bkw

Hoping that someone here can help me find a decent seat for my daily driver, the mazdaspeed3.

After months of pain I finally went to the doctor and found out that I've got two herniated disks in my back which makes driving anywhere for more than 30 minutes impossible. After 5 minutes I'm feeling pain and by 30 minutes I want to pull over and scream. And to make matters worse, I've got a 1:15 to 1:30 hour commute each way ever day to and from work!

He prescribed rest and yoga for the pain, but in the meantime I really need something to replace the drivers seat in the speed so I can commute.

The doctor was kind enough to check out the car and noticed a few faults with the seat.

#1 - the height of the lumbar is too high, and cannot be adjusted up or down
#2 - even at the least extended setting, the lumbar jutts out too far. Also noticed that when totally deflated - you can feel the bar that holds the lumbar in place under the fabric.. which happens to hit exactly where one of the problematic areas of my back is.
#3 - the seat is too high even at it's lowest position. He would like to see me closer to the floor, like on the S.

He did give me one of those tempurpedic memory foam lumbar things - but said that it'd be best to sell the car or replace the seat. The lumbar support thing may provide a little relief for my aching back, but in the long run it'll make things worse for other portions of my back and spine since I'm not longer in the ideal seating position.

Unfortunately, he's not a car enthusiast so he could not recommend a specific seat, and that's where I'm hoping someone here is.

Any and all recommedations are welcome.

The Gasman

This is not a joke, those wooden bead seat covers that taxi drivers use are supposed to work really well. Try one of those, they are supposed to massage the back well.

Hope you get it figured out. I had a lower back spasm a while back and it was excruciating to drive the s until the spasm went away.

bkw

Hah, I'll have to try one of those out - but I have my doubts.. if the bar under the seat is bothering me, I can only imagine what 12094120^3 wooden balls will do.

CKit

http://back-shop.com/spinal.htm
Try this website, they make custom back seats.

Also, I've heard that the BMW and Mercedes seats are some of the most adjustable around. So are the Audi seats. I wonder if you could get one off a junked car and wire the electrics?

Bunchies

Volvo seats are good. They should be decently adjustable too.

dombey

yeah, the BMWs with the sports package have a lot of adjustments. Also maybe the adaptive sports seats from Porsche?

Look at this as an opportunity to pitch the Cayman S to your wife, with medical backup. "Honey, the doctor said get a Cayman S or have $75,000 back surgery".