either. I would suggest going back to the LR dealer and trying another D4 and playing around with the seats again - could have been a problem with the seats in the example you tried.

Best of luck - you won’t find a better vehicle if you can fit.
Chris

[Ferret]

Ape man - you could always go the "aftermarket" seats such as Recaro ... they are very supportive and a good bit "flatter" in their design (I think) - look up the importer and give 'em a bell for details (check out their N-joy series)... I'd be surprised if they couldn't fit you into the D4 a little bit better than standard seats. Worth a try anyway....
cheers

The D4 has air bags built into the seats, how would you go insurance wise with Recaro seats?

[oldsalt]

Don't know - I was just offering some suggestions re seat sizing ... I would think you'd be O.K. if you notified your insurance company of the "change" though ... I'm sure somebody on here will be able to offer opinions on this.
cheers