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Old 08-12-2014, 05:56 PM   #1
surensm
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Join Date: Jul 2014
Vehicle:
2013 Evolution
Wicked White

Default Review: Recaro Profi SPG Seat

I figured I'd post this here, since seats are primarily universal, and also because you suby peeps need proper seats.


I ordered an SPG seat from a Porsche forums member, and this specific seat has been in a 996 cup car. It's an expired seat, but that doesn't matter as I'm not in NASA, and if I wanted to be then a back brace would make me more than qualified. Over the past few days I've gathered my opinions and decided to throw them at you in this review, in order to make it easier for you to decide on whether or not you should go with an aftermarket seat.

1. First impressions

Because I bought this seat used, there will be no "out of the box" section. The quality, hasn't faded in the past 11 years of the seat's existence. The fabric is still strong and got the Recaro cushiness to it, while the fiberglass bucket itself is still strong, and shows zero signs of flexing.
Quality of parts: 10/10

2. Installation
This is a universal seat, meaning it needs an aftermarket bracket to install it in the car. I went with the buddyclub rails, review for which can be found here. For the how-to, click here. The installation was smooth, and everything bolted right up. I cannot leave a rating here, however, since the seat isn't meant for the Evo X specifically.
N/A

3. Performance
On the curvy back roads
I really didn't need to take the car to the track to just experience the boost in confidence the seat provides when compared to the OEM seat. This SPG is worlds ahead in terms of support through high speed corners, allowing the driver to concentrate on his driving rather than on holding himself in place.
As a bucket seat, then, this performs more than well enough. Not to mention, it only weighs ~10 lbs, making the total of the seat + rails be less than 20 lbs, that's 30+ lbs of savings over stock.
Support: 10/10
Quality: 10/10


Driving on the daily
This seat was basically what I expected- far past the line of "acceptable bucket seat design for DD cars". I still maintain that the Recaro Pole Position is the best bucket seat for the daily driven track car, as it offers 85% of the support of this SPG seat, with about 35% of the drawbacks (other options would include Sparco and Status, but I'm just bias towards Recaro). The seat is difficult to get into, and even more difficult to climb out. The shoulder bolsters are a bit too tight for DD action, and the cushions aren't as cushy because of how tight the frame of the seat is designed. It is by far not the most comfortable seat on the planet, and this is obvious, but this is for the people who would consider buying one of these for their DD show car. These feel more like Bride Vios seats, almost as tight and almost as hard, thankfully not quite.
Comfort: 4/10

4. Bang for the buck

Brand new, this seat is around 1k. I found this seat used for just under 600 bucks, including the shipping costs. For around 700 you can get a used one of these that hasn't yet expired, and whether it's used or new, it's absolutely worth the price, mostly thanks to the quality and the actual performance of the seat in the area of support. Then again, unless you actually extensively track your car, why spend 1k on SPG seats when you can get Pole Positions and save yourself 200 bucks, while still maintaining more than an acceptable level of comfort and more than enough support for high g corners? My take is, unless you track your car something like 6-8 times a year and the car isn't your daily, then go for it. Then again, this is my advice, and I don't track my car 6-8 times a year but I still got the seat.
Value: 8/10

Overall: 8.4/10
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Old 02-01-2015, 06:30 PM   #2
LTsti
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Join Date: May 2014
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Location: Los Angeles
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2015 WRX STI LE

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Just dug this thread up.... thanks for the review! Very informative.

I'm actually looking at the SPG for my canyon carving/autocross application. The drawback: the car it would be going into is a DD.
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