I need a new carseat ! Shopping at the yunkyard...

[YukinoSuzuka]

Hello all,

Almost 1 year ago I bought this rig :

The Sparco'ish racing seat is far from the original, no comfy cuchion in the back and the 2 side cuchion's are to low and too soft to give the idea you are IN the seat, then sitting ON it. I know my English is rubbish, hope you can understand what I mean?

I'm searching a couple of weeks now which 'standard' car seats are sporty enough and could fit on the rig above. My shortlist so far :

- Opel/Vauxhall Corsa (2003 till now)
- VW Golf 3 or 4 has some nice sporty seats
- Ford Fiesta (2003 > 2009)
- Alfa Romeo 145 or 156 (big)
- ???

Tell me Which cars I have to look for? Not to wide (no us car-seats) and a prefer for seats from 3-door hatchbacks, with the ability to flip the back forward.

 

[Coxis]

People in this hemisphere usually look for "sporty" car seats, like those from the MX-5, they are comfortable and look nice.

 

[YukinoSuzuka]

But to find a mx5/Miata + seats on the yunkyard is not easy. And the cars in my shortlist has also 'sporty' seats, almost the same kind of seats from Sparco or momo, but just standard in the 'sporty' editions of these models.

Found a Ford Fiesta ST on the yunk last week and the model of the seat was perfect, only there was to much molt on it. Then I found a Golf 4 with black sporty seats, not the GTI or recaro, but with a subtile black print on it + with the higher sides to give it a sporty look and feel. The passenger seat is better then the driver seat and maybe I can buy it for € 20,-. But I have to look further, not sure if the Golf is still there next tuesday + I think I can't fold that seat forwards. It's not necessary, but it would be easier to slide the rig away from his gaming position and park it under our 45 degree (ish) roof.

 

[acascianelli]

I don't know what the price for used car seats over there are, but when I was looking for mine I couldn't find a good seat for under $150-200. I ended up picking up a cheap rice burner seat new off Amazon for $100 shipped. I would never put this seat in a car, but for my racing sim it was a great fit.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00H7L4MHM/?tag=gtplanet-20

Pros:
* It's cheap.
* It looks nice.

Cons:
* It's cheap. As in the sliding rail is weak, and the back adjustment is wheels are cheap plastic. One already broke on me, had to glue it back together.
* It's not that comfortable. Might be because mine is new, but the foam feels kinda stiff. No lumbar adjustment.

 

[Coxis]

That is exactly what I did too. I bought a nice black and blue seat, fabric (no leather) which for the purpose of a geeky sim rig is great looking, cheap and comfortable. I agree though, I'd never put it on a real car.

 

[AlvaroF]

I bought a Smart ForTwo seat from the junkyard (70$) and it's sporty-ish, comfortable and does the job quite well.

 

[Sick Cylinder]

Hi - it depends a lot on how big your body is. Some van seats are very comfortable. You will probably end up with a cloth seat so may need a seat cover - the leather seats tend to come from high end cars and have electric motors - they are very, very heavy and unless you are good with electrics including relays and fault finding you wont be able to use the recline and slide back and forward functions - so stick with a fully manually adjustable seat. My advice is go to a scrapyard and try lots of seats till you find some that are comfortable. Also, its normally best to pick a passenger seat as these have much less wear - passenger seats from vans often have no wear at all as if they are company vans the company policy normally bans the carrying of passengers. Vauxhall Corsa van seats are supportive and comfortable.

Price will vary from one country to another, but in the UK £25 is fairly typical.

 

[YukinoSuzuka]

Thank you, this would helping me a lot to find the right seat. Tuesday I want to visit one of the largests scrapyards in my region and will test many passenger seats in more traditional cars from the late 90's I think.

Seats from a Smart is also a good idea, and very light I think ? Hopefully for me I could find a scrappy Smart on the yard
@AlvaroF Do you have a thread about your seat & rig ?

 

[MSTER232]

A friend of mine works at a junkyard and I was able to get a seat from a Volkswagen from him for free (it pays to have generous friends ). It's a cloth seat and has a somewhat sporty look; check out my signature if you want to see it.

 

[AlvaroF]

Thank you, this would helping me a lot to find the right seat. Tuesday I want to visit one of the largests scrapyards in my region and will test many passenger seats in more traditional cars from the late 90's I think.

Seats from a Smart is also a good idea, and very light I think ? Hopefully for me I could find a scrappy Smart on the yard
@AlvaroF Do you have a thread about your seat & rig ?

Not yet. My rig is finished and ready to post. I'm still getting used to trying to post pics from Flickr here.

Yes Smart seats are very light. I can carry them by myself.

 

[lemansfanatic]

Love my Honda S2000 leather sport seat for $75. He had both sides but I requested passenger side only because they have the least amount of wear n tear