dan96max

This is my first post here but I've been lurking for a little while doing some research. I've been looking for a new car for what feels like forever now. I am 6'3 with pretty consistent back pain which has made car shopping pretty disappointing this go around. It seems like every manufacturer has decided that ridiculously angled dead pedals should be the norm. Unfortunately for me the position these pedals put my leg in gives me immediate back pain.

Anyway, I believe I've narrowed it down to a CPO GS350 or a CPO Q50. Both have driving positions that seem to work well for me. My concern with the GS is that I test drove a base GS with out the LUX or F Sport seats and the front edge of the seat dug into the back of my thighs pretty hard. To the point that I had discomfort after leaving the car and walking around it for a bit. Has anyone else noticed this in a GS? Does the extended thigh support help with this at all? The dealer didn't have any there with the upgraded seats to try. The next closest dealer is an hour away but hopefully I'll get there next week sometime. I didn't notice this at all on my Q50 test drive or after fiddling with it in the showroom for a while.

Thanks for the help!

dchar

The extended thigh support makes a huge difference, especially for your height. I would definitely look into an F-sport or Luxury package if you want the most comfortable seats. The Luxury package even includes a couple additional adjustments to the F-sport seats: upper back rest.

MustangSal

I'm 6'2" and have had my share of back issues after 20+ years in the Navy. My 2015 GS450h FSport is more than adequate. They pretty much nailed down every area/gap adjustment that could be thought of to fit your body driving position.

Afrosheen

6' 7" here, F Sport with the thigh extension fully extended all the time. No problems on long or short trips. The double lumbar adjustment helps too.

Sevn86

I went on a 4 hour trip (each way) last month and I have to say the seats do get uncomfortable. My passengers couldn't wait to get out. My RX has more comfortable seats then my GS. I have the premium version so it doesn't have all the adjustments that the F sport and luxury offer. They are definitely on the firmer side.

AJLex19

Have the premium 4GS similar to member Sevn86. When I drove the 3 different pkgs/models, seat comfort to me and my better half was as follows:

Good: Prem. Pkg seats
Better: F Sport Pkg seats
Best: Lux Pkg seats

As mentioned by others, Lux pkg has the most adjustments and the car will ride with the most comfort in mind overall. Tires will make a difference obviously but the Lux Pkg seats are the way to go for someone like you.

spoogenet

Highly recommend the Lux, but if you don't carry passengers (or care as much of their comfort) the F-sport should do. I did notice the passenger seat in an F-sport, basically the same as a base model 10-way, lacked comfort -- of course that's relative.

I recommend you do give the prospective model a try and get some time in the seat. I'd recommend Lexus over Infiniti any day. And while I wouldn't necessarily recommend some of these cars as cars, for seat comfort I would look into Audi, Cadillac, and Buick as well.

dan96max

Thanks for the replies everyone!

My experience with the dealer I visited started really good but then the sales guy got really pushy on the car I was looking at. It needed the rear bumper re painted as well as a bunch of other stuff touched up. I'm not super picky but it was more than what I wanted. Especially since it was parked next to a different CPO car they just sold for less money that looked spotless. He then went on to say that I will never find a luxury and shouldn't even bother looking. My wife and I both thought it was strange that he didn't seem to want to help us unless we bought THAT gs350.

It sounds like the luxury package is what I need to look for though. My wife drives a lot on the weekend so I'll definitely need a comfortable passenger seat.

For whatever reason that G/Q series of sedans just fit me really well comfort wise. I've been driving Nissan's for like 15 years or so now. I had a Maxima that I supercharged back in the day. The Q50 is kind of like the sedan I always wanted my old Maxima to be. My wife's words on me in the Q50 were something like "You don't fit, it looks like you are trying to drive your wifes car" so I've been having second thoughts on that one.

Afrosheen

Haha, yeah the Q50 can be a tight fit. The Q70 is probably more suitable, and the Q70L if you plan on having tall passengers. I fit into a Q50 just fine but feel a little cramped after driving a GS350 for 3 years. I was dead set on getting one 3 years ago, and now my lease is up and I want more power, and there's the Red Sport 400. Tough decision.

