NativeTexam:

My wife has your same complaint. Riding long distance in the Defender seats is really tough on her bad back -- even as she uses all the adjustments to try to get the seat to lay back and support her lower back. She much prefers her LR4 seats.

Her wish is for the Defender's map / audio capability and the LR4's seats. .......

 

Interesting.

A Counterpoint: I quite like the seats and am used to deeply bolstered sport seats on other vehicles we've owned / currently own. Did a 5 hour journey few weeks back up to the Cascades, and I was concerned it may hurt my back (have a very problematic lower back) -- yet no issues whatsoever on my end. I kind of like having "a truck" with "truck seats" that are flat for this Defender. By contrast, the highly bolstered sport seats in an M car I own -- I can't do more than 2 hours in the car without being in some sort of pain.

I was suprprised to see that they didn't "bolster up" the seats for the V8 though.

 

this.
OMG!! Yes!! - i test drove the souped up 90 and i couldn't believe how much i slid all over, thanks to the spanktastick engine.. the seat belt didn't help because the seat is so wide.. i've been looking for aftermarket seats if/before i buy the defender.

 

I really like the Defender seats and the taller seating position. Did about 20 hours of driving in 3 days of college move-in trips and felt fine afterward. By contrast the seats in our X5 M50i become painful when driving more than a couple hours. My size 36 waist is wider than the flat spot in the bottom seat cushion. So the rigid side bolster digs into my right butt and thigh as I reach for the gas pedal which is positioned far right. I know I'm not alone, there are numerous posts about the painful BMW seats and some people on the BMW forum even traded in their vehicles just because of the seats.

We have a second Defender on order to replace the X5. Seats were a small part of the reason but the main issue is too many winter travel features are missing on the X5 like snow mode, heated windshield, fog lights, ground clearance, low gear and headlight washers.

 

I feel the same way, this is one of the most comfortable cars (seats being a big part of that) I have ever experienced over long distances.

 

It may be my imagination, but it seems to me that it takes some time for the seats to be broken in. Initially I thought the seat bottom a bit flat, but now approaching 8K miles not so much. By contrast, when I switched to the passenger side on a recent long jaunt to let my wife drive I thought the seat quite hard and flat, perhaps from simple lack of use.

 

There is hope!!!

 

I'm in the "the seats are great" camp. I was worried about the 10-day road trip I took from the DC area to South Dakota / Wyoming and back, but no issues whatsoever. That was actually a first for me, as all other vehicles left me with a painfully locked up shoulder among other issues. Maybe I got set in my seat preferences early - first vehicle was a Ranger with a pretty flat bench seat.