Passat SEL - how to improve seat comfort?

ekm

Member
Joined
Jan 5, 2008
Location
NJ
TDI
05 Passat, 06 MB 320CDI
Love the car...hate the seats! I have the SEL model which has the stupid swede inserts in the seat....who thought of that great idea.

Any suggestions on how to improve seat comfort? Remove them and bring them to an interior shop? Replace them with ?

After driving 2 hours or so, my back and legs are killing me. No issues with driving my MB for long drives. Anyone else with these problems?

Car has 85K on it now and hits 48-50mpg on summer road trips.
 

physicshogon

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 14, 2011
Location
Virginia
TDI
2012 Passat
Love the car...hate the seats! I have the SEL model which has the stupid swede inserts in the seat....who thought of that great idea.

Any suggestions on how to improve seat comfort? Remove them and bring them to an interior shop? Replace them with ?

After driving 2 hours or so, my back and legs are killing me. No issues with driving my MB for long drives. Anyone else with these problems?

Car has 85K on it now and hits 48-50mpg on summer road trips.

I don’t know what year yours is, but I have run into the exact same issue about 2000 miles into me on in the vehicle. I have owned mine since late 2011 and I haven’t really found a “fix”. I just deal with it.


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Tom in PT

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 7, 2017
Location
Twilight Zone, WA State
TDI
2005 Passat sedan - SOLD; 2013 Passat DSG; both purchased new
I bought an aftermarket foam pad with a color close to the "cornsilk" color of the seat and it helps a little bit.
(this is for my '13; my '05 seat is pretty comfortable but a foam pad also helps that too)
 

hitman1985

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 15, 2018
Location
Clarksville, TN
TDI
02 Jetta TDI ALH
Love the car...hate the seats! I have the SEL model which has the stupid swede inserts in the seat....who thought of that great idea.



Any suggestions on how to improve seat comfort? Remove them and bring them to an interior shop? Replace them with ?



After driving 2 hours or so, my back and legs are killing me. No issues with driving my MB for long drives. Anyone else with these problems?



Car has 85K on it now and hits 48-50mpg on summer road trips.
Cc executive fronts. Never look back at the oem crap.

I'm ok with my airbag light on over seat comfort lol


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ekm

Member
Joined
Jan 5, 2008
Location
NJ
TDI
05 Passat, 06 MB 320CDI
My SEL is a 2015....have to figure out how to change my info tab.
 

ekm

Member
Joined
Jan 5, 2008
Location
NJ
TDI
05 Passat, 06 MB 320CDI
Cc executive fronts. Never look back at the oem crap.

I'm ok with my airbag light on over seat comfort lol


Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk
where do you find CC executive fronts? Are these full seats or covers or??
How comfortable are they?
Thanks,
Ed
 

compu_85

Gadget Guy
Joined
Sep 29, 2003
Location
La Conner, WA
TDI
... None :S
Those are full seats. They sit several inches lower than the NMS seats. We had a set in our '12.

I found the alcantara material of the SEL seats more comfortable. The CC seats are more adjustable though. 4 way on the lumbar, 8 ways on the seat (the front is also height adjustable).
 

tadawson

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 14, 2013
Location
Lewisville, TX
TDI
2013 Passat TDI SEL, 2015 Passat TDI SEL
We have a 2013 and a 2015 SEL, and I find that I can do 12 hours a day for multiple days with zero discomfort, so I guess it's more of a "butt to seat interface" think and not the seats themselves . . . Same for my wife.


Sorry . . .
 

Jetta_Pilot

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Apr 14, 2005
Location
West Hill, Ont.
TDI
2015 Passat Highline TDI Candy White (SEL Premium) long gone 2002 Jetta TDI
Myself as tdawson says, twice a year I drive about 6,000 km - 4,000 miles in five days and experience no discomfort either.
 

ekm

Member
Joined
Jan 5, 2008
Location
NJ
TDI
05 Passat, 06 MB 320CDI
I have a MB E class...much more comfortable for long trips. F150...much better too.
Wife complains about her Passat SEL after two hours and we drive 6 hours each weekend so need to find a solution or a different car/SUV.
 

Tom in PT

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 7, 2017
Location
Twilight Zone, WA State
TDI
2005 Passat sedan - SOLD; 2013 Passat DSG; both purchased new
^ Try the foam pad solution in post 3 or some variation of that.
In my Lexus LS430 (2005, 125 K miles) I actually took the seat out of the car and removed the seat leather and put a new pad in it (OEM). For your Passat, you might consider removing the seat and adding foam to the existing foam or re-padding the seat, OEM or otherwise. Probably less expensive than putting in seats from an entirely different vehicle like hitman did in post 4.

If your Passat has a lot of miles on it the seat pad may have degraded and is worse than a new one, so it may be time to upgrade or rebuild it to better than new.
 

psychogecko

New member
Joined
May 27, 2015
Location
SC
TDI
2014 Passat TDI
I don't mind the seats either. I had a Toyota Avalon before my passat SEL. Talk about ****ty seat comfort. Why are you trying to compare MB seats to a VW?
 

Tom in PT

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 7, 2017
Location
Twilight Zone, WA State
TDI
2005 Passat sedan - SOLD; 2013 Passat DSG; both purchased new
I think he's trying to get his VW seat more comfortable, like the one in his MB. We're trying to help him out with ideas on how to achieve that.

Those that say "my seat is just fine" really are not helping that much IMHO.
 

Tom in PT

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 7, 2017
Location
Twilight Zone, WA State
TDI
2005 Passat sedan - SOLD; 2013 Passat DSG; both purchased new
I think he's trying to get his VW seat more comfortable, like the one in his MB. We're trying to help him out with ideas on how to achieve that.

Those that say "my seat is just fine" really are not helping that much IMHO.
 
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