dande

Zephyr, I can sympathize. I have had the exact same situation, but for the life of me I can't remember which car it was with. It doesn't happen all the time, so I can't recall if it was my car (Sub) or my wife's (Honda), but I know the feeling of trying to keep your toes up and your heel planted. I don't know if raising the seat a touch would help some or maybe moving it back. Sounds like trial and error to me and since I had so much error on my attempt, I am afriad to tell you where to begin. Does the seat have much adjustment on its own. The problem with the 95 Legacy L was that the seat did nothing but slide forward and back. No way to raise the seat at all. Sorry I'm not much help, maybe someone else can chime in...

Alright, just throwing this up to complete the story for anyone in the furture who is experiencing seat issues. On Saturday I finally removed the seats from the car. What I discovered when I had the seats out on my familyroom floor sitting side by side was that my driver's seat was shot. It wasn't so much a poor design as a well abused seat. It still looked great (mint) but was a marshmallow compared to the passenger seat. The seat bottom and the lumbar support were shot, totally! My first plan was to switch the seat hardware around just reverse the seats. Bad plan. What initially looked like identical seats with hardware just screwed/bolted on opposite sides, actually was different seat frames (both top backrest and bottom). Bummer. I then stripped the upholstery about 80% off the seats (not as easy as everyone makes it out since the creases in the upholstery are held in place with bars and metal clips. I was able to pull it back enough to examine the foam cushion and come up with a second plan: re-cushion the seats. I thought I would leave the molded foam in place and just add some high-density foam to the weak spots, building them back up. Sunday, after church, I ran out to the fabric store and bought some 1 and 2 inch high-density foam (50% off). I also bought some spray adhesive thinking I might need it. Returning home I started with the seat bottom and tried using different combinations of thinkness and shape in order to rebuild the bottom foam, while retaining its shape. I settled on two 1" think peices of foam of different dimentions to shape the bottom. I was able to reattach the upholstery of the seat bottom seat with the help of my wife. With her pushing down on the upholstery I was able to reattach the metal bars with wire and pull it tight. I was surprised by how good it looked. A touch poofy, but otherwise, stock. I was excited to sit in it, but soon discovered my utter failure! It made no difference! I sank right down through the seat again! I spent the last part of Sunday coping with my failure and trying to come up with plan C. Upon further inspection noticed the springs on the lumbar section of the seat back (yet untouched) looked bent out of shape (but I had nothing compare it with since I hadn't disected the passenger seat yet, it still felt like new). I decided to sleep on the issue and come back in the morning (Monday was a holiday). Monday morning I woke up with plan C: add firmness support to the springs. I decided that the seat bottom must also have shot springs (even though they looked fine) and all I needed was 1/2 inch particle board cut to the right shape and slid between the spring mechanism and original foam cushion. (This could be easily accomplished by unclipping two springs and sliding it in.) The Lumbar region I would tackle with a variety of sized pieces of 1/4 press board slid between the bottom two springs of the seatback and the foam cushion, again very easily done. I ended up with three pieces of pressboard, 2 measuring 12" x 6" and one measuring 8" x 6". I placed the 8 inch piece farthest away from the springs and closest to the foam. This seemed good, but I needed to wait until I had the seat all back together to tell. I then cut and slipped the bottom piece of wood under the seat and it too, felt more firrm. I rebuilt the seat and reattached the hardware and was ready for installation. I decided to raise the driver's seat while I was at it and settled on using 1/2 inch wood spacers (from preasure treated scraps in my basement). With the new firmer seat, 1 1/2 inches left my head rubbing the headliner and even 3/4 seemed too high. I bought new bolts (an adventure in and of itself) and I was off. I reinstalled everything and sat down...... WOW!! It was awesome. I was so comfortable and the seat was forgiving yet very firm. the Lumbar support seems perfect! I was so pumped I had to go for my first test drive. It felt woderful and overall, I am very pleased. When I took my first turn, I found the only drawback to the whole thing. I left my foam in the seat bottom and I think it is a little too much. As I rounded that first corner I felt my butt rocking away from the turn and rolling a little off seat center. The bucket feeling is lost. I think if I had removed the foam I added and just went with the wood, I would have been better off. However, it is hard to tell now and WAY better than it has ever been since we owned that car. If it continues to bother me, I will take it apart again and remove the foam (maybe just one piece, maybe both) and see how it is. Anyway, after three days, I need my car back and I will take some trips and see how it is. Maybe the new foam will settle and everything will be alright anyway... we'll see. Thanks for all your help and discussion, Happy and comfy!

