[Terraphantm]

Anyone ever manage to retrofit the comfort seats to this car? And are there seats from any other models (7? X5?) that would fit?

Recently got an i5 m60 with the sport seats. Seemed comfortable enough on the test drive, but as I sit in the car for longer periods I’m finding I’m getting back pain. Lumbar area seems far too pronounced, and seat feels like it tilts upwards too much.

I’m stuck with the car at this point so now I’m looking at my options to rectify this even if I have to spend serious money. Appreciate any advice

[SkykingUSA]

Would love to see a picture of the seat. For some reason, I thought the i5 M60 came with the luxury seats by default. Hmm, guess I was wrong.

[Terraphantm]

Originally Posted by SkykingUSA

Would love to see a picture of the seat. For some reason, I thought the i5 M60 came with the luxury seats by default. Hmm, guess I was wrong.

Apparently certain color interiors forced a downgrade to the sport seats.

Mine for reference:

[AiredaleDad]

Originally Posted by Terraphantm

Apparently certain color interiors forced a downgrade to the sport seats.

Mine for reference:

Attachment 3689752

That has to be it. I remember the Veganza Luxury seats only come in black and Espresso brown, and white.

[W2k]

Having gone through a few BMW's now, my rule is to always go for the comfort seats. With the i5, I was able to try both at the dealer, and the comfort seats are superior. No issue with the color as I was set on the espresso brown. Terraphantm, I hope you manage to retrofit them, it'll be worth it.

[Blue Sky]

Terraphantm is talking about these. They are not a default, it’s all just a matter of which seat material/color combo you choose. Some come with the “comfort seats”, some come with the “sport seats”. Sport seats look a little more bolstered, but may not actually be. They have manual headrest adjustment, and passenger side lacks seat memory and side bolster adjustment. I have previously complained that though the “sport seats” are not really a no-cost upgrade, but really a no-refund downgrade in many respects since the price is the same regardless the choice. Many people have commented that they felt the “sport seats” are firmer.

[Blue Sky]

Terraphantm Have you spent time in the G60 comfort seats to see if it makes enough difference to look into retrofit?

I test drove more in the sport seats than the comfort seats, but have ordered the comfort seats because I couldn’t see enough of a difference, I thought the sport seat bottom seemed a little tougher and might be more fatiguing, and because you lose passenger side bolster adjustment and seat memory with the sport seats (along with motorized headrest height) without any price drop. I have looked briefly into the possibility of a sport seat retrofit in case I later find I made the wrong choice.

Retrofitting wise, I have not heard of this done in this series. The sport seats have less functionality, which I just outlined, so I would expect the passenger side wiring harness to not support the functionality of a retrofitt’ed comfort seat. This may or may not be a problem on the driver’s side, depending on whether nor not the headrest height requires a different harness, or maybe it is just a digital data connection anyway common to all seat choices plus the power connections (not known). So there is the potential for needed to replace the harness and possibly whatever controller it attaches to. Potentially this may not be practical. You could try talking to a dealer service department since they would have access to the technical information they would need to figure the feasiblity of a retrofit.

Another approach would be to rebuild the seat. I have looked over the seat part diagrams a few times, and it did look to me like essentially the G60 seats are the same. I believe they share the same underlying metal structures (seat pan and seat back), and the difference is mainly in the foam parts and the various cover options that go over them, and these can be purchased from BMW since they have part numbers and show up in online catalogs. A possibility if lumbar is the problem is that the lumbar bladder could be removed from the seat. I don’t know if this would be effective or not, but whatever thickness it presents in the deflated state would no longer be there. There used to be auto upholstery shops that would recover or rebuild seats, now probably mainly for vintage restorations, who might be handy with seat dis/re assembly.

[Terraphantm]

Originally Posted by Blue Sky

Terraphantm Have you spent time in the G60 comfort seats to see if it makes enough difference to look into retrofit?

I test drove more in the sport seats than the comfort seats, but have ordered the comfort seats because I couldnÂ’t see enough of a difference, I thought the sport seat bottom seemed a little tougher and might be more fatiguing, and because you lose passenger side bolster adjustment and seat memory with the sport seats (along with motorized headrest height) without any price drop. I have looked briefly into the possibility of a sport seat retrofit in case I later find I made the wrong choice.

