sport seats vs s sport seats comfort
 

I'm interested in getting an S5 sportback, noticed there are options for either the S sport seats or the standard sport seats (with the warm weather package). I wanted to find out if there are any opinions about seat comfort with the standard sport seats. All the S5s in my area are specced with the S sport seats only so I'm unable to trial the standard sport seats. If there are any other Audi models which have the same standard sport seats that I can check out please let me know. Thanks.

In your opinion how is the comfort/ergonomics compared to the s sport seat (assuming you may have tried the s sport seat at some point when shopping for the car).

Maybe no S5s with standard sport seats but I would imagine plenty of A5s with those seats.

This topic gets discussed on many car forums for models that offer a choice of different seats. Went through this deciding between the AMG Performance Seats and the standard sport seats while shopping for my C63S. At the end of the day, you need to see for yourself. Humans come in many shapes and sizes. What's comfortable to one person can be uncomfortable to another person. There are folks on here that complain about back pain with the S sport seats and others love them. For some the cushion is too firm with the S sports seats, or the side bolster are pressing against a part of their body causing pain over time. I found the same on the Mercedes forums with many loving the Performance Seats and others ending up in pain looking to swap their seats. I ended up ordering the Performance Seats after test driving them and making sure there isn't something I'm overlooking. I personally prefer tight fitting sport seats. I find them actually more comfortable than the so called "Comfort" seats or standard sport seats. Always preferred the most sporty seats in all the Audi's I owned. The best argument for aggressive sport seats came from somebody on the Mercedes forums who has a bad back. He said the Performance Seats were much more comfortable to him, because the upper body is held in place by the seat, so he doesn't have to use his muscles to keep upright and that reduces the strain on his back. I realized that's also why I like tight sport seats. I don't have any back issues, but I find it more relaxing on longer drives to be held in place by the seat instead of having to use my back muscles to keep my body straight. I had never thought about this before, but whenever I had loaner cars with supposedly more comfortable seats and took them on road trips, I ended up more tired and less comfortable.

If you can't find an S5 with the standard sport seats, then look for an A5 with the sport package. Those are the same seats. Go for some test drives. Ultimately, you have to be comfortable in them, so anything anybody else says is of little value. They have a different body than you.

I've sat in both although not for long periods of time, so my opinion isn't fully fleshed, but I preferred the normal sport seats over the S Sport seats. The S Sport seats look cooler and have better colors but I found the lumbar to make them stiffer than the normal Sport seats which allowed me to get more comfortable in the normal sport seats and the bolstering was still good enough in my opinion. Plus I'd take ventilated seats over s sport seats any day of the week especially during summer. I would recommend you find an A4/5 on the dealer lot as they can also be optioned with the normal Sport Seats w/ or w/out ventilation and you'll have a better chance of finding one with these seats over an S5 with them.

Also remember everyone has different preferences, for example, I usually put lumbar all the way in to the back of my seats on all my cars, as I don't like them extending into my back but that could be the opposite for you, so its best to sit in them yourself, so you have no purchase regrets.

Do you live in a warm climate? I have the ventilated sport seats and it makes a huge difference in warm weather. Highly recommended.

Are the alcantara S Sport seats also massaging, or only the nappa leather ones? The ventilated ones don't have the massaging, that's one downside, but if you live in Texas you probably would rather have it cooled.

I have the alcantara S Sport seats and they have the same features as the Nappa leather S Sport seats. I didn't want to pass on the massage feature and figured alcantara would be better than leather here in the SoCal summers given the absence of ventilation. Too bad they force us to choose between ventilation and massage. Time will tell but I love them so far.