Hi all,

I recently bought a new 2025 es350 ultra luxury. The car is pretty much my dream car and the spec is perfect. The plan was to make this my daily driver and keep the car for over 10 years. After 2 weeks of ownership and putting over 1,000 miles I HATE this car. This is by far the most uncomfortable car I have ever driven and I own 2 sports car. I am reaching the conclusion that the seats are horrible. When I sit in my Porsche cayman and f type with PERFORMANCE seats they feel so comfortable compared to the es, it was actually relaxing to sit in them. It's weird, when I initially sit in the es it feels fine (not as nice as my sport cars), but after driving for 15 minutes I start developing lower back pain. I was having a really hard time finding a seat setting that felt good but I think the side bolsters on the seat bottom are squeezing my hip or upper thighs. To experiment I folded a towel a couple times hoping it would raise me over the bolsters and that seemed to help with the back pain, HOWEVER now my butt hurts, I think my butt is sitting on top of the side bolsters that are apparently made of bricks or something.




Towards the back of the seat bottom, the side bolsters squeeze towards the end and the bolsters are very stiff which probably adding the soreness.

Added a towel to raise the seat bottom hoping to sit on top of the side bolsters



Here are my Porsche seats and OH MY!!! These are so comfortable. Even though it also has side bolsters they are not as stiff as the es350 and the rear bottom is more wider. When I run my hands between the side bolsters and my thighs they are easy to go through, on the es350 it gets tight towards the rear!!!


The f type side bolsters don't squeeze you towards the end and these seats are SOOOOO comfortable. I can sit in these for hours and still feel fine. I have no idea how Lexus can screw this up so badly


Researching online it seems like this is a fairly common issue people have with this car (which in my opinion is absurd that this is even an issue). I am guessing at this point I need some seat cushion to provide my bottom with comfort. For those experiencing this issue, how did you guys fix this issue? Any seat cushion you guys recommend?

 

There is a thread here that discusses that and cushions purchased that help. Some find this seat perfectly comfortable but most don't. Everybody's anatomy is different and seat doesn't fit all. Try numerous settings to see if you can find the best spot. To give an example my LS430UL I have had for over 20 years caused me and numerous others pain in right leg on trips. I finally found the right setting where it did not happen and these are big seats.

 

This might be such a thread: A good Seat Cushion helps immensely

 

Thanks, was trying to find a thread like that but could not. I have ordered that seat cushion and some others. Will report back and let y'all know it goes.

It feels weird to do this long term on a new car that is marketed as a comfortable cruiser. I hope this provides short term relief while I search for another car that meets my needs. That is unless the seat cushion drastcailly improves the driving experience.

 

It took me a long time to get my driver seat (’22 ES350 UL) into a position I found the most comfortable, with a combination of different positions and both upper and lower lumbar areas. But it is much better than it was at first. To me the bottom line is - as with many modern cars - two fold. First, not enough padding (even ¼” more of memory foam would help) and overly large and intrusive, hard side bolsters. This is not a sports car, and I’m not tearing around corners, but this bolster is seemingly designed for a driver style incompatible with the car’s general function. From reading automotive reviews it seems like this trend is perhaps changing, with more thickly padded, comfortable seats coming on board. Of course, that does nothing for this generation ES. Comfort, however, is variable and partly dependent on personal considerations (preference, body shape and size, etc.).

 

Even for a sports car the side bolsters padding is way too stiff. My sports car also have side bolsters but they are not as stiff and allow some flexibility. They really overdid the side bolsters which just destroys the ethos of what this car is suppose to represent and their marketing. I also find the default rear lumbar support to be too much and the bottom padding feels lacking (though I think I am okay with that, time will tell). It is really sad to say that the sport seats in my sports car are better than the supposedly plush and comfortable Lexus "ultra luxury" trim sedan.

Though I could imagine people who have a smaller width than me to find it just fine since they are not pressing against the side bolsters all the time. I guess wider people too though when I was sitting on top of the bolsters I did not find it comfortable, probably because I don't have enough builtin padding in my rear....

 

Side bolsters in a non FSport model? I've been driving my ES FSport for seven years now and they're the most comfortable seats FOR ME with the sport side bolsters. Perhaps you should have taken a longer test drive of the ES.

 

I'm sure you've been around here long enough to read of other people's exact same problem. And I happen to have the same Car and Year as the original Poster.... And I have the same problem as he does. And since your car is 7 years older and a different model, I see this information as completely irrelevant.

And as far as taken a longer test drive, that would not do it. I drove my 2025 ES350 UL out of the Showroom and drove for 2 days back to my home for 850 Miles. At the end of that road trip, I would have told you that the driver's seat was fine. It was not until I owned the car.for a couple weeks, that the constant 'Bolster Pressure' on my hips started to bother me.

 

I’m also quite dissatisfied with this seat.
No matter how I adjusted it before, I always felt pressure on my left thigh, which caused significant soreness and discomfort.
Eventually, I stopped adjusting it altogether, and over time my body seemed to adapt.
The pain gradually went away.
Hopefully, after giving your body some time to adjust as well, this feeling might also disappear.

 

That's what I'm hoping, and my current plan.

 

Has the ES F Sport existed for seven years? If you have a 2019, was it one of the first ones out in calendar 2018?

 

Precisely - purchased in Dec-18.

 

According to this Lexus press release, ALL-NEW 2019 KENTUCKY-ASSEMBLED LEXUS ROLLS OFF THE LINE, the first seventh generation Lexus ES rolled off the assembly line on August 3, 2018 for availability in dealer showrooms in September 2018.

 

Ended up getting this seat cushion. Noticeable improvement but still getting back pain, though it takes longer to develop but I think it is due to the seat adjustment. I will try this out for like a week and see how I feel, got another 1k miles to drive.

 

I don't think a longer test drive would have worked, this was something that developed with time for me. When I first drove the car it felt fine, and when I did my first 500 miles it was okay (Slight pain but nothing unbearable) but I thought seat adjustments were enough to fix the issue. I guess the more I drove the more and more the pain develped to the point I can't drive more than 10-15 minutes. I guess if someone was just doing short drives with occasional long road trips throughout the year it might be okay but for me I put 20k-30k miles a year and on the road for hours.

Also I think your car is a different generation so probably doesn't apply to the generation I am talking about and the seats are different.