General 2019 TA 4x4 upgrade advice (seat height adjuster)

[Panda2007]

My Forum namesake went to the great scrapyard in the sky last month after 15 years loyal service, I miss her, her bottom needed welding, and I'd just bought a new tyre for the mot! Anyway I've just acquired a Twin Air 4x4 from 2019 with seat warmers, (how times change). I have reached fogey status and think a slightly higher seat would ease clutch use, (arthritis issue), and am wondering if the seat height adjuster could be retro fitted?

I have read the seat adjusters only adjust down, is this so? If so, not useful to me, short enough already!

 

[porta]

What goes up, must come down…the panda height adjusters don’t go up by far but they kinda go diagonally up and the wife, shorty, and I, average height, have never found a problem

 

[Herts Hillhopper]

The adjustment seems mainly to reduce the height compared to my non-adjustable passenger seat alongside. There is a very small height gain too, but not much.

Also, as @porta mentions, the adjustment only really moves the back edge of the seat cushion downwards - the front lip remains at the same height.

I thought the 4x4 models all had height adjustment (my 2013, 2017 and 2018 versions all have had it). The adjuster is on the front right corner of the driver's seat

 

[The Panda Nut]

I paid for the adjuster on mine. I find it has around 5 inches of adjustment, I find I hav it slightly up on nstandard but htis is more for adjusting leg room a little. At full height my head is just an inch off the roof. At the bottom I could wear a top hat. I do use the adjuster on long runs so it was worth buting. (I am 6' tall) You would need a whole seat to get the adjuster and im not sure I would think worth the money. The adjsuter was about £100 on the build cost a new (used) seat would likely be a lot more and might need your existing seat covers and cushions moving over. Find a car with them on and try before buying parts.

 

[Bonefish Blues]

This is not a facetious post, promise. There's a low tech option.

Cushion.

My work here is done.

 

[Panda2007]

What goes up, must come down…the panda height adjusters don’t go up by far but they kinda go diagonally up and the wife, shorty, and I, average height, have never found a problem

Thanks for the reply, I didn't really understand the diagonal thing but accept maybe there's no great value in them. My reason for wanting higher is that much use of the clutch makes my arthritic knee hurt and I thought the nearer the angle of attack to the vertical the less stress I'd apply to the knee. I was hoping the adjuster would be more part of the rails than the seat which does not seem to be the case and the faff of seat warmer electrics on top may silence me!

 

[Panda2007]

This is not a facetious post, promise. There's a low tech option.

Cushion.

My work here is done.

Low tech is always worth attention. I have recently renovated a house, and knowing I was not getting younger I put grab handles over the bath and in the shower, but they're nice chrome, can pass for towel rails, so don't look like the ghastly ageist ribbed plastic of the retired ancients, of which I am one. I feel a bit the same about a cushion, I'd need to hide it in plain sight, pretend it has a different use. I shall ponder on the subject.

 

[Panda2007]

The adjustment seems mainly to reduce the height compared to my non-adjustable passenger seat alongside. There is a very small height gain too, but not much.

Also, as @porta mentions, the adjustment only really moves the back edge of the seat cushion downwards - the front lip remains at the same height.

I thought the 4x4 models all had height adjustment (my 2013, 2017 and 2018 versions all have had it). The adjuster is on the front right corner of the driver's seat

Thanks for the reply. Adverts for Pandas seem to get their data from some central source and often the dealer doesn't have a clue, doesn't check thr car, and the "central source" is so often wrong. I have driven miles to see wrongly described Pandas, once a train from Worcester to Chesterfield, dealer collected me and wouldn't take me back to the station even though he was trying to sell a car that didn't actually exist! The one I purchased I asked the dealer to check before travelling but the seat adjuster was not a must have. Stupidly, me that is, I would have liked the bright red front tow hooks........

 

[Panda2007]

I paid for the adjuster on mine. I find it has around 5 inches of adjustment, I find I hav it slightly up on nstandard but htis is more for adjusting leg room a little. At full height my head is just an inch off the roof. At the bottom I could wear a top hat. I do use the adjuster on long runs so it was worth buting. (I am 6' tall) You would need a whole seat to get the adjuster and im not sure I would think worth the money. The adjsuter was about £100 on the build cost a new (used) seat would likely be a lot more and might need your existing seat covers and cushions moving over. Find a car with them on and try before buying parts.

Thanks, your reply makes common sense, (unfortunately).

 

[lunchbeers]

Sadly not all have them, my lack of one and subsequent pain driving forced me to get rid of my Panda, I did order a scrap seat with adjuster but got stiffed by the seller...

My issue is my thighs are too long and I had about 3inches overhanging the seat, what made it worse was about 9 inches of my thighs were unsupported due to the flatness of the seat.

