Seats and legroom

[MikeO2]

As a once (and hopefully soon) future owner of an E85 Z4, I'm looking for a bit of advice on seats and legroom. My earlier car was a 2.0 SE (seats with separate head rests) and I could just about fit in it with the seat pushed back and down as far as it would go. I've just had a test drive in a very smart 2.5 with M seats (integrated head rests) & it felt like it had an inch or so less legroom - gutted! Is this operator error or is there really less legroom in cars with M seats?

[DMike]

I swapped seats and didn’t notice any difference in legroom. The M seats are a bit lower and and the seat pan tilts backwards resulting in somewhat flexed knees, but the effect is minimal. Seat back position certainly has more impact - when upright, the seat can travel backwards more, and when reclining to avoid wind buffeting those chilly mornings, legroom is compromised. Tend to have three programmed seat positions, i.e. spirited, normal and drowsy relaxed

[darkwheels]

There's so much adjustment in seating position now, it takes some experimentation to find your individual sweet spot.

DMIke is right about getting the seat back more upright to get the seat back further in the car.

IMO lower isn't alway better. I'm tall, but perhaps moreso in my legs, so low doesn't always help. In fact I've placed spacers under the front of the seat runners in some cars to cant and support my knees, if that makes sense. I've just done so on my recently purchased Z, even though it has the Sport seats with the tiltable base.

NB Mine's an E86 so I guess will have the same legroom and I bought it off a chap taller than me who complained of E85 headroom For reference I'm about 6'1" and habitually wear safety boots

[MikeO2]

Thanks for the comments and suggestions. I think you're both right - and that I didn't take enough time to play around with the settings before I took it out for the test drive... I'll know better next time!

[Roberltd2]

After I had bought my E85, I started to notice my left knee was always knocking the dash every time I changed gear. Same seat type as you mentioned. I was seriously considering finding ways of cutting out part of the dash when I discovered that the front of the seat could be lowered. Problem solved. Happy days