hey value guy I am also a big guy (6'5" and about 295 lbs) and did notice the head almost touching the headliner when I got my ride. This will improve over the first month as you wear out the padding in the new seat. once you drive it a thousand miles the seat will take your shape a little better. I am sorry about all of the drama with car and wish you luck. To be honest though I dont think the dealer is going to give you a new car. I had alot of wind noise off the drivers mirror and they tell me at the dealer that they cant even hear it. the first week or so I was looking at lemon law rules for my state, but I am getting used to it ( or I am more concerened with getting rims and springs on the car).

 

I am of 2 minds about this. I am convinced that there are some seats that will hit a particular person so bad they are hopeless and you might as well cut your loses (as in loses to your back not so much to your wallet) and the sooner the better. I am not surprised about your reaction to the seat as I had a problem that I did not notice on the test drives since I assumed the seat would be at least as comfortable as the 2GS, which I knew was a great seat for me.

On the other hand, I was able -- eventually -- to find a workaround on the seat design flaws after about a week, so you MIGHT consider keeping it longer. I'm glad I stayed with it and am quite happy now (I'll have a longer report in 2 weeks.)

But, given what you said and the intensity of your feelings, I'd dump the car and move on with your life and your back. Money isn't that important in whole scheme of things.

 

While I don't know how you could've found out about how bad the seat was with a test drive, I'm not sure they would take it back.
I too have back issues with this car, BUT I had to keep it. It still bothers my back from time to time, but it's liveable. If I thought I could get 45k for my car (yeah,right) I would sell my car and buy another. And I have only 8k miles on my 2007 gs350.

 

I appreciate all the replies. The dealer told me $3,000 loss and I must purchase a new Lexus. I have about week to take that deal. Or, I can try various supports and give it time to see if the seat problem improves.

I have decided to give it a try over the next 6 months. I will purchase various cushions, etc and try to change the incline or elevation. What do guys find helps? Is a steep incline with a raised seat more comfortable than a straight upright position with the seat fully lowered?

I really learned a valuable lesson with this GS. First comes the SEAT then everything else. The funny thing is I am very happy with EVERYTHING else on this car. I wish Lexus would just sell me a better seat (Group buy). This car is a great value and even $2,000 more for great seats wouldn't have detered me from buying it. BMW and Mercedes offer a seat upgrade package for $1500 or so.

I figure that if in 6 months I can't find a workable solution then I will take the $$$ hit and get another car. What would a 2008 Lexus GS 350 with Nav, ML, XM with 6,000 miles be worth? $41,000 on a trade for a new LS? Are the LS seats any better as I don't really want an ES (no offense here).

If needed I will go German again just for the seats. Maybe Infiniti M45?
Please post opinions about your experience with quality seats in cars made by BMW, Audi, Mercedes, etc. My last sedan was a AMG E with MULTICONTOUR SEATS and these babies were wide and very adaptable but firm. I don't mind firm provided they provide good support.

 

You are right of course. Will that cushion fit in my GS seat? I am open to anything that will help my back.

 

I have 20" after market wheels and tires. The car looks MUCH better with these wheels than the stock ones. If I plan on trading the car in about 6-18 months should I keep the stock wheels in my garage? I have them for sale in the classified section on Club Lexus but was wondering what I should do with them. Sell them or keep them? I assume the Lexus dealer would rather have the OEM wheels on the car for a trade. But, if I sell the car myself or trade for a Infiniti, Acura or Mercedes I doubt those dealers would care which wheels were on the car. In fact, I bet they would prefer I trade the car with the nicer aftermarket wheels. Any advice?

 

Valueguy,

I sympathize with you as I went through something similar on my last car. However, I didn't feel the back pain until my first commute home after about 40 minutes in the seat. Prior to that, my back felt fine during the 10-15 minute test drive.

I'm curious as to why you purchased the GS if the seats were immediately uncomfortable after only a few minutes.

As for a solution, what I did was, I went to an auto upholstery shop and had them remove the leather and build the lumbar area up with viscoelastic memory foam and put the leather cover back on. The memory foam is great as it contours to your back for a near perfect fit.

Alternatively, you can buy an external memory foam cushion like this:
http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-5-3lb-Memory...QQcmdZViewItem

This one's only $24 including shipping and is every bit as good as the $80 memory foam cushions sold by stores like Relax the Back.

With respect to the rims, YES. Definitely keep the stock rims and swap them out and sell the 20" aftermarket rims when you sell your car. Regardless of the dealership, they will not give you one penny more for aftermarket wheels.

