My wife has, and always has had back issues with vehicles. I have been looking for a mid-sized SUV with comfortable seats. There is no gray area here, with-in a couple blocks on a test drive she knows. It doesn’t seem like the options are any better now than they were years ago. Generally what I am looking for,
- Can take or leave the third seat...we have grand kids but would likely use this seating only a couple times per year
- Probably prefer no GDI or turbo...but this seems to be the way things are now
- CVT or conventional tranny...could go either way I guess. Folks seem to rag on CVT’s, yet these Aisin 8-speed tranny’s that seem to be everywhere these days aren’t exactly perfect either?
- Not interested in the Big Three...
Started looking at the Pilot, Sorento, Highlander, and CX 9 but all do not offer adjustable lumbar even in the highest trim levels...so for $50K (Sorento is less) you still need a rolled up towel and pillows to stay comfortable in the passenger seat. The Telluride does offer adjustable lumbar at the highest trim level but this vehicle seems to have quite a bit of hype around it right now, and I have not ready to get into a bidding war for a Kia?
On to the luxury brands...Audi, Volvo, Lexus. We have owned a couple of Audi’s and yes the seats were comfortable and they have a luxury feel about them in the ride and handling...but you get everything else that goes along with them. Seems like this is true withe the German brands, and Volvo? So what about Lexus,
Have owned three Toyota’s over the years but not Lexus. I recently spent some time on the Club Lexus RX 350 forum and found some unhappy people...”droning” noise, vibration, sluggish 8-speed transmission wanting to down shift vs get up and go (probably tuned for fuel economy?), and a generally a lack of luxury feel given the price paid. Yes, forums can get negative...but this seemed worse than normal. It is hard to tell if one in ten are unhappy or one in 10,000?
Any thoughts on seat comfort...I know my wife would be really ****** off spending the big bucks on a vehicle and still ending up with crap seats!
- Can take or leave the third seat...we have grand kids but would likely use this seating only a couple times per year
- Probably prefer no GDI or turbo...but this seems to be the way things are now
- CVT or conventional tranny...could go either way I guess. Folks seem to rag on CVT’s, yet these Aisin 8-speed tranny’s that seem to be everywhere these days aren’t exactly perfect either?
- Not interested in the Big Three...
Started looking at the Pilot, Sorento, Highlander, and CX 9 but all do not offer adjustable lumbar even in the highest trim levels...so for $50K (Sorento is less) you still need a rolled up towel and pillows to stay comfortable in the passenger seat. The Telluride does offer adjustable lumbar at the highest trim level but this vehicle seems to have quite a bit of hype around it right now, and I have not ready to get into a bidding war for a Kia?
On to the luxury brands...Audi, Volvo, Lexus. We have owned a couple of Audi’s and yes the seats were comfortable and they have a luxury feel about them in the ride and handling...but you get everything else that goes along with them. Seems like this is true withe the German brands, and Volvo? So what about Lexus,
Have owned three Toyota’s over the years but not Lexus. I recently spent some time on the Club Lexus RX 350 forum and found some unhappy people...”droning” noise, vibration, sluggish 8-speed transmission wanting to down shift vs get up and go (probably tuned for fuel economy?), and a generally a lack of luxury feel given the price paid. Yes, forums can get negative...but this seemed worse than normal. It is hard to tell if one in ten are unhappy or one in 10,000?
Any thoughts on seat comfort...I know my wife would be really ****** off spending the big bucks on a vehicle and still ending up with crap seats!
