I had similar comfort issues with long drives. It's not terrible, but it's definitely not the most comfy car I've gone on long trips in. And yes, it's the seats imo. My butt would go numb and then sore after about 1-2 hours in the seat. After I got some Corbeau aftermarket seats (shich sit almost 2" lower than the stock ones), I could drive 4 hours straight with no problems. Too bad I'm back to stock now, but it's really not unbearable. I know I'm asking for it on this forum, but the most comfortable long drive I've ever had was in a Honduh Civic. OK, flame away.

 

lancers suck overall.

 

No flaming here, these cars were not built for comfort.

 

No cruise on mine is a pain on long trips.

EB

 

Not having cruise is a pain, I'm going to miss mine because the Mazdaspeed Protege doesn't have it. The seats in the Lancer suck. They have no lumbar support at all. It's like sitting on two flat, firm couch cushions. One thing I can say though, I never got a sore back the day after driving the Lancer 6 hours. I did get a sore back after taking my Pulsar on the same trip, which has much more supportive seats, just maybe not designed for comfort.

 

it would be nice if the steering wheel could be brought closer (length adjustment?) im not very tall but i have long legs, so when i adjust the seat to when my legs are comfortable, my arms would have to be entirely straight and my back wouldnt be leaning on the back of the seat..........

 

Telescoping steering wheels are awesome. My Supra had one, you could move that wheel to any positon you wanted. You're not going to find that on any econo box unfortunately.

 

I would expect a comment like that coming from a Mercedes Benz driver. I agree that are cars are not the most comfortable, but I did not buy my car for comfort, bought because it was affordable and it gets reasonable gas milage.

 

Please do not feed the troll.

Mitsubishi has telescoping wheels on a lot of their JDM cars, so I don't understand why they haven't put not one on a single US Market car. I know that a Lancer would never get a power adjustable one, but maybe a manual one. It would probably take too much to get it to pass our crash tests, sigh.

 

It's not like they did a good job for passing crash tests in the first place. A whopping 2 stars for side impact and only 4 for frontal crashes. Pretty pathetic. Plus only one of the trim levels has ABS available .

As for comfort, no complaints except for the seats. The Corolla seats and much nicer, as are the Protege, Civic, Cavalier, etc. I don't think there is a worse seat out there right now to be honest.

 

I know I shouldn't.

At least our cars are more comfortable than my wife's Focus.

 

I'm actually thinking about trading my car in for a "cough, cough" Subaru IF I can find one for the right price. They are way more comfortable, and faster too.

 

Man, that sounds like some extremely rough times if you need a cortizone shot to dull the pain from driving!!

I thought my '90 CRX was bad for long drives... It had no steering wheel adjustment, no cruise control, and the seat padding in it was 10 years/200,000 miles old (basically non-existant.) I took quite a few trips from Phoenix to LA, a spring break trip to Salt Lake City for snowboarding and a summer trip to Denver in that car.

IMO the EVO seats and creature comforts are leaps and bounds above my old CRX, but from what you describe about your Lancer the EVO may be only be a notch or two above the Lancer comfort levels.

I'm also 6', and I have a bad back due to a work injury 5 years ago. I'm surprised the EVO suspension doesn't make me ache on even short drives to work.

I've taken a few long drives in the EVO (10+ trips from Phoenix to LA, stopping only once for gas during the 450 mile one-way drive), and even a trip to Colorado that took a LONG *** time due to the snow. The only complaint I have is the lack of cruise control and the hard arm rest on the door, but even those things don't bother me because I'm used to it from the CRX. Be sure to remove your wallet from your back pocket! That'll make your *** go numb in about an hour. haha

I dunno what to tell ya. It sounds like you might want to consider getting rid of the Lancer if driving it bothers you that much.

Good luck, and hope everything turns out for the best.

 

The Sentra and Cavalier and the Cobalt are just as bad. They may try to make SAB standard for '06, but we don't know yet. I've never gotten into any of the cars you mentioned and been overwhelmed by the seat quality. I've never thought of Lancer seats being bad, just typical economy car seats. But, I guess if I drove one every day it would be different.

 

i like being a troll.