 

Sounds like your version of the contract only protects the dealer and not the buyer ...

If push comes to shove if you signed a contract for 96,000 they could try to enforce the contact ...

Contract is binding on BOTH parties once its signed by BOTH parties - But since the dealer wrote the contract and filled it out - its unlikely to be unfriendly to them

 

Thank You for some great advice. I placed a pillow (my memory foam has not arrived yet) behind my back, lowered the seat to maximum, kept the incline to a minimum ( I needed some) and then adjusted the steering wheel.
Also, I set the heater to maximum along with the factory lumbar support (set to maximum). I must say this made a big difference to me. I imagine your solution is even better and I plan on asking the dealer to help with this if possible. I much prefer the memory foam behind the leather.

Do you mind me asking what you paid for this service? Is it worth it to ask the dealer for any help? I imagine the dealer would charge me for this added foam.

As for the wheels and tires I don't think my aftermarket tires (in 18 months) and wheels will be worth more than BRAND NEW factory OEM 18" wheels and tires. I suspect the value would be equal with a slight tilt towards the new OEM wheels because my aftermarket wheels were MRR HR2. They look more expensive than they actual cost.

 

If his back is anything like mine. The ~15mins b4 back starts aching is intermittent. I know my test drive was "only" around the block. I would've never guessed my seats would hurt. But after a few days (might have been only one day) did I realize the seat sucked big time.

Oh as for what you could get for the car in 6months... if you sold the car and it was around 50k+, you should get 40k+. But take what happened to me, I tried a trade-in about the 1 year mark. My car only has 8k on it. Lexus would offer me about 35k if the car was mint. And mine was fully loaded with ML but without nav. and they sold it to me at $50k. I wanted to trade it in for the 2008 just for the nav and other upgrades as long as the price difference wasn't too unreasonable. But $15k more just for nav and a few touch ups is NOT worth it.

 

Dealer=Stealer most of the time. You could sell a mint GS 350 with 8,000 miles easily for $40,000. A three year old GS 350 mint with 30,000 miles would be worth $30,000- private sale. One that looks "hot" with aftermarket wheels, tint, clear bra would fetch even more.

 

Yes, I took a 20 minute test drive and thought this was "the car" for $50,000 hands down. A similar Mercedes would have cost me at least $9,000 more and had less HP with less goodies not to mention a close relationship with the service adviser on a first name basis.

I had no problems with my back after 15 minutes. But, the 75 minute drive home made me very aware of the lack of back support. Now, that I have made the adjustments (more to come incl. memory foam) my back doesn't hurt nearly as much. Clearly, the lack of padding is the source of the problem for me.

 

It sounds like this seat issue is a deal killer for you...it would be for me. Instead of being stuck with a car that you are scrambling to find a speculative solution to fix your seat problem, I would just take the deal and take the $3K hit and be rid of your GS.

When my prior ES was in the shop, I drove loaner GS vehicles. I personally didn't care for the GS seats...the padding made the seat cramped and unconfortable for me even though I'm in good shape and 5'11" tall weighing 160 pounds. When Lexus bought back my ES, I went for the LS because I wanted comfortable seats.

If you like the seats on another Lexus model better, you might as well take the $3K hit NOW and start driving a car you like NOW. If you stick it out for another year with your GS and still want to trade the GS, you will take a much larger hit than $3K and you will have spent a lot of time and energy. Just my 2 cents.

 

The thing is I like the GS 350. I like the way it drives and especially the way it looks. If I can get memory foam added to portion of the seat where my back is against the seat (lumbar plus thoracic area) the seat becomes acceptable. While the seat is small for me it is big enough for 1-2 hour drives.
This will be my daily driver and my commute is 30 minutes. I will average about 1.5 hours per day in this car with each sitting being about 30 minutes.

I realize my hit will be $6,000 or more if I keep the GS. But, a $6,000 hit over 12 months is a lot better than $3,000 over three days. Plus, I have hope the memory foam solution combined with time to work in the seat, optimal seat adjustment and the seat heater on maximum will make this GS tolerable for me.

Perhaps, Lexus wil come out with a sport package next year for the LS. Then, I am very likely to trade up. One last thing I assume the padding on the LS is nice and comfortable. Correct?

 

I can't believe you actually fit into this car. At 6'5" and 295 how do you get into the tiny seat? not to mention the headroom issue. I will give it MORE than a thousand miles and I will use a memory foam pillow as well. I hope the dealer can help with the installation of memory foam padding to the back area of the seat. I really need it.