Been meaning to put this thread up for ages, but haven't had a chance. Now that works called off due to snow I thought I'd get it made! Its just a bit of knowledge that I wanted to share about seat options for the clios and a great place to get good value Recaros!
As every RS owner knows the standard seats are just not up too scratch. They are high, un-supportive and you seem to sit 'on' them and not 'in' them. There appear to be three main alternative approaches to solving this problem.
The first are fixed buckets. They are highly supportive and can give the car that real 'go-kart' feel. These are some of the best quality and value for money that I have seen personally:
©JamesStone
These seats tend to trade off day to day usability for ultimate driving feel by being nonadjustable and being permanently set to your desired position. Their lack of tilt etc means that practicalities off a 3 door car like the Clio is reduced as it is nigh on impossible to get people in the back. However probably most importantly they lower the seating position by around 60mm onwards. Ideal for a trackday weapon!
The second main alternative for the Clio are sports seats made by companies such as cobra. The seats below are one of the best examples I have seen fitted by another user on cliosport:
©Paul
These 3rd party seats are often cheaper than Recaro alternatives, but don't offer the tilt function to get people in the back and do often contrast with the interior of the RS clios. However unlike the buckets they still offer the slide function so when wound right forward there is usually eough room to get someone in the back, it just take a bit longer than the standard RS seats. These seats are fitted to the car with replacement frames specific for the seat. These frames will also often lower the seating position.
The last alternative are the Recaro and more specifically the trendline variant, and its probably clear why. They match the interior of the RS perfectly and look the bees knees. They combine sports comfort with day to day usability having a single tilt and reach handle to get people in the back. Also they they have the RECARO logo - probably what makes them so expensive :rasp:
©Red Cup
Straight out of a stipped Trophy or direct from the manufacturer the lowest I have seen a pair of these seats go for is around £800 second hand without frames. New from the supplier they are around £1358.00 yes thats £1358! with frames which is a huge amount of money for a pair of seats.
I made the decision that I would like to get some better seats for my RS and I came very close to buying a set of trophy Recaros until another member on here made it clear that you could obtain a set for far less than the trophy seats, usually from here linkage
The point is that these fellas over at the evo forum get the Recaros as standard. So in a similar way as we flog our RS seats for next to nothing, they sell the seats out of the older evos, and even in some cases the newer evos for very few sheets! Often the seats take very little adjustment and will fit straight onto the recaro-clio subframes.
Just a cheeky example:
and the price.......
....£500 for the pair!
and here are the pair that I got hold of:
So to give you some idea of cost:
£340 for the seats out of an Evo 8 MR.
£200ish for the frames.
The seats are black alcantara so match with the RS interior perfectly. They are actually a variant of the trendline with enlarged bolsters, and designed specifically for the Evo MR (so they dont really have a name)
The only 'problem' is that they don't have a single tilt and reach handle but as you can see they move more than far enough forward to let someone in:
The key thing for fitting Recaros is that the following measurement has to be the same as the seats designed to fit the clio and therefore the Recaro to clio subframes. This distance is outer to outer edge 17", inner to inner edge 16".
Anyway as long as that distance is correct the seats will go in the car, even it it takes a little drilling on the subframes to align any fixing holes as it did for my seats.
Using the recaros to clio subframes will lower the seat by 20mm as explained in this thread
The Recaros in the trophy are sat on 10mm lower frames as any lower makes the seats press on the slide adjustment handle. Renault being tight ba$tards did not want a new slider mechanism so kept the seats high.
However the aftermarket frames as I have used lower them by 20mm. You may have noticed that I have the original slider handle still in the car. This is because I have bent them downwards in a vice to allow for the drop in the seat height.
Just a few helpful links:
Capitol seating, UK importer and repairer of Recaros seats and subframes.
Great guide from another member on here on fitting the seats and the resistor cables in the car.
As every RS owner knows the standard seats are just not up too scratch. They are high, un-supportive and you seem to sit 'on' them and not 'in' them. There appear to be three main alternative approaches to solving this problem.
The first are fixed buckets. They are highly supportive and can give the car that real 'go-kart' feel. These are some of the best quality and value for money that I have seen personally:
©JamesStone
These seats tend to trade off day to day usability for ultimate driving feel by being nonadjustable and being permanently set to your desired position. Their lack of tilt etc means that practicalities off a 3 door car like the Clio is reduced as it is nigh on impossible to get people in the back. However probably most importantly they lower the seating position by around 60mm onwards. Ideal for a trackday weapon!
The second main alternative for the Clio are sports seats made by companies such as cobra. The seats below are one of the best examples I have seen fitted by another user on cliosport:
©Paul
These 3rd party seats are often cheaper than Recaro alternatives, but don't offer the tilt function to get people in the back and do often contrast with the interior of the RS clios. However unlike the buckets they still offer the slide function so when wound right forward there is usually eough room to get someone in the back, it just take a bit longer than the standard RS seats. These seats are fitted to the car with replacement frames specific for the seat. These frames will also often lower the seating position.
The last alternative are the Recaro and more specifically the trendline variant, and its probably clear why. They match the interior of the RS perfectly and look the bees knees. They combine sports comfort with day to day usability having a single tilt and reach handle to get people in the back. Also they they have the RECARO logo - probably what makes them so expensive :rasp:
©Red Cup
Straight out of a stipped Trophy or direct from the manufacturer the lowest I have seen a pair of these seats go for is around £800 second hand without frames. New from the supplier they are around £1358.00 yes thats £1358! with frames which is a huge amount of money for a pair of seats.
I made the decision that I would like to get some better seats for my RS and I came very close to buying a set of trophy Recaros until another member on here made it clear that you could obtain a set for far less than the trophy seats, usually from here linkage
The point is that these fellas over at the evo forum get the Recaros as standard. So in a similar way as we flog our RS seats for next to nothing, they sell the seats out of the older evos, and even in some cases the newer evos for very few sheets! Often the seats take very little adjustment and will fit straight onto the recaro-clio subframes.
Just a cheeky example:
and the price.......
....£500 for the pair!
and here are the pair that I got hold of:
So to give you some idea of cost:
£340 for the seats out of an Evo 8 MR.
£200ish for the frames.
The seats are black alcantara so match with the RS interior perfectly. They are actually a variant of the trendline with enlarged bolsters, and designed specifically for the Evo MR (so they dont really have a name)
The only 'problem' is that they don't have a single tilt and reach handle but as you can see they move more than far enough forward to let someone in:
The key thing for fitting Recaros is that the following measurement has to be the same as the seats designed to fit the clio and therefore the Recaro to clio subframes. This distance is outer to outer edge 17", inner to inner edge 16".
Anyway as long as that distance is correct the seats will go in the car, even it it takes a little drilling on the subframes to align any fixing holes as it did for my seats.
Using the recaros to clio subframes will lower the seat by 20mm as explained in this thread
The Recaros in the trophy are sat on 10mm lower frames as any lower makes the seats press on the slide adjustment handle. Renault being tight ba$tards did not want a new slider mechanism so kept the seats high.
However the aftermarket frames as I have used lower them by 20mm. You may have noticed that I have the original slider handle still in the car. This is because I have bent them downwards in a vice to allow for the drop in the seat height.
Just a few helpful links:
Capitol seating, UK importer and repairer of Recaros seats and subframes.
Great guide from another member on here on fitting the seats and the resistor cables in the car.
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