Knowing what I know now, I could have swapped the seat out for anything else for less money than I've spent sorting my current car out

 

[porta]

Thanks for the reply, I didn't really understand the diagonal thing but accept maybe there's no great value in them. My reason for wanting higher is that much use of the clutch makes my arthritic knee hurt and I thought the nearer the angle of attack to the vertical the less stress I'd apply to the knee. I was hoping the adjuster would be more part of the rails than the seat which does not seem to be the case and the faff of seat warmer electrics on top may silence me!

The seat height adjustment worked fine for us, and I’ve arthritis in both hips and lower back. Counter intuitively, I had it on the higher setting and the wife on the lower
If you’re going for the booster seat option (cushion) I had a wedge shaped memory foam one in the old iveco daily as the seat adjustment was knackered

 

[The Panda Nut]

Sadly not all have them, my lack of one and subsequent pain driving forced me to get rid of my Panda, I did order a scrap seat with adjuster but got stiffed by the seller...

My issue is my thighs are too long and I had about 3inches overhanging the seat, what made it worse was about 9 inches of my thighs were unsupported due to the flatness of the seat.

Knowing what I know now, I could have swapped the seat out for anything else for less money than I've spent sorting my current car out

Its is a real nuisance the seats being small. I have had issues with many cars. Some years back I went to a seat trimmer. He took the seats from my car and rebuilt them with firmer foam, adding much better lumbar padding and under thigh. He said the frame could be altered as well had it been needed. Result was comfort so worth remembering for the future. I had the cars seat covers refitted to the new seats. They were dismembered and new side, front and back panels added so it still looked as it should. As it was brand new this was important. It was a lot cheaper than buying new seats. There arn't many places around that will do the job but I think its well worth finding one. Thankfully although not fantastic on a long runs, I can get on with the Panda seats. It sounds like you are like me and its a deal breaker. You have to ask why car makers cant make seats that are fit for purpose. These days 6 feet tall people are average height. The car makers seem not to have advanced things to adapt. The best seatsI have ever had for my back were those in the Panda 100 suprisingly.

 

[Panda2007]

I am only 5'8" so my issue os not one of height, and I have purchased another Panda. In truth I knew with the old one that too much time in traffic gave me pain, and probably I should have another automatic car of some kind, but anyway the deal is done, i will survive. Thanks for the info.

 

[Bonefish Blues]

I've got a tame trimmer who can do that sort of work - rebuilt my Panda's bolster very ably. He's at J9 on the M40, but I'm guessing that might not work for you?

Regarding cushions, I was looking on Temu earlier, and the search term adult car booster cushion brought back a bunch of options, none of them above a tenner or so.

 

[Panda2007]

Thanks, actually I chose and purchased one panda against another mainly on price and now the salesman on the others has dropped another £1100, and it has seat adjuster, I'm am currently in a quandary, better spec, a year younger, 600 cheaper, but double the mileage, 42k vs 22k.

 

[The Panda Nut]

That depends on you annual milage. If below average the highermiles one might be better? Our oldest has now done 80K and is still running very sweetly. I suspect the front arms need redoing but its loads of life left as yet. Just spend a couple of hours touching in paint on the lower rear arch passenger side. It needs a near side arch liner too. If its a TA I would go for lower mies and service history.

 

[Panda2007]

Really interesting! I had a 1.3 dynamic for 15 years, rot needed too much welding and it went to scrap yard heaven on just over 100k, never put a foot wrong, new starter motor, front discs and pads 2 years ago, v cheap and reliable to run. Do you think the TA engine not so likely to last in the same way, it must be working a lot harder.

 

[jrkitching]

Do you think the TA engine not so likely to last in the same way

Whilst some folks have run TA's well past 100k; there have been many, many reports of significant wear related issues well before that; anything over 50k probably carries some additional risk.

The three things most likely to give trouble at higher mileages are, in no particular order, the DMF (but early 85HP TA's don't have one), the turbo, and the uniair actuator. A quick search of the forum will bring up examples of all three.

Timely servicing with the recommended oil is particularly important with this engine, so a gold plated history is highly desirable when buying a used one.

 

[Panda2007]

Post Script. Thanks all for the help, I purchased the higher mileage one entirely because of the seat height adjustment, it really helps reduce the effort on the clutch pedal. Amazing how the performance boosts with the eco off, and if the gauge is to be believed how crap the mpg is going to be on or off. Still it's OK and good to have practical magic in the drive again. My Merc SLK is a delight but every home needs a sensible car as the daily driver.

 

[The Panda Nut]

Yes these are not super economical. To really stretch it out you need to be very light footed. I find on main roads over 50 eco off and a light foot is best unless going down hill. You will get the hang of it my first one was less economical than the current one which is 2019. I think they wee constantly fiddling with the fuel maps. I hope you have great fun with it.