2010 Volkswagen GTI: So Simple

The rotary adjustment wheel on seats are a pain to get at. It's relatively un-natural to bend your arm backwards to twist it when your sitting down. HOWEVER, it lets you get the recline EXACTLY where you want it. In that respect, I agree that they are the best form of adjustment means for seats. In my experience, a few cars with handle/ratchets have the positioning of the seat where it is either too far back or too far forward, without a "click" place in between. Nothing irritates me more than that.

This view really shows how large the bolsters are. These seats look awesome!

So the nob is for recline, what is the handle for? Quick recline/fold? What is the other lever above it? Lumbar?

As someone who occasionally has time to kill and reclines in my drivers seat, I'd pass on a knob. Going from full recline to driving position sounds really obnoxious with a knob.

I am lucky enough to have the memory function on my A4 but on my girlfriends Jetta ('08), the rotary knob was annoying. Great seats otherwise, but when going from her to me driving and me being a foot taller than her, it was always a pain in the rear to adjust.

rotary adjustments for recline are STUPID and VW is one of the few automakers still using this inferior design. How could anyone recommend this? They are hard to reach and manipulate. A lever is 10 times better.

The vette should have power recline, that is the real problem. It certainly doesn't need this ridiculous method of adjustment. I believe the G8 had a similar knob which is funny because I'm not aware of any other GM vehicles that used such a knob.

On the 3 the recline lever is buried way back almost underneath the backrest while the lever for sliding the seat (I think) in in the position where the recline lever would be. Makes no sense. If you have manual seats the lever to slide the seat belongs in front of the seat.

No no no to the knob. Being tall means that in most cars I have the seat far enough back that the the knob is next to the B pillar, so my hand gets wedged between the seat and pillar as I try to adjust the knob. Plus, you have to lean forward to take the pressure off the seat back to adjust the seat. It's just a huge pain in the ass.

You can also throw in the 12 inch difference in height between my wife and I, which means we are constantly adjusting the seat up and down and back and forth to suit our very different sizes. Power seats are extremely convenient given the constant adjustments. Not only do I not want a knob, I am going to try hard to make sure my next car has memory seats.

I hate the rotary knobs for recline.

I believe all Jettas have power recline-- even the base model, which only has the power recline and all the rest of the seat adjustments are manual.

I think that power recliners should be mandated for all cars as a safety measure-- pulling up on the recline lever (most cars) can be tricky if you are driving. You don't want to wind up looking at the headliner when you are going 70 mph.

The rotary recline would also be a safety device, but it is so slow I can't imagine how people put up with it.

Agree with these comments. Knobs are a great way to sprain parts of your wrist you didn't even know existed. At least my old VW had a cool knob with deeply knurled finger indentations. It was still extremely annoying to use.

I believe the G8 had a similar knob which is funny because I'm not aware of any other GM vehicles that used such a knob.

Correct. My G8 GT has this and I'm not a fan of it at all. I'd guess it's the only GM that has it here in the US because the G8 is imported from Australia.

My friend's Jetta used these knobs (or similar knobs), and I absolutely freakin' HATED them. Not only do they take forever to adjust, in a compact car it meant that I completely busted up my knuckles trying to reach down and make any adjustments. My parent's Chevy Venture had them, but they were on the inside of the seats so at the least it wasn't painful to make adjustments, just slow. If infinite range is truly necessary, use a power recline system.

This seems to be similar to the European-American divide over cupholders. Each side is convinced that it is correct and is quite self-righteous about proclaiming it.

I don't mind dialing in the rake I prefer rather than holding up the lever and pivoting back and forth at the waist until I get approximately what I want. But, as an only driver I don't need to do it frequently, since unlike seat height and fore-aft, it doesn't get screwed up when the car is serviced

You guy's are the most laziest people ever. If you don't like it, then don't get it. If you can't take a few minutes out of your time to adjust seats, then you shouldn't be driving. Sure it's a pain at first, but after you get use to it, the more it makes sense why they did it. Once you have your seat setting, you tend to leave it alone. It probably deters from other people driving your car when someone needs it.

While I agree that for big adjustments knobs are a PITA and my previous comments here show little love for all things VW, one of the few things I'll always love about my past veedub was the design of the whole front chairs. Not only was it easy to get the seat in the right position quickly, in a coupe when trying to get into the back seat, the whole seat would tumble forward AND up, giving you a nice big space to climb into the back seat. Once finished loading, a simple push of the seat and it would go right back down to it's place with the seat reclined exactly as you left it, and not at some impossibly forward angle. Ten years later when searching for a replacement, the Japanese coupes still hadn't caught on to this design.

