James Ruppert
Cars that can cosset a sore spine
Luxury cars tend to come with decent seats as standard
Bad back? You’re not alone according to my research, accrued from 30-plus years of helping motorists with their used car conundrums. If I had a quid for every time someone asked me to suggest a car to help cope with their back issues, I’d have a brand new Porsche 911 GT3.
So here’s a fairly typical query, and I hope it proves that these medical issues can be tackled in a frugal fashion. The latest patient was the survivor of three serious operations and who suffered from middle and lower back pain. She had sold her Lexus because the seat was positioned too low down. She found she could eliminate the pain in the middle of her back using the Japanese car’s electronic adjustments, but her lower back pain wouldn't go away.
We love a Lexus, even if it only half-cures a problem, and buying an LS is always great thing to do. Fixing one can potentially cost you dear, but a tidy 2001 LS430 with a solid sixfigure mileage is less than £1500.
She was advised, and I don’t think it was me, to buy an SUV, which is the default back cure position. Getting in and out is easier and that highrise driving position is supposed to help. Well, the Nissan Qashqai she bought didn’t help at all. Indeed, she regretted saying goodbye to the Lexus, because the Qashqai’s seat was of only average quality.
That is the point: luxury cars tend to have decent, or at least very adjustable, seats as standard. We’ve mentioned Lexus, but what else could we buy with a posh badge and multi-adjustable electric seats? I have always rated the seats of a Mercedes S-class and we could consider a 2004 350L with quite a few miles and fancy programmable chairs for £3795.
Another option would be to find an orthopaedic seat and bolt that in place if possible. Recaro make such seats, but they aren’t cheap. I saw a ‘Topline’ model for £2500. A cursory look around the interweb turned up some quite weird covers which cost only £100 but which look like someone has gaffer-taped a Puffa jacket to the seat. Otherwise a few hundred quid can get a second-hand example from a breaker’s yard, or you could scour one of those sites where people are selling off granny’s old stuff before she's moved into a home.
Otherwise a bargain option is a Saab. I used to travel huge distances in the larger models and found their seats to be brilliant. 9000s are getting more rare by the day and a 2.3T Anniversary from 1997 is just £1795. It’s an automatic, which is important because not having to stir the gears can lessen back stress.
If none of these options work, we’re back to square one – pun intended.