Hi everyone,

I just purchased a 2005 Evo IX with 19,000 documented miles on the clock. As you can imagine, the interior is in pretty good condition! I am considering buying a pair of regular Lancer seats and having them reupholstered to alcantara to keep the look stock.

The reason is that the Recaros are too nice to ruin, and I know the constant getting in and out will wear the seat bolsters and leather out in no time at all! I will save them for track days and such.

The question I want to ask is whether they are a direct fit, ie, the four bolts all line up in the same spots?

 

Why not just enjoy the seats? What are you saving them for resale? Also, reupholstering a seat in alcantara is surprisingly expensive. You would be better off just buying a used Evo 8/9 seat to use in the drivers position if you really want to 'save' your original seat.

For track days, the stock seats are really not that great. Get a proper bucket (like a Recaro SPG) for the track.

 

<p>I daily drive my car, has 100k miles on it now, and my seats are far from beat up</p>

 

just make sure you don't slide into the seat and you wont wear them out so much. step in, over the seat and down. I know the feeling cause I have a evo 8 with 13k miles but enjoy it. no reason to stress over it and you obviously bought the car to enjoy it so don't be paranoid about it. just keep up with cleaning it and what not and you'll be fine.

 

If you would like to save the seats, you have the option to pick up some VIII seats. They are bolt in and can be had pretty cheaply on the second-hand market.

 

Thanks for your opinions. Where I am, parking lots are much narrower than in the States; if only I could open the door fully, I could get in easier.

But the main question that's been unanswered is, will vanilla Lancer seats bolt up?

My seats also look a little deeper, more bucket-y, it seems?

 

vanilla seats will bolt up.
knew someone who put evo 8 recaros into a lancer CH wagon here in aus (or lancer cedia in Sg?) and used the vii GTA electric seats in their base spec CH sedan.
The JDM RS models come with the same vanilla seats found in the normal lancers of the equivalent year

Those are the JDM recaro's.
The seat base has a higher hip support design. Hence the *deeper* feel.

Looks mint, is that a 9 GT?

 

Thanks for the definitive information. We don't have the CH Wagon here, but we have the CS Lancer in 1.6 litre and 1.8 litre turbocharged versions.

Yes, it is probably one of the earlier batches of the Evo IX GT, as the manufacturing date was 2005. The previous owner drove it very little (serviced it with the local dealer) and never did anything to it. It does not even have a turbo timer or gauge added to it, so yes, it seems mint. I will need to meet other Evo owners to know if it really is completely original.

 

I'd say it's a rock bottom .ive seen everything .

 

So what happened in the end was that I found a pair of Lancer CS5 Recaro semi buckets (1.8 litre GDI Turbo in longhand) seats for cheap (~$200 USD). As they didn't match the car's upholstery I had them re-done, and here is the result:



In this photo, I'm halfway through the swap. Both seats are now CS5 Recaros.

As it turned out, the seats bolted up perfectly to the floor and the passenger seat belt sensor was likewise. I got the upholsterer to salvage the middle bit of embroidered Recaro/Ralliart fabric so you can see the difference. The thread was faded so I got some fabric dye markers to refresh them. The difference in alcantara is there but you'd have to be picking out the difference on purpose.




The seats are now everything I'd hoped they'd be: easy to slide in and out of, yet supportive around my waist and kidneys. But if you've got problems with girth you might want to give this a pass as these seats are tighter around the waist than the original GT's Recaros. My thighs have more lateral room and I don't get the feeling when I'm driving that I'm squishing my boys too much.

 

Um you have an evo 8 with 13k miles do you drive it like 3 times a year lol sorry not trying to sound like an *** but that's insane I don't daily my car but it does see about 35/50ish miles a week on nice days and in spring summer I drive it everyday to work..

But then again I love 2 miles from work lol but still props to you man

 

So on every track day you're going to swap the seats?

 

Maybe. I'll try to see if these seats are good enough. As you can see the car is not intended to be a hardcore track weapon nor canyon carver.

Only 5 bolts need un-doing to remove the driver's seat. Guys routinely swap out wheels for semi slicks and perform alignments specifically for a track day. In that context, changing out a seat doesn't really seem like such a big deal.