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05-14-2026LAST POST
I opted for the comfort seats primarily because of the additional upper back rest adjustment over the sport seats, the under thigh support and headrests being electrically operated (manual on the sport seats) and the fact that the comfort seats add the ability to control the front passenger seat from the drivers side, which you can’t do with the sport seats. My wife is disabled and would be unable to use the electric controls on the seat herself, so this enables me to assist her.
I also sat in an X5 with M seats and as a larger person they were a definite no. Way too firm and uncomfortable.
I don’t know whether this is true or not, but I have read reports that the addition of seat ventilation and particularly the massage function can make the seat base even firmer. Here in the U.K. these are both expensive optional extras which I have steered well clear of.
Whilst I love BMWs, and have owned many of them, I personally don’t find any of their seats to be great.
My X5 has air suspension and I think it helps with overall comfort.
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azmiller1976 wroteAs well as testing X5s with both styles of seats, I also tested them with and without air suspension (as you can see, my research was extremely thorough 😂).Yeah I would bet air suspension is really nice, have not had the opportunity to be in one with that. Thank you for your input on the comparison with the Sport seats to Multi-Contour (Comfort seats) I do appreciate it, helps narrow done even more on the seat selection. Pretty much have decided to wait and make Multi-Contour seats the must have item. Thanks again!
Personally, I didn’t notice much difference at all. I tested a 50e first over 2 days, which comes with air suspension as standard. The suspension was fine, but I wouldn’t describe it as a ‘magic carpet ride’ as some do (that being said, U.K. roads are in a very poor state). Next I had the M60i with the standard adaptive suspension, for 3 days. I expected it to be quite harsh in comparison, but it wasn’t. Frankly, I didn’t think that it felt much different at all. In the end, when speccing my M60i, I only added air suspension for the ability to lower the car when parked. One thing that irritates me about the X5 is the protruding side sills, which soil the back of your legs when you get in and out of the car. With the suspension on its lowest setting I found that I could get in and out avoiding the side sills.
I am concerned about long term failures with air suspension though. I am buying the M60i outright (it’s not a lease car, or on a finance scheme where I can hand it back) so I am extending the warranty (which is only 3 years in the U.K.) by 2 years so that I don’t have to worry about it. The added reason for the extended warranty is the fact that it’s a V8!
andrew53 wroteYep, Volvo were for some reason the most comfortable to me without having to make many adjustments to them.I second this UK X5 owner. I have comfort seats and found them reasonably good, M sport seats are too hard and to be honest having owned several BMW vehicles for a past 20 years I never found them comfortable, best seats I ever sit on and drived were Volvo and Saab.
My X5 has air suspension and I think it helps with overall comfort.
I do set the comfort seat bolster to the max tightness for reference.
I find the seat backs to be spectacular; very comfortable.
But I find the seat bottoms not so comfortable. There is a hard spot where the front end of the side bolster ends that is very uncomfortable no matter how I try to move by butt around. Another poster recently recommended an air cushion (like wheel chair users use); I may give that a try.
The frustrating thing is many seat issues are not obvious in a short test drive and it is hard/impossible to arrange a several-hour drive before you buy.
Hope this helps.
UK X5 Owner wroteYou can adjust side bolsters automatically (electrically) on comfort seats, not sure they adjust automatically when cornering, at least I haven't noticed that.I can’t remember from my test drives (and my new X5 hasn’t arrived yet), but can you adjust the side bolsters on the multi-contour / comfort seats? If so, do they adjust automatically on one side when cornering? I don’t recall them doing so, but a previous generation BMW that I had did this. I think I read that’s been discontinued?
andrew53 wroteBenz does the bolster when cornering - it’s fancy.You can adjust side bolsters automatically (electrically) on comfort seats, not sure they adjust automatically when cornering, at least I haven't noticed that.
