My brother has a 2004 WV GLI which has great recaro seats stock. I measured his seats, and amazingly they are within 1/2 inch in every dimension that matters. Brand new seat pairs have shown up on ebay for a pretty good price:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/VW-2004-2005-Golf-Jetta-GLI-Recaro-seats-NEW-w-airbags_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQhashZitem45e9bef9b8QQitemZ300274350520QQptZMotorsQ5fCarQ5fTruckQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories#ht_500wt_942

Has anyone tried fitting these or similar recaro seats? (my brother tells me that some sport version of the Chevy Cobalt used the same seat.)

Geof

Similar Recaro seats are in the late '80s BMW. Great seats. Mounting can be a creative adventure, however. Ask me how I know.

Dennis

Ask me how I know.

Looking at my car and my brother's, it looks like you would remove the z seat rails, as well as the riser that the rails are on. I guess you would have to fab some new rails that run much closer to the floorboard.

Most of that my brother would help on. I may jump on them, just because, but I haven't made up my mind yet.

Geof

Looking at my car and my brother's, it looks like you would remove the z seat rails, as well as the riser that the rails are on.

Geof

Be careful about removing the seat risers, even though the seats you're looking at sit high. I've read some posts about how they add to the structural rigidity of the Z. If you get the VW seats, check to see how much of the base you can remove in order to lower them. That's the problem I've had with the BMW seats. It's doable, but takes some creative mounting of the Z seat rails.

Dennis

You could buy seat adaptors from a Recaro dealer specificaly made for the Z. I didnt go that route. I used the original Z sliders and built my own frame out of aluminium for the Recaros. Took some time but worth it since it retains the stock look and feel.