Cupra front seats issue- options!??

Cupra R Matt

Moody grey 300!
Mar 4, 2012
393
0
Chesterfield
Reason I'm posting this is that I'm having issues with the front seats in my 2018 Cupra 300. When i 1st got the car i did think they were "underwhelming" in terms of support for the type of car it is, and i noticed that i feel like I'm sat at a slightly odd angle somehow, but other than that they were "Ok" - nothing special, but they'd do!

The thing is for a good while after buying the car i never really did any long journey's in it (talking multiple hours/hundreds of miles in one journey) - that was up until recently when i did a few runs to the east & south (Dorset) coastlines for a day out at the coast sort of thing, and in doing that an ugly problem reared it's head, and it's one that I've never had in any other car I've owned & tbh it's bad enough that it's making me think about swapping! What i mean is on longer journeys, I (& any front seat passengers i may have for that matter) find we get get a really bad pain in the ass (no this isn't a joke!), it seems to be only the left hand side for me as the driver, but it's a pretty severe pain and it's something I've never experienced before in any other car I've had.

Point I'm coming too is - are there any good seat swap/replacement options out there that will be pretty straight forward to fit, and won't leave me with an airbag warning light on the dash?? i know there are the option bucket style seats that you can get- but looking at them - they look to basically have the same seat base as the standard items - just with a different back rest fitted (correct me if I'm wrong on that!), & i think the majority of the issue I'm having is based around the standard base seat foams being too firm!

Don't know if any of you watch anything Monkey London does on YouTube, but one the more recent uploads he did i spotted what looked to be a MK7 golf that had some Recaro bucket seats fitted (trimmed in yellow leather iirc), and that got me wondering if there are any viable options for seat swaps that could help me with the issues I'm having, whilst also being more supportive & comfortable, and maybe even fixing the issue of feeling like I'm somehow sat at a slightly odd angle too???

Apologise if this has already been discussed at length, but i didn't see anything come up when i did a quick search for it. Would really like to find an effective solution as this issue is making me not want to use the car for longer journey's and it's also making me strongly consider swapping - which i don't really want too, because other than this and the excessive road noise from the back end of the car - i actually do like the car!

I know this isn't just an issue with seat's as one of my gaffers recently had an Audi Q5 loan car which he took to Cornwall on holiday, and he mentioned having the exact same problem as me ,and he did say that he also thought the seats were overly firm, but also it might also be partly related to us both having auto/DSG boxes - so it means your left leg isn't really doing anything for extended periods of time, and that that might be adding to the problem!?

Last potential spanner in the works is that my car is the 3door version (SC is it??), so any seats need to have the ability to tilt so i can get people in the back!

Cheers,
Matt
 

CupraGeezer

Active Member
May 11, 2018
357
163
I'm really surprised that you have these problems. So far as I know, your seats are fundamentally the same as those in my 280 SC in which I've driven 300 miles without any discomfort at all.
 

Damo H

Remind me, what's an indicator?
Staff member
Moderator
Oct 3, 2012
4,710
2,804
Car Length In Front
As far as I'm aware, you are right that the bucket seats use the same base.

If you want to retain airbags and swap seats, there are a couple of options, but to be honest none of them a re cheap.

Other VAG Seats, such as the Wingbacks from the Mk 7 Golf should in theory be a straight swap. They may need some coding to recognise the different airbags, but I don't think so.

Your other options is to get something like the Recaro CS seats. They do 2 versions, with different bolsters on the lower part, so make sure you test both. The ones I've sat are solid side bolsters so not necessarily the easiest to get out of.

These can be spec'd with heating and airbags, and are effectively the same seat as the likes of Wingbacks, Corsa VXR, Focus ST and MINI JCW. But expect to pay close to £4,000 for a pair with airbags and heating.
 
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