Well, I went out today in the pooring rain to a salvage yard to pick up some LSi seats I had called on. $75 bucks a pop, driver's side with adjustable height. I was really bummed to find out they were the same basic seat I had only with a height adjuster. No extra lumbar support, no extra padding, nothing. They also happened to be aqua, not dark grey as I was told. The last straw was that they were sitting in a car outside that had no doors or windows. Did I mention it was pooring... Needless to say, I came home empty handed. Perhaps I was expecting a little bit much from a salvage yard. Well my plan at this point is to raise the seats on my own with blocks. I think I will also look at switching out the cushions from the passenger's side with the driver's. We'll see how hard that looks once I get the old seats out. I'm also going to check out the Obus seat stuff. It actually looks pretty good. Expensive stuff, but I believe you get what you pay for from them...

Good suggestions all around. Thanks. I guess it is just an underpowered Subaru thing. It can handle the first down shift, but it is that second one that just kills you. By the way, I assume not, but does shifting like this on the fly tweak the tranny in any way?

I have a 95 Legacy L. I bought it five years ago and never questioned the jumpiness of the cruise control. I live in a hilly area and on slight hills with the cruise control set (on highways) the car will slow down about 4 MPH then downshift like an Apollo rocket at take off. It literally launches you into the seat backrest and the RPM's jump up to 4000 or so. It is not so noticable if you set the cruise at 70-75 but from 55-70 it is "wicked-bad". I always said, "man this car has a sucky cruise control" but it recently occurred to me that maybe it's not supposed to be that way. It's always done it and since it came from a dealer I didn't question it (silly me!). Is this common for the Legacy in these middle years or might I be able to fix it?

I'm checking out a later model higher trim line seat for now. A buddy of mine has a son-in-law who works at a salvage yard whose brother also works as a Subaru mechanic. Go figure. Anyway, I'm hoping one of them will come across an LSi or Outback seat from 95-99. That oughta do the trick! Actually, if I had a grand to spend someone on ebay is selling an entire set of limited leather from a 99 outback. Looks nice. Too much cash!

Thanks for all the feedback. I threw a pillow in today and think that makes a huge difference. I think it isn't so much lumbar support as it is seat hieght. Those seats are so low to the floor and tilted back without any means to raise the seat or tilt it forward. A pillow was working well. One option now is to buy a seat cushion ( or just use an old sears catalogue if I can find one!). The problem is those cushions float around and don't stay put. I'm considering raising the seat with a fabricated block system, but that seams pretty involved and potentially dangerous (I'd hate it come undone iin an accident!). Anyone ever block up a Subaru seat before? I'll also check some salvage yards for a late model seat that might fit and also offer more support!

I tried one of those and didn't find much success. The seat back was so deep that the pillow sat 4 inches away from the backrest and so my bum always got caught on it on the way down. Perhaps your pillow was better designed than mine was! I finally returned it. Maybe if I had a seat cover over the strapped pillow it would have held it in possition better. I don't know?

Hey, MY FIRST POST! I am now driving a '95 Legacy wagon and am dying! I love the car, but my back is killing me. The front seats have no lumbar support at all and I can't stand to sit in them any longer. I've had the car for five years, but my wife drove it. It didn't seem to bother her except on long trips but it has always bothered me. Now that it's my car, I need help! Anyone find a solution for this? I've seen a lot of complaints on the message boards, but few answers. Please help me, I love my car, but love my back too!!