Retrofitting wise, I have not heard of this done in this series. The sport seats have less functionality, which I just outlined, so I would expect the passenger side wiring harness to not support the functionality of a retrofittÂ’ed comfort seat. This may or may not be a problem on the driverÂ’s side, depending on whether nor not the headrest height requires a different harness, or maybe it is just a digital data connection anyway common to all seat choices plus the power connections (not known). So there is the potential for needed to replace the harness and possibly whatever controller it attaches to. Potentially this may not be practical. You could try talking to a dealer service department since they would have access to the technical information they would need to figure the feasiblity of a retrofit.

Another approach would be to rebuild the seat. I have looked over the seat part diagrams a few times, and it did look to me like essentially the G60 seats are the same. I believe they share the same underlying metal structures (seat pan and seat back), and the difference is mainly in the foam parts and the various cover options that go over them, and these can be purchased from BMW since they have part numbers and show up in online catalogs. A possibility if lumbar is the problem is that the lumbar bladder could be removed from the seat. I donÂ’t know if this would be effective or not, but whatever thickness it presents in the deflated state would no longer be there. There used to be auto upholstery shops that would recover or rebuild seats, now probably mainly for vintage restorations, who might be handy with seat dis/re assembly.

I have spent a fair amount of time in a G60 with the comfort seats before buying this car, which is actually what set me down the whole path towards buying a G60. That car I found incredibly comfortable even for long drives. Though I plan to get some more seat time before attempting a retrofit to be sure.

My costly mistake was not knowing the differences in the seats and also not realizing that BMW did the 'no cost downgrade' with some colors. A short test drive was not enough to reveal the big issue to me. With regards to removing the lumbar bladder -- mine doesn't even seem to have it. It's more the intrinsic lumbar support which is causing me issues .

Wiring -- it seems like the seat controls are all handled by the seat control module which then connects to the door modules via CAN-bus. So driver side that shouldn't be a big issue, passenger side that might be a small issue if the can wiring isn't already present -- though I can live with non-functional passenger memory / idrive controls if it came down to it.

If the seat frames are the same, rebuilding may indeed be an option, though finding an assembled seat would certainly be easier. Unfortunately from what I'm seeing the seat components don't seem to share much with the other models. The few seats I'm seeing on the used market seem to be the base seats too, but I'll have to keep an eye out.

Coding might be an issue, though it seems like we're still able to do FA edits as long as we're able to redeploy the software from what I'm finding.

Option B I suppose is just sell the thing not even a month in. Based on Carvana's offer, I'd probably be taking about a $5k hit. Which would suck, but not necessarily be disastrous.

[Blue Sky]

$5k loss on a new M60 is not that bad, a straightfoward way out.

[Terraphantm]

Originally Posted by Blue Sky

$5k loss on a new M60 is not that bad, a straightfoward way out.

Yeah the more I think about it that might be the way to go. I’ll give it an honest try for a little longer, but if a car is going to cause me pain every time I go to and from work, I can’t keep it long term.

Question is what to replace it with…

[husnuke]

My car is in transit now and I ordered with `Burgundy Red perforated and quilted Veganza` seats however I didn't know it is a downgrade. The configurator only warns on `Black M` seats. I don't think removing some functions without any notice on the configurator is fair. Should I ask for a discount?

[Blue Sky]

You could give it a try. I have not heard anyone take this position with their dealer. Your dealer might give you a little off to make you happy even though they don’t have to since the price is the same from BMW. The only hint of it in the configurator is that the passenger door seat preset buttons disappear in the interior picture with the sport seats, but it isn’t called out specifically in the configurator or order guide.

I was aware of this trap because I specifically researched this, and at the dealer I specfically went through this with my CA and we were both looking through printouts of the order guide trying to decode exactly which seat material/color would be sport and which comfort.

[AiredaleDad]

Originally Posted by Blue Sky

Terraphantm is talking about these. They are not a default, it’s all just a matter of which seat material/color combo you choose. Some come with the “comfort seats”, some come with the “sport seats”. Sport seats look a little more bolstered, but may not actually be. They have manual headrest adjustment, and passenger side lacks seat memory and side bolster adjustment. I have previously complained that though the “sport seats” are not really a no-cost upgrade, but really a no-refund downgrade in many respects since the price is the same regardless the choice. Many people have commented that they felt the “sport seats” are firmer.

If you look at any other model 5er besides the I5 M60, the default IS the sport seats. They are available in all colors.

However if you select the "Luxury seating option" it is an additional $1350.00. That includes the passenger memory functions, but it is not available in the Black M Alcantara, or the Burgundy. It will remove the Luxury seating option if you select either of those colors. And the online configurator will tell you the changes being made in a pop up.

