I have posted elsewhere on this forum about my disappointment that my new SD4 HSE does not have height adjustment on the driver's electric seat. The 8-way adjustment was available until the facelift model was introduced when it was reduced to 6-way adjustment, unless you specify the premium leather seats at a £1200+ premium.

Some while ago I suffered a bad shoulder injury which involved serious damage to my ligaments. My consultant warned me that as I got older I would suffer pain if my right shoulder was over-taxed. Consequently, I am very cautious about cars that I would consider buying. I have been caught out in the purchase process for the FL2 as I had previously nearly bought a pre-facelift HSE about 18 months ago which I took on an extended test drive and was able to adjust the height of the seat and position of the steering wheel to find a comfortable position, and combined with the light steering found it to be ideal. I had no idea the height adjustment had been dropped because an extended drive I had before buying was in a facelift HSE with premium leather seats. After the purchase, I raised this with the sales person I did the deal with and they said they were unaware of this change!

It seems to me that one option available to me is to try to get a drivers seat from a pre-facelift HSE at a breakers. However without any schematic I do not know if it would be possible or practical to do a swap. I'm not sure what has been eliminated in the move from 8-way to 6-way. My seats have the tilt adjustment to the bolster (which AFAIC is less than useless). I wonder if the extra adjustment on the rear of the switch is just provided by another motor, or if there is a different seat frame.

Does anyone have a pdf of the schematic of the drivers seat arrangements from a workshop manual or parts catalogue? Any other advice or suggestions would be much appreciated as usual.

BTW, when I mentioned this to LR Customer Relations they offered me a free service, so I suspect I am not the first to complain about the penny-pinching nature of this change to what is the top of the range model. It definitely has the finger prints of the marketing men all over it!

Hi George,

You and I are in total agreement on this one. Please see my previous post here

http://www.freel2.com/forum/topic9806.html

FYI my research tells me that the seat is different so a retro fit of adjustment only is probably not possible. The idea of fitting another seat (potentially from a breakers) is a thought I had, but finding a premium spec’d car being broken is nigh on impossible. I have in fact located one but the seats are shot as its been in a bad smash and rained on for over a year now. Remember the seats are also covered differently (premium leather) so you would really have to change all the seats for this to be matching, which throws the cost even higher (saying that my car is 4 years old so yours being new you might not have this problem, i.e. your seats may be the premium ones already).
My advice, having read your post, would be to write to your dealership, (and or Land rover head office if you get no joy locally) explaining the situation and see if they would be prepared to change your seat either free of charge (or more likely) contribute to the cost of an exchange of seat, which will still cost a small fortune, but at least you’ll be sorted with the correct seat. I suggest this because anything else you do on your own will definitely invalidate your vehicle warranty. The electrics on these cars is simply not worth tampering with.
PLEASE let me know how you get on! (I may well follow your lead!) Good luck!

PS. I am at my dealers tomorrow I will ask them what they think. (Guy Salmon, Knutsford) 57 HSE AUTO with H.I.D's - Grey with Black leather. (H.S.E. Heightadjustable Seats Extra )
My Aviation website - UKHelicopterPilot.com

Hi Gus

Thanks for reply. I am away for a week and will probably do as you suggest and write to Land Rover when I return home. However, as they have already offered me a free service I suspect that is all I'll get. I can't see them making a straightforward conversion available as that would make the option of ''premium' seats less desirable. Presumably that is why they removed the height adjustment from the so called top of the range models in the first place - to provide an additional reason for forking out £1200+ for the premium seats. It's a pity the sales 'executives' don't seem to know this has happened and can't advise accordingly!

To be honest I’m reasonably sure that this extra adjustment hasn’t been “removed” it’s never been there prior to it being an addition on the premium pack. Premium pack at £1200 also includes a few other things of course which shouldn’t be forgotten like different wheels, additional body mouldings and different more luxurious leather on the seats. Never the less the sales teams should be a bit more transparent about this.
I moaned on about it at a certain dealers (not Knutsford) and they played dumb, they couldn’t offer me any sort of explanation as to why my car didn’t have the adjustment. I had to find it out myself by researching on here and the net in general. You’d think the sales teams would know these cars inside out but they don’t. That in itself really peeed me off.
I was at Knutsford the other day but didn’t ask as I was having a hard enough time getting them to accept a fault on the car and then ran out of time. Let me know how you get on. As said in my signature, HSE = Heightadjustable Seats Extra!!! 57 HSE AUTO with H.I.D's - Grey with Black leather. (H.S.E. Heightadjustable Seats Extra )
My Aviation website - UKHelicopterPilot.com

I've just had a look at my 07 SE seats (non-memory electric) and it seems to be a bit of a compromise! My old Vectra had 8-way adjustable front seats where the rake of the seat 'squab' could be adjusted, in addition to the height. However, in the FL2, adjusting the height appears to lift the rear part of the seat proportionally more than the front so giving the feeling of being tipped forward! Still, miles better than manually adjusted seats.

are you saying the seat doesnt go up/down at all or just the seat base adjustment? seems odd if all up/down adjustment has gone.

The freelander one had one height setting - too high my head was in the roof making hard to see left right at junctions At work
At home

"I can't always believe facts I read on the web" - Charles Dickens

winner by default of the tractor vs caravan race

CG
The seat does go up and down but from fully down to fully up, the rear part of the seat rises more than the front so giving you the impression of being tipped slightly forward. Also the seat moves slightly forward when being raised so has to be compensated by moving the longitudinal adjustment back a bit. I'm a short*rse so any height adjustment helps to make me feel superior

same as mine then, what is the missing adjustment? At work
At home

"I can't always believe facts I read on the web" - Charles Dickens

winner by default of the tractor vs caravan race

I believe you have independent adjustment of the front and rear seat cushion height (cushion rake!) in the posh version, which I had on my old Vectra!!!

then you need to buy a RRS fully adjustable At work
At home

"I can't always believe facts I read on the web" - Charles Dickens

winner by default of the tractor vs caravan race

It was an RRS or a new caravan earlier this year, so no competition

So why as a rrs owner are you asking about fl2 seat height adjustments? unless you are quite mad and bought a caravan instead

one life, LIVE IT At work
At home

"I can't always believe facts I read on the web" - Charles Dickens

winner by default of the tractor vs caravan race

I think it is a genetic defect However, I used to live near Haworth for a few years and since the House of Lancaster found out, I have to keep on the move !!!