Luke Kay

Hey all, new poster here and I have a bit of an absurd question. I'm turning 21 in March and my dad is giving me his 2006 STi Spec D, it's a beautiful car but it's been left a little too standard for my taste.

Not gonna go all out and drop it to the ground and put some cheap ebay coilovers on it like I've seen some people my age with WRXs do but I'm considering making some subtle mods to make it my own. I'm quite proficient in 3d modeling so I can modify the car and see what I like before I get it, but I am however curious about the seats.

Im very small, 5ft 3 and 52kg, so I have a very small frame. A friend of mine has a VXR corsa and the seats in his fit my body wayyy better, as the standard spec D seats are really wide and I shift around alot when we go around corners. and also the VXR corsa seats in my opinion look absolutely incredible with the being based on the proper Sportster CS recaros, they would look amazing in the STi (obviously not getting ones with vxr embroidered in the backing) and I was wondering if they would fit okay? Apparently the corsa recaros use standard recaro rails so technically I could just get recaro rails and have them fit straight in no? Or would there be an issue with the width of them or anything dimension wise? I can't measure it as it's currently in for some work and I can't find anyone who's done a swap similar unfortunately so any help would be appreciated,

Thanks

adam.pah

Hi Luke and welcome.

I once bought a recaro SPG for one of my blobs with a recaro impreza specific rail, it didn't fit! I've fitted several bucket seats to various cars in the past and one thing I've learnt is they never 'fit straight in'. There's always fettling and repositioning and then a shoulder bolster catches the B pillar and if you move it over the front of the seat catches the centre console; it's always a ball ache!

The VXR seats are very nice (if you can get them without the embroidery). I would imagine they have a fixed mounting bracket so you will probably need to use a newage mounting base (OMP, Sparco, etc), a set of universal rails and the fabricate a custom mount to attach the seat to the rails. Hopefully you would be able to keep the seat low enough for it not to ruin the driving position. Alternatively, hack off the mountings from the original seats (or a crap set of WRX ones are much cheaper) and attach those instead.

Either way, I wouldn't expect it to be simple....

Good luck with it and post some pictures if you do manage to do it

Luke Kay

Thank you Adam, I will be sure to post pictures if I can get it to fit properly, as I think I'll one of the only people with them in an STi, also posting how I did it for others to see! Cheers for the heads up, my dad said about certain rails lifting the seat too high so glad to hear some advice from another subaru enthusiast. Fingers crossed for it, super excited to have a bash at it when the time comes!

TECHNOPUG

iTrader: (1)

Try JDM STi seats. Considerably narrower than UK ones IIRC.

Luke Kay

Wow I didn't realise the JDM seats were different than the normal UK spec ones, yeah I'll Check them out thank you

adam.pah

My JDM seats don't feel much narrower than the UK ones. I actually prefer the WRX seats to the STi ones, I find them more comfortable.

Dreep

STI seats, pay attention to lower bolsters -


Spec D seats.

fpan

iTrader: (11)

That's because 2007 STi seats have side airbags, nothing to do UK or JDM.
A 2005/06 UK STi model (which has no side airbags) has the same seats as the blue ones you have shown above.
The same applies to a 2007 WRX, it could be ordered with side airbags or not, the seats with no side airbags are narrower.

forgedmarco

iTrader: (10)

I think Bugeye STI seats were slightly narrower.

ST-X

Or the original Bugeye WRX Sports front seats which are similar (if not actually the same) in shape to the JDM STI seats of the same era (and match the standard seating upholstery better too). They're certainly snug and I'm definitely not big. That said they're not as rigid/solid feeling as the later STI seats (or the original WRX seats I had) so I have my doubts as to how solid they'd be in a crash; in that regard the Corsa seats are likely to be stronger than the rest of the options mentioned here.

Luke Kay

Yeah I'm gonna have a look, I'm gonna try the corsa seats mainly because it's different and no ones done it plus I like a challenge, but if there is no way they will fit then I'll look at some of the other options you guys have mentioned cause they're all solid seats. I don't know why it didn't click with me that the STi Spec D had leather wrx seats! I might find I fit nicer in actual sti seats and they will definitely be a wayyy easier fit than ones than VXR recaros as they weren't even meant for this car haha!

Thank you all for your helpful tips, really good advice for once, instead of "You're 21, you don't deserve an STi you're gonna crash it! Get a kit car instead! It's too fast for you!" comments

1509joe

iTrader: (2)

V7 Bugeye STI seats far better seat and alot better support than the rest.

Rusti

iTrader: (4)

What about prodrive seats, like hens teeth but amazing all the same?