SW17LS

Anyways...

Yeah it's not bad for shorter trips, the issue is longer trips. 5 adults though is just never an option IMHO.

Like I said, I think 2-2.5" longer and it'd be much better

yardie876

Whenever I go out in my car with my fam (parents and 2 sisters), my mom always gets banished to the middle seat since she's the smallest of us 5 lol.
It is a very unreasonably uncomfortable middle seat though.

Infamous3

Yeah this is known about the GS, not the best backseat compared to its competitors. I've sat in the backseat of a 2014 E350 and it had a great backseat. I sat in the middle too and was pretty comfortable

Infamous3

The entire middle seat is just randomly a lot higher then the other 2 rear seats

SW17LS

I think the intention was to create a sporty, bucket like feel for the outboard passengers

Afrosheen

Is it the roof line or trunk space that's preventing the GS from having more rear legroom? The car itself is large enough.

Another car that suffers from this problem is the Lincoln MKV. Rented one out of town, took 3 people with me, people in the back were wondering why the trunk was enormous yet there was a 3 foot shelf beneath the back glass and no legroom. I blamed it on the sloping curve of the roofline.

GSthe4th

iTrader: (1)

Unfortunately this is all relative to the size of the individuals in the back seat (and to some extent the front seat passengers). Within the first few months of ownership we took a Vegas trip (4.5 hr drive), and my backseat passengers were very comfortable...but neither one of them are taller than 5' 8". My buddy and I (up front) are 5' 11". I guess the rear passengers expectations and feeling of comfort are relative as well
You pointed out something (just how bucket-like the seats are in back) that I never really paid attention to until recently when installing our new Recaro car seat (rear facing). In order to level it out we had to use a full size towel rolled up underneath. This seat will be great when we can use it forward facing. Obviously the bucket design does more for the head room than leg room. Fortunately most people do not often roll 4 adults deep!

jjscsix

This is a pretty strange thread on several fronts. In fairness, I think the OP made a reasonable first post. But the bottom line is that back seat room is very easy to access when you look at a car before you buy it. Nobody should be surprised down the road.

BTW, I have not ridden in the back of ether of our cars, but I have sat in them both within a few minutes of each other to compare them. The Lexus seems a little better than my BMW 5 Series. There are certainly very close in room, with comfort going to,the Lexus.

SW17LS

To be clear I was well aware of the much discussed shortcomings of the GS' backseat prior to this. Just relaying the results of my first road trip with 4 people. I expected it to turn out the way it did.

I think the issue is two fold actually, I think the front seats are quite large, I have a luxury with the multi-contour front seats and they are thicker and larger than the ordinary seats in my ES, which as I said is more spacious despite having slightly smaller dimensions back there. The other issue I think is the seatback I think is a little upright, so when people slouch down to relax their knees come in contact with the seats in front.

We're all tall people, I'm 6', my wife is 5'10, my cousin is 6'1, and his wife is like 5'8. If we were all shorter it would be less of an issue.

Initial comfort definitely goes to the Lexus, and the rear is much more nicely finished in the Lexus. But I've ridden around for a couple hours in the back of a new 5 series and it does have more legroom and long term comfort is, I think, better.

BarrettF77

Isn't that what she said?

SW17LS

Thats what she's always said to me LOL

praetor

Can't really say much about the back seat as I rarely every use it. The FSport driver's seat though is top notch. I can't complain about it one bit. I wonder how it compares to HarryRa's Ferrari. hahahhaaa

harryra

Hey hey hey....That was a cheap shot....No pun intended....no back seat in F485 either so I don't have these problems....lol.....

I would imagine that most auto companies build cars for front seat passengers as I believe it was once quoted somewhere....no sure where I read it....that over 90% of the time there is no one in the back seat of most 2 and 4 door cars. Plus here in Texas people are quite tall so that makes the back seat legroom even less.....

praetor

My biggest complaint about the GS is that the rear seats don't fold down. It's impossible to haul longer items because of that. I have the AWD version so 4 adults is pretty much max as there is the hump in the middle. OK for short rides but I pity anyone who has to ride in the middle of the rear seat. But I knew this going in.

SW17LS

The driveline hump in the center is the same whether its AWD or RWD, the only difference is the little hump on the drivers side of the console in the front.