The I5 M60 comes default with the Luxury seats. But if you select Burgundy or Black M Alcantara, it will, downgrade the seats and I'm not sure if the configurator will tell you that it downgraded. I would go to the dealer and ask for that $1350 to be discounted from the price of the car, since you are not getting the seats you paid for.

Now. If you configured the car in the online configurator (Like I did), and gave him a build code and said "Here's the car I want, let's order it.", then it's on you for not checking the build before, and they may not discount it. They built the car as you requested.

However, If you sat down with the SA and he/she was configuring your car at the dealer, and they went through the configurator and showed you the choices, and asked what color seats you wanted. When you told him "Burgundy", and THEN they neglected to inform you that would downgrade the seat to Sport Seats, then it's on them. Even if it was because they didn't know. They are supposed to be the experts, and their negligence prevented you from being able to make an informed decision, and they should discount it accordingly.

[Blue Sky]

There is no popup warning on the i5 M60 USA configurator when choosing sport seats. It’s literally treated as just a different color.

The sport/comfort seats is detectable on the build sheet, but it takes some study (multifunction seats 456, sport seats 481). And the pricing guide makes no mention of a price difference. The USA M60 comes priced with comfort seats regardless of which you choose. I don’t think my CA was aware of this when I got into this issue.

[jcracken]

I didn't realize that the comfort seating package on the xDrive40 was as extensive as being pointed out here. I assumed it was packaging the ventilated seats + rear heated seats together, which is why I just paid the $600 for the ventilated seats separately and called it a day (I don't often use the rear seats).

The only thing about the sport seats I find uncomfortable is I don't feel the headrest sits in a way that really supports my head comfortably, but that might just be something I adjust to. Would've liked the seat memory on the passenger seat, though.

[AiredaleDad]

Originally Posted by jcracken

I didn't realize that the comfort seating package on the xDrive40 was as extensive as being pointed out here. I assumed it was packaging the ventilated seats + rear heated seats together, which is why I just paid the $600 for the ventilated seats separately and called it a day (I don't often use the rear seats).

The only thing about the sport seats I find uncomfortable is I don't feel the headrest sits in a way that really supports my head comfortably, but that might just be something I adjust to. Would've liked the seat memory on the passenger seat, though.

Yeah, it's a bit more than that. It includes the front and rear heated seats package, Front Ventilated seats package, front comfort seats, and the memory seat package for the passenger and Driver.

[aaexpert]

Im curious about a retrofit for just the seat cushion as i dont have the luxury seat option but I felt it in a X7 and it was sooooo much softer. I also dont have the ventilated seats but wonder if the luxury cushion would still fit/work?

[NatJ101]

I must admit, my seats in my I5 M-Sport are horrendous on long journeys, used to have a Volvo XC60 and definitely notice the difference at the end of the journey (in my 20’s so shouldn’t be any lower back problems! &#128514

On my previous G30 they had what I liked to refer to as the ‘squeezer’ to bring the sides in, but these aren’t present on the I5 m-sport seats!

[Blue Sky]

Originally Posted by NatJ101

I must admit, my seats in my I5 M-Sport are horrendous on long journeys, used to have a Volvo XC60 and definitely notice the difference at the end of the journey (in my 20’s so shouldn’t be any lower back problems! &#128514

On my previous G30 they had what I liked to refer to as the ‘squeezer’ to bring the sides in, but these aren’t present on the I5 m-sport seats!

The G60 sport seats do have side bolster squeezing on the driver’s seat, but it’s on the main screen seat menu, no on-seat hard buttons for it.

[NatJ101]

Originally Posted by Blue Sky

The G60 sport seats do have side bolster squeezing on the driver’s seat, but it’s on the main screen seat menu, no on-seat hard buttons for it.

I’ve looked high and low on the system for that setting and couldn’t find it anywhere! Does yours have full electric set up with memory function? Mine are just the electrically adjustable but manual forward/back and no memory setting!

[Terraphantm]

Originally Posted by Blue Sky

The G60 sport seats do have side bolster squeezing on the driver’s seat, but it’s on the main screen seat menu, no on-seat hard buttons for it.

Mine does not have this

[Blue Sky]

NatJ101 there apparently are multiple versions of the sport seats, and you have one with more manual controls, so probably that model doesn't have electric bolsters.

Terraphantm I've driven the USA i5 M60 with sport seats and I'm sure it's in there. The control is only dot on the seat picture when you bring up the driver's seat menu for the adjustments.