Originally Posted by vinceleo

Reporting back - I disconnected the BMS as noted previously when I was in Forida. I didn't notice any negative effects down there other than the voltage. By way off background, I use a 12v monitor plugged in the cig lighter.
it seems like when the BMS is noted plugged in, the voltage is consistently 13.8v when the car is running. When I plugged it back in, I saw volts in the range of low 12s to 14.7 when running. So I assume the computer is telling the alternator what is needed based on conditions.

We drove back to Western NY over the weekend, and I had no problems. Today it was quite chilly, and I turned on my heated steering wheel and heated seats and i realized neither was working. I turned off the car and plugged the BMS back in and fired up the car - both the steering wheel and the seats heated up nicely. Based on other stuff that needs re-boot from time to time to turn on (like the PIVI), maybe it needed a reboot or maybe the heated seats and heated steering wheel are impacted by disconnecting the BMS.

BTW, the car was great on the road trip down from Western NY to SW Florida and back to WNY 6 weeks later. My only complaint is the front seats - I did miss the seats in my Porsche Macan. Other than that, it was a great road trip vehicle and that was with Cooper Discoverer Road+Trail AT tires.

Originally Posted by vinceleo

Interesting, I often see the volts down in the low 12s when driving - must be fully charged?

Originally Posted by jamesembry

I'm curious about your comparison to the Macan seats. I previously had a 2022 Macon GTS with the standard seats. What seats did you have in your Macan? Big difference on road trips between the two?

Originally Posted by vinceleo

I also had a GTS with either the 14- or 18-way seats. Road tripping in the Macan was very easy and comfortable. While the Defender cruised well at speed (even on AT tires), I was getting a pain in my right glut - could have been the angle of my foot sand the accelerator?). All in all, it wasn't too bad, but the Macan's seats were definitely more comfortable for long trips. However, with that said, I would not hesitate to take the Defender across the country.

Originally Posted by CEHansen

I used to get that pain on long drives too. Then I discovered it was my wallet causing the problem. Now I remove it for long drives.

Originally Posted by vinceleo

I also had a GTS with either the 14- or 18-way seats. Road tripping in the Macan was very easy and comfortable. While the Defender cruised well at speed (even on AT tires), I was getting a pain in my right glut - could have been the angle of my foot sand the accelerator?). All in all, it wasn't too bad, but the Macan's seats were definitely more comfortable for long trips. However, with that said, I would not hesitate to take the Defender across the country.

Originally Posted by H1Tad

This is one of my few complaints about the Defender. I'm 6'6" tall and even with the seats all the way back, I just cannot extend my legs straight out My wife is an osteopath and told me, while I was complaining about the sciatica pain to try and adjust the seat so that my hips were higher than my knee. What ended up helping was tilting the seat bottom forwards. It felt like I was going to fall out of the seat constantly but it was .... marginally better. In the end, due to my size, no vehicle is going to be a completely comfortable road trip car. Not even my neighbor's suburban kept me from feeling the sciatica. Stretching is the only thing that can help me.