I didn't care for the Q70 despite the lovely interior, because I wanted a more sporty model and the Q70S was very darty due to tires or suspension tuning. Anything off-center and it wanted to go that direction right away; kind of hard to describe but I imagine it'd wear me out fighting it in daily driving. The GS also wants to follow any groove in the pavement and dives headlong into dips in the asphalt and tears the wheel out of my hands sometimes too, but it's easier to manage if I just let it "have its way" then grab the wheel after it passes over the imperfection. Tires make a big difference of course.

JDR76

Good luck in finding the right car for you.

We are very, very happy with the comfort of our GS so far. We've taken it for up to 4 hour drives and found it to be very comfortable.

dan96max

The red sport looks like a carnival ride of smiles from the reviews I've seen online. I am a CPO off lease kind of guy otherwise it would be pretty hard to pass up all that power in a reasonably practical car. My current car is a rotted out 2004 Pathfinder that is long past its prime. My wife has been driving the nicer volvo the last few years. I bought the pathfinder as the last year of the old style and now that I've had it for so long it feels ancient. This generation pathfinder came out in 1996 I think. That's how I feel about the Q70. If I bought one now I would be in the same situation of buying one of the last model years of a car that already feels like it needs a redesign.

I'd agree with the way the older infiniti cars drive too. They all felt too harsh or stiff to me and the clunky first generation of that 7 speed was awful. The Q50 seems like a big step forward for comfort and drive ability. The size is really the biggest con on the Q50 and the hilariously small trunk it has when you add a spare tire option to it. The GS seems like a more usable car coming from an SUV.

All though the comparison is invalid I guess if I can't get my large thighs to be comfortable in the car. I'll have to find something with the LUX package next week to see how it is.

spoogenet

While I don't recall the exact Infiniti models, the Consumer Reports data has shown terrible quality/reliability on some of their recent models, but not all. So definitely research the specifics if that's of concern to you.

My local dealer gave me the same "Lux is too rare" stuff and, here in Austin, that seems to be the case as it's all F-sport. But they're more common in Dallas or Houston. The best thing is you can check inventory online of dealers within whatever driving distance you can tolerate. Do look at the pictures, my experience is not all of them state the Luxury package clearly but you can spot it a mile away from the wood steering wheel.

You'll probably find the 10-way passenger seats to be lacking for your needs in the base or F-sport packages.

AJLex19

Odd that the salesman would say the lux is so hard to find. In the northeast there a few to choose from in the used marketplace but not sure of your budget/willingness to travel:
https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/d...8872/overview/
https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/d...1147/overview/
https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/d...1340/overview/
https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/d...5062/overview/
https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/d...6109/overview/

If you have a relationship with a pre-owned sales mgr, you can always ask him to bring one in for you to look at. I did this with my dealership and they brought in the exact pkg/color/mileage optioned GS I was looking to buy...So i bought it :-)

DallasDave

iTrader: (1)

What is it with some salespeople? I went through a similar situation here in Dallas. "You'll never find one with a cold weather package here in Texas..." When he went in to get the keys for a test drive, we found four cold weather packaged cars on his used car lot. When you are perusing the pre-owned lots, look for the wooden rimmed steering wheels. That's the luxury packaged cars.

dan96max

That was kind of the frustrating part with the sales guy at Lexus. I looked at a Maxima at the local Nissan dealer and they were more than willing to do literally anything. To the point that the sales guy got his buyer involved and said they would make a list of the color combos, options age mileage price etc. and go get me whatever car I wanted since I had time to wait. There is a GS350 with accident damage on the car fax at a dealer that's about an hour away. Hopefully I'll get a chance to get out there and at least see how it is and then go from there. I have another 2 months before my current car has to go through emissions which it will inevitably fail so If I can't find one by then I might be going back the Infiniti dealer.