No Recaros (of any sort) for Roadsters

[Angib]

I didn’t order my Roadster in time to get it before the new factory Recaros were withdrawn (ie, Recaro upholstery on a standard Mini seat frame) and I got standard sport seats. So when AndyP put his pukka JCW Recaros up for sale, I jumped at the chance. After all a Roadster is just an R56 in drag, isn’t it?

I got the driver’s seat in straight away and started loving the extra grip the Recaro provides in corners. Adding the passenger seat and getting the car re-coded for the missing passenger occupancy sensor did not go as well. According to my dealer, retrofitting the JCW Recaros cannot be coded on a Roadster - and I’m guessing that may be the same story for a Coupé.

Driving around with a Recaro driver seat and a standard passenger seat didn’t strike me as a big problem but by now I was realising that the Recaro wasn’t that great in a Roadster. It cannot be mounted as low as a standard seat and that causes two problems in a Roadster: firstly my eye line was close to the top of the windscreen and every traffic light meant craning my head to see the light. Secondly while the extra inch or so of seat height caused no headroom problems, it did push my head firmly into the buffeting area when the hood is down, whereas in standard seats it’s just the very top of my head that gets it.

So as of this week, I’m back to two standard seats, to see if I can stand the loss of the Recaro’s cornering support.

And there must be some good news, right? Well, maybe for one person - if I can stick the standard seats, there’s a pair of spotless Alcantara Recaros coming up for sale soon.

[AndyP & Lenore]

Aw buggeration... Sorry to hear they've not worked out for you. Hopefully if you don't find a way of squeezing them in and getting them properly coded, you'll find a worthy owner to fit them in their own car.

[Stewart]

On a car you can fully show of a good pair of seats it’s a crying shame that you cant put the best seats in them. Go MINI on that one!

[ELFMAN]

That's a shame! IMO the seats are one of the most important ingredients in the 'enjoy your MINI' recipe - I'd hate to go back to the 'Sports' seats after having sampled the Recaros.

You can't help thinking that it shouldn't be beyond MINIs capabilities to solve the problem of the height of the seat mounting for the Roadster/Recaros though.
Seems daft that you can't have proper Sporty seats in the Sporty MINI...

[Angib]

I don't think the seat height issue is a problem for anyone of average height or less.

My guess is that Mini didn't think the combined volume of Roadsters/Coupés and JCW (dealer) Recaros was enough to justify testing them and so they haven't allowed the dealers to do the coding as they aren't an 'approved' extra for those models.

I believe Clubmans have always been trapped in the same problem with JCW Recaros, of not being able to code for the missing passenger seat sensor.

[ELFMAN]

I don't think the seat height issue is a problem for anyone of average height or less.

I'd be fine then, 'cos I'm a short @rse!

I know what you mean Re. sales/volume of the Roadster etc, but wasn't aware of the Clubman issue. That would almost put me off buying a model if I thought Recaros were a 'no-go'