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Recaro vs standard seats - which are lighter weight?

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#1
Any one know? The Recaro's are a bulkier seat with heating, vs the standard cloth seat. The standard seat seems simpler and more basic. Certainly the Recaro's provide more side bolstering, but they look much more substantial in terms of leather and padding. Are they a good bit heavier than the stock cloth seat? Just wondering.... weight is so important in how the FiST drives...

Thanks
 


TyphoonFiST

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#2
Any one know? The Recaro's are a bulkier seat with heating, vs the standard cloth seat. The standard seat seems simpler and more basic. Certainly the Recaro's provide more side bolstering, but they look much more substantial in terms of leather and padding. Are they a good bit heavier than the stock cloth seat? Just wondering.... weight is so important in how the FiST drives...

Thanks
Ask yourself Why would they put Recaros into the fist? Because its keeps you from sliding around when aggressive driving. Ask those who bought "Normal" seats that are now looking for Recaros in the wanted section. They will wish they had bought Recaros....I know I am more than happy with them even on long road trips. In the end... This thing is the perfect weight with any option IMO....The Recaros are superior in every way though! [party]
 


Dpro

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#3
Ask yourself Why would they put Recaros into the fist? Because its keeps you from sliding around when aggressive driving. Ask those who bought "Normal" seats that are now looking for Recaros in the wanted section. They will wish they had bought Recaros....I know I am more than happy with them even on long road trips. In the end... This thing is the perfect weight with any option IMO....The Recaros are superior in every way though! [party]

This and if someone really wants to take weight off then... removing standard size spare, smaller high performance battery, lighter wheels( big time upsrung weight reduction) etc... will take off more weight than running standard seats vs Recaros in the name of weight savings.
 


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#4
I have a differing opinion. Both seats are better than most average street cars while heavier and less bolstered than any real race seat. The recaros are put in for looks, marketing, and maybe some negligible keeping you in place. I doubt in autoX which moves you body around the most that you will see people's times drop by having the recaros where as a real race seat you'll see some improvement as the drivers fights less to stay in place.

If the recaros (and all you get on that package) were a 500-1000 increase in price I would have paid for this package on my car, but I don't see the value in spending more, I can take the money saved and pay for two real seats and a harness bar and come out with a way better setup.

It's a personal decision on how you want to spend your money, but if the pure performance of the seat is really your priority I wouldn't fool yourself into thinking the recaros offer much help.
 


zanethan

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#5
I have a differing opinion. Both seats are better than most average street cars while heavier and less bolstered than any real race seat. The recaros are put in for looks, marketing, and maybe some negligible keeping you in place. I doubt in autoX which moves you body around the most that you will see people's times drop by having the recaros where as a real race seat you'll see some improvement as the drivers fights less to stay in place.

If the recaros (and all you get on that package) were a 500-1000 increase in price I would have paid for this package on my car, but I don't see the value in spending more, I can take the money saved and pay for two real seats and a harness bar and come out with a way better setup.

It's a personal decision on how you want to spend your money, but if the pure performance of the seat is really your priority I wouldn't fool yourself into thinking the recaros offer much help.
Did you actually sit in or drive one with Recaro’s???? There’s no negligible about it. They hold you firmly in place... if you couldn’t tell they were doing that then you aren’t living life correctly.

Also the base seats ate the SAME seat as a base Fiesta but with “sport” cloth on them.

OP you want the Recaro’s trust me as someone who bought with base seats and regretted it a week later.
 


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#6
Yeah, I drove both. I find the fabric is what really helps hold me in place. I also have a lot of time in race seats on track and the recaros are nothing like them, just like the ones that came with my Evolution 8 are a homage to a real race seat.
 


Dpro

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#7
I have a differing opinion. Both seats are better than most average street cars while heavier and less bolstered than any real race seat. The recaros are put in for looks, marketing, and maybe some negligible keeping you in place. I doubt in autoX which moves you body around the most that you will see people's times drop by having the recaros where as a real race seat you'll see some improvement as the drivers fights less to stay in place.

If the recaros (and all you get on that package) were a 500-1000 increase in price I would have paid for this package on my car, but I don't see the value in spending more, I can take the money saved and pay for two real seats and a harness bar and come out with a way better setup.

It's a personal decision on how you want to spend your money, but if the pure performance of the seat is really your priority I wouldn't fool yourself into thinking the recaros offer much help.
Owned cars wtih race seats ya been to the track. Question is what is OP doing with your car? If its a street car you take to the track occasionally they actually are great.

Why? Well for one you’re not monkeying around bypassing the airbag setup so it functions safely because race seat have no airbag.

For two climbing in and out of a race bucket on a street driven track car is a pain in the ass . Been there done that as well. Lol

Seriously drove both stock seat car hard and Recaro equipped hard did not regret getting my Recaro eqiupped 18 for $500 more than what they were selling bases for i.e. under 20k. It was a no brainer.

