One of my favorite things about the Mazda Protege5 I own is the 8-way manual driver seat adjustments. In addition to the ubiquitous fore-aft and recline, both the front and rear seat height are separately adjustable. So you can vary the seat’s tilt independently of its height.

The Mazda3 that replaced the Protege eliminated the separate height adjustments. Hyundai did the same when redesigning its small cars. So imagine my surprise when the 2011 Chevrolet Cruze came standard with eight-way adjustments not only on the driver side, but the passenger side as well.

It couldn’t last. After only a single model year General Motors has dropped the features, so the Cruze’s front seats are now the common 6-way variety.

Eight-way adjusters remain common with power seats. But this could also be changing. With the 2012 Volkwagen Passat the power seats are 6-way even on the top-of-the-line SEL Premium. Will competitors follow?