Seat ideas/ opinions

I've seen on a couple of build threads on here where people have reupholstered the sportline interior in original fabric and I love the way it looks…


I was thinking of doing the same with mine however I have quickly learnt that a sportline interior is hard to get hold of… There's one on eBay but at £1200 it's a bit much! 
So it got me thinking, are there any other recaros or something similar that would bolt straight in?

I don't like the thought of custom making sub frames etc as I want it to be in keeping with the car but I quite like the thought of having a sportier seat that hugs you a bit better… Covering it in the original fabric too should make it look decent.

I'm conceding that I can't find any replacement seats in the original fabric in good nick so will need to reupholster anyway - so just seems to make sense to reupholster as recaro seat or something similar to give the car a better look…

Any tips on what's out there? It can give me something to hunt down.

As always the help and advice is much appreciated!

mk2 golf and scirocco recaro seats will fit straight in since yours is a later model. You can buy Recaro subframes from ebay.de also and most aftermarket and other make recaro seats will bolt to them also. main exception is 90s ford escort as those have an extra frame welded on the bottom. but if you dhop that off and weld 6 captive nuts or fit nutserts that will convert the seats to mk1/2 recaro fitment

mk3 golf recaors are the same shape as MK1 sportline seats, but you have to cut one of the legs off and weld it further in, these seats arnt like most recaros as the base & subframe is all 1 unit rather than separate

You're a fountain of knowledge aren't you mate! 

Cheers for all the tips - any recommendations what seat I should go for? I'm going to nosey at the rocco and mk2 ones now :-)

well its up to you really, what sort of shape would you prefer, what pattern etc. if you do end up retrimming the seats it means you have more scope to get cheap knackered seats, just try to get ones with decent bolsters as it can get expensive!

personally i like the 90s ford and mk2 shape recaro seats nice fat bolsters. mk2 recaro subframes are electric as well which is nice (not that I have wired mine in, after 3 or so years )

If you can find them corrado recaro interior is nice, but all the bits for those are specific so if you need bolsters etc it can be tricky! the corrado rear benches have been made to fit a cabrio as well so theres scope there if you find a mint set to fit without retrimmign at all.

Its worth noting the speedline recaro seat pattern is the same as euro mk3 'GTI Edition' seats, but they also come in green and blue pattern. only difference is the mk1 seats say 'recaro' on the back cushion and mk3 say 'gti edition'

also if you keep em peeled on ebay you do sometimes see mk1 cab and scirocco rear seats in mk2 golf recaro patterns. im not 100% if these were factory fitted or retrims. but ive seen a few sets now so im leaning towards factory, just only in europe!

Sweet mate thanks for the tips - sorry for the late reply I've been busy moving house so the car's taken a back burner for the week! 

Have you got any pics of your set up? Just so I can get an idea? I'm rubbish at visualising things!
Assuming you've got mk2 ones in yours?

I have a MK2 with MK2 Recaros



Ford 90s escort/fiesta seats are basically identical except they have extendy leg support bolster, so nice to have if you're rebuilding The escort ones have an extra frame welded to the base as I say which you can chop off, then weld in 6 captive uts or fit nutserts to the ready-drilled holes which converts them to standard flat base recaro subframe fitment (like mk2 golf, and most other make and aftermarket recaros are)

ebay.de is where all the nice recaro bits are hiding, though the subframe prices have gone right up recently

Has anyone ever had mk3 GTI-Edition seats retrimmed in mk1 upholstery? That could turn up nice IMO.
Also would the rear mk3 GTi Edition bench fit in mk1?

mk1 is 83' model

seen it done, the rear bench is quite a bit different.

for the split fold to work you need the mk3 lower brackets or make up some kind of frame to bolt it to. apart from that its similar to mk2 gofl they're pretty much the same shape

rubjonny said

seen it done, the rear bench is quite a bit different.

for the split fold to work you need the mk3 lower brackets or make up some kind of frame to bolt it to. apart from that its similar to mk2 gofl they're pretty much the same shape

Any chance you got some piccies of the front too? My google skills seem to be insufficient here

heres a set of MK3/sportline recaros:


or proper 90s recaros:

rubjonny said

heres a set of MK3/sportline recaros:


or proper 90s recaros:

you're an absolute gentleman   

what's the name of them period correct(ish) recaros or where can they be found? looking simialr to escort?

They may be fiesta/escort, or period aftermarket supplied. there are a fair few cars in the 80s/90s which had this shape recaro seats as an option. MK2 golf and scirocco had these but without the extendy leg bolsters, corrado ones are uber rare, they look very similar but all the parts are different. thinner backrest, lower bolsters have wee pokey up bits, runners are 2 way electrical adjust rather than just height as per the mk2 golf versions

ford seats are gonna be the cheapest, scraggy set all you need for a retrim. try to get fiesta they take oem/genuine recaro subframes. but the escort ones easy modified cut the extra frame off the bottom and weld in 6 captive nuts or drop in 6 rivnuts bobs ya uncle

rubjonny said

They may be fiesta/escort, or period aftermarket supplied. there are a fair few cars in the 80s/90s which had this shape recaro seats as an option. MK2 golf and scirocco had these but without the extendy leg bolsters, corrado ones are uber rare, they look very similar but all the parts are different. thinner backrest, lower bolsters have wee pokey up bits, runners are 2 way electrical adjust rather than just height as per the mk2 golf versions

ford seats are gonna be the cheapest, scraggy set all you need for a retrim. try to get fiesta they take oem/genuine recaro subframes. but the escort ones easy modified cut the extra frame off the bottom and weld in 6 captive nuts or drop in 6 rivnuts bobs ya uncle

Brilliant, thanks again! Will hopefully re-do the original GTi seats as soon as I manage to find the correct black bolster cloth and then maybe on to a slow hunt for some of those recaros  

oh and just to add, if you need 3 door ones dont be tempted to buy 5 door recaros without handles, they cannot be converted easily as all the tilt mech inside is missing

the ford tilt seats are handy as they have handles both sides, mk2 ones only have a handle on the outside