I am sorry but the only thing the base seats were good for is sitting about an 1/2 inch lower. Other than that they sucked. No side support no nothing. Hell in Europe and the UK you cannot buy the car without The Recaros.


Ford got cheap with us because they figured they could charge more for the Recaros but it you were savvy on your purchase you could get a Recaro equipped car for the price of a base or a few hundred above.

So ya 18 Orange Spice(595 option) Smoke Storm Recaro,(1995 option) Ebony wheels,, (375 ) option $19,678
best base deals in California were coming in at around 18,700 for non tri coat paint cars. some cheaper but with high finance rates to cover.
Base Orange Spices $19,100.
Plus mine was ordered!

For under 20k it was like ya give me the Recaros and I don’t regret it a bit.

There is an older very respected membe Raamaudio , who compared the weight of the Recaros vs dedicated race seats amd rails the weight difference was not large enough to warrant running race seats in his car.

It was setup as a crazy fast track machine and it performed great. He has built an d driven lots of race cars over the years as well . He had none of the negatives you have claimed for the Recaros.

I get you might not like them thats fine but as far as choice and excellent one for the platform they rule over base seats on vehicles seeing time driven on the street.

Dedicated track car well thats completely different and most of the cars on this forum either do double duty or see a little track amd more street than anything.
 


M-Sport fan

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#8
I have a differing opinion. Both seats are better than most average street cars while heavier and less bolstered than any real race seat. The recaros are put in for looks, marketing, and maybe some negligible keeping you in place. I doubt in autoX which moves you body around the most that you will see people's times drop by having the recaros where as a real race seat you'll see some improvement as the drivers fights less to stay in place.

If the recaros (and all you get on that package) were a 500-1000 increase in price I would have paid for this package on my car, but I don't see the value in spending more, I can take the money saved and pay for two real seats and a harness bar and come out with a way better setup.

It's a personal decision on how you want to spend your money, but if the pure performance of the seat is really your priority I wouldn't fool yourself into thinking the recaros offer much help.
THANK YOU! EXACTLY!! [twothumb]

Ford most definitely WAY over-charges for this option, relying on 'name brand recognition' (which does NOT work on me, given my VERY negative experiences with Recaro's aftermarket seats), and status seeking to sell them at that price. [:(]
 


Jerickson88

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#9
THANK YOU! EXACTLY!! [twothumb]

Ford most definitely WAY over-charges for this option, relying on 'name brand recognition' (which does NOT work on me, given my VERY negative experiences with Recaro's aftermarket seats), and status seeking to sell them at that price. [:(]
I stand firm on the statement I made before. Majority of FiST owners would have bought the car if the Recaros were the standard, or if they weren’t available at all. I have base seats. No regrets. Didn’t care when I bought the car. If it had them, I’d be happy either way.
 


TyphoonFiST

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#10
THANK YOU! EXACTLY!! [twothumb]

Ford most definitely WAY over-charges for this option, relying on 'name brand recognition' (which does NOT work on me, given my VERY negative experiences with Recaro's aftermarket seats), and status seeking to sell them at that price. [:(]
It's called pay to play....or retail....they have to make money somehow. I'm happy I got the option....worth every penny....I'd do it all over again vs. Trying to find some for sale or trying to trade shitty stock FiST seats for Recaros....C'mon....who is going to do that in a right state of mind? No one...


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Ford ST

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#11
I stand firm on the statement I made before. Majority of FiST owners would have bought the car if the Recaros were the standard, or if they weren’t available at all. I have base seats. No regrets. Didn’t care when I bought the car. If it had them, I’d be happy either way.
My back is to big for them. Hell my back is to big for my wife's Mazda 3. No I'm not fat. I like the gym.

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OP
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Thread Starter #14
glad starting this thread provided everyone with some entertainment

disappointed though, that no one can answer the question i asked

oh well
 


Dpro

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#15
glad starting this thread provided everyone with some entertainment

disappointed though, that no one can answer the question i asked

oh well
If you search the forum you will find comments by Rick aka RaamAudio who compared the Recaros to race seats and rails weight savings wise. He came to the conclusion that the Recaros weight was not enough more, to bother going through the hassle of removing them from his car, for the sake of fixed position track seats.
Now given that if your thinking weight savings advantage of the stock base seats over the Recaros its really not significant which I actually stated earlier. I also stated you were better off going to a lightweight battery instead. As you would remove weight off the front end which is the heaviest area in our car.
 


danbfree

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#19
Did the power moonroof and nav both come packaged with the Recaros?
No, they are all individual options, the Recaro package also includes heated mirrors and of course the seats themselves are also heated... BUT, not real easy to find one with Recaro's and sunroofs, dealers ordered them loaded most of the time. Not saying it's impossible, just saying not *easy* to find them, about 3/4 of the cars with Recaro's out there also have sunroof.
 


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#20
Maybe it's a goofy thought, and I haven't really looked closely at the inner door panels, but what about adding some sort of foam padding there and on the center console to reduce lateral hip movement during spirited driving?:unsure: Doesn't happen often, but I have slid around from time to time:p
 




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