Power Seats - Are they THAT necessary?

[trendy26]

Hi Everyone:

In your opinion, are Power Seats that necessary in our cars? Meaning, for those of you without them, do you regret not having them? I currently have them in my 2011.5 M3, and not sure if I would miss them or not.

Reason I am asking is that my buddy is looking to order an M3, and is not too keen on spending the extra money on the Premium package since it has stuff he doesn't particularly care for such as Power Seats, Rear Sunshade, and Alarm. He would prefer to just order Leather, NAV, Park Distance, and Comfort Access instead.

Any opinions?

[spitfire9200]

Originally Posted by trendy26

Hi Everyone:

In your opinion, are Power Seats that necessary in our cars? Meaning, for those of you without them, do you regret not having them? I currently have them in my 2011.5 M3, and not sure if I would miss them or not.

Reason I am asking is that my buddy is looking to order an M3, and is not too keen on spending the extra money on the Premium package since it has stuff he doesn't particularly care for such as Power Seats, Rear Sunshade, and Alarm. He would prefer to just order Leather, NAV, Park Distance, and Comfort Access instead.

Any opinions?

I'm pretty sure it would negatively impact resale. If I was looking for an M3 and saw it had manual seats, I would disregard it (unless the price was substancially lower).

[Porsche6MT]

I wouldn't pay 70k+ for a car without power seats.

[trendy26]

Very valid points.... 100% agree!

[iamcpap]

However, when looking at E36 and E46 M3's, I would actually PREFER manual seats. First and second owner, it may be a selling point, down the road I see it is one more thing that can break.

That being said, my car has them and I find it convenient to hit the memory button after the car wash or valet has meesed with it...

[MRG Race Co]

I have manual seats... It can be annoying at times but overall I like them.The only time I miss power seats is when someone else drives my car because of the memory feature. But it can and probably will eventually affect resale value... but I hope to never sell my car.

[808@702]

I had an e46 with manual seats. Never thought about it.

[apecush]

I don't think I could live without lumbar adjustment unless manual seats were sufficiently narrow (and I'm a big guy). With good seats, manual would be no problem - not sure how the manual E9X seats are though.

[jcreme]

Originally Posted by iamcpap

However, when looking at E36 and E46 M3's, I would actually PREFER manual seats. First and second owner, it may be a selling point, down the road I see it is one more thing that can break.

That being said, my car has them and I find it convenient to hit the memory button after the car wash or valet has meesed with it...

+1. In the e46 world the cars that are most sought after are those that are stripped down (no sunroof, manual seats, no NAV, etc).

I guess when a few years pass and the bling factor wears off, people are less interested in the (soon-to-be-outdated) comfort items and more interested in what the car does best: haul a$$.

[LucWerkz]

It comes in handy if you plan to share the car. I am 5'8 and my wife is barely 5' and we used to share the M3 a lot when we lived in an urban area last year (our apartment allowed only one car) The memory settings that comes with the power seats were very useful when I had the car after my wife and vice versa. But if you don't share the car, its really just personal preference.

[THE TECH]

Even though it's not a necessary feature, as was stated above, I think it would negatively impact sales if they weren't powered.

[mdosu]

I thought the new manual seat still had some power features like lumbar, width, height, and recline adjustments? It thought the only manual part of it was sliding it front/back?

[Foodle]

Not having power seats is going to affect resale possibility. A potential buyer will just move on to the next seller. A $70k car with no power seats and no alarm seems silly for a person looking for a DD.

But if they're after a stripped car for racing they won't care either way since they'll put in race seats.

[pokerface]

I had fully manual seats in my E90 and I could get to my preferred seating position in less than 10 seconds.

Granted, it is still annoying to readjust after somebody's been through it. I do agree resale is a consideration though.

[quiksi]

on an E90 I don't see the big deal (I have manual seats) - I just set it and forget it, and it's much faster to adjust IMO... I wish they still had the old style "wheel" adjusters, though

I could see it being a hassle on an E92 if the back seat is frequently used

[mPlasticDesign]

Every M car I have owned and currently own have been ordered with manual seats. If I were purchasing a used car and all things being equal except the power seats, I would choose the car with manual seats always!

[jphughan]

If more than one person will be driving, I'd consider power seats a necessity so you can store different driver profiles. But even with my one-driver car, I appreciate them for the electronically adjustable bolsters; I'm not sure the manual seats have adjustable bolsters at all. I didn't bother with the bolsters for the first year (and 2 track weekends) that I had the car, but after tightening them up it's amazing how well they hold you in place under hard cornering. My first track weekend after that discovery was much more fun.

Also, let your friend know that if you don't get an alarm, you won't get a beep when you lock/unlock your car. Some people really like hearing that and are surprised when their car doesn't have it.

[dreamspeed]

In general i don't like powered seats because it's just another thing that WILL break down the line. However, if you share the car with someone then the auto adjust feature is pretty handy. And like others have said, not having powered seats on a ~50k (used) or ~70k (new) car is kind of weak.

But if you are the only person driving the car....you'll probably rarely ever adjust it anyways

[hpc3]

Originally Posted by trendy26

Hi Everyone:

In your opinion, are Power Seats that necessary in our cars? Meaning, for those of you without them, do you regret not having them? I currently have them in my 2011.5 M3, and not sure if I would miss them or not.

Reason I am asking is that my buddy is looking to order an M3, and is not too keen on spending the extra money on the Premium package since it has stuff he doesn't particularly care for such as Power Seats, Rear Sunshade, and Alarm. He would prefer to just order Leather, NAV, Park Distance, and Comfort Access instead.

Any opinions?

especially with the memory function BMW includes. Drives me nuts when the wife messes with my seat and mirrors for a 10min errand. Every car at our house today has memory seats with 2 presets... M3 was ordered with this too.

If I were a younger, unmarried, guy I'd be fine with manual seats since I never adjust them once I get comfortable fyi. But like the other posters said its a $70K pseudo lux/sports coupe. Power seats are expected.

[Rissei]

I think skimping on power seats if you're getting leather, Nav PDC & Comfort Access is kind of strange. If I'm a buyer looking at leather and Nav, it's a fair bet I want power seats.

On the other hand, if you're going for the stripped style (Speed Cloth, Single Hump, base suspension), then manual seats are ok.

[Edjay]

For me personally Id rather have manual seats less stuff to break. And on cars that only I drive, I hardly adjust the seats. But that being said. Me and the wife constantly take turns driving the M3, So it helps to just push a memory button and everything adjust to mine or hers settings. So its power seats for us.

[dizzyj]

my power seats are now making noise when I move forward and backwards. My car is pretty much a stripper except for leather seats.

I wish I had speed cloth and manual. I'd never have to worry about anything on this car at that point.