I prefer precise adjustment of a knob.

They're better than they used to be. I don't find it a pain at all and I've put the seat to full recline (which is FULL - it's easy to nap in). It's hard for me to fault something that gives me 100% control.

vizcar:

The point is there is a better method of manual adjustment so there isn't much reason to support use of the knob. Its not about being lazy, its about appreciating a design that's ergonomically correct. A knob that is buried between the seat and the B pillar isnt a good idea. Seat with levers usually have a spring that will bring the seat back forward automatically when you pull the lever. You don't need to get crazy in the seat to adjust the backrest with a lever. It's much faster and more logical.

Breadwagon was right on target. The knob is a little bit of a pain, but the ability to find exactly the recline angle you want is FAR superior to other manual systems.

The knobs are stupid. I found them difficult to turn, and I never found myself wishing for finer adjustments on my non-knob-adjusted seat backs.

Yeah, my '08 Rabbit has the dial as well. It works great for the driver, but passengers like to be able to recline quickly.

Hmmm, my 2010 GTI doesn't have a knob -- it has power recline (all the other seat adjustments are manual, just like pictured here).

I don't have the Autobahn package (upgraded leather seats), so I'm surprised there's a difference. Perhaps a quiet mid-year upgrade to placate irate blog readers...

"Just sayin."

This phrase reminds me of getting my knuckles rapped for using poor English in school. Its declaring that you're going to, or have already, said something. Isn't saying it enough? If not, then reword it to make it more profound, rather than slapping on a silly additive that doesn't add depth, only wordiness. Journalists - lets use our education to our advantage, shall we?

'Bout the car - I'm still not a fan of the pattern on the seats, but I do enjoy the large knob to adjust seats.

Kevin

have had two rotary reclines - VW and Audi - both were next to impossible to reach and both were ackward to grip and turn when seated, or even standing outside the car for that matter. levers lose on adjustability, but not user friendliness.

of course, if you are a loner and have no friends then the rotary is better - maybe I should have liked it more.

Rotary adjustment = utter crap.

who really struggles to find a comfortable recline position with a conventional lever system? If you really need an exact setting get power seats. I'm sure the average manual seat has at least 6 or 7 detents for the backrest angle. That's more than enough.

I find it hilarious that you're recommending this after years and years of automotive journalists consistently deriding this setup.

Personally, having been a VW owner for the last 8 years, I find this hugely HUGELY superior to the normal backrest adjustment. The ability to just tweak it safely while you're on the road or when you're just seeking out that perfect driving position, instead of releasing the whole seatback and ending up god-knows-where, is great. The only time you miss it is that once-every-couple-years occurrence where your passenger wants to recline their seat and take a nap or something...not much of an issue.

And I've never had an issue getting my hands onto one of these and twisting it while sitting down...

The rotary knob on my VW Golf is great. Given the choice, I find the infinite arrangement of the knob to be the way to go. I don't find it difficult to use, either. But thats just me.

Knob is terrible.
The car is a personal space to plan/eat/sleep/work/rest, and requires the front seat to quickly go from driving position to flat and back.

How can one possible sleep in the car with a knob???

Strange...my 4 door 2010 GTI has POWER Recline on both the driver and passenger side. The lumbar lever and "pump" up and down feature are still manual. I just picked it up less than two weeks ago, so I don’t know if this was a late model year change….

bds231 & carterbw77...I believe the 2 door has the knob and the 4 door is power

to stradovinski13: that is interesting, I never realized that and am not sure VW states that in any material regarding differences (if any) between the 2 and 4 door models.

"...I believe the 2 door has the knob and the 4 door is power"

Chris Walton, is that true??

> 1487 says:
> who really struggles to find a comfortable recline position with a conventional lever system?

Interestingly, most non-American, non-Canadian car reviews I have read say that "conventional" lever is not good.

I have had a few cars with a knob and all my current cars have a lever. I really prefer a knob. It is slightly less of an issue with tilt/telescope steering wheel.

Luckily, my wife has very long legs, so even though she is much shorter than me, we never have to move the seat.

I want both. A lever to quickly move the seat AND a knob to micro ajust it perfectly.