Stipped the back seat and installed aftermarket seats in my Evo X
Let me start by saying that that I love my car. It was my dream to own an Evo and when Mitsubishi announced that they were going to discontinue the line, I knew this was my last chance to get one new. Because of this there’s one thing in particular that I’ve missed out on all this time. For the 2015 model year (at least here in the US), Evo Xs did not come with Recaro seats stock. The reason differs from source to source but the one that made the most sense, to me at least, is that Mitsubishi didn’t want to pay the money to crash test the car with Recaros, especially since they were already planning to discontinue the line. So they took the seats out of the regular Lancers, said “That’ll do.” and slapped those on instead. They’re not bead seats, the cushion is nice and all, but it’s not the same. You will slide out of them, no question about it. The car just wants to go flat out through every corner but the moment you try and have a bit of fun in the bends you’re slipping out of these seats.
So I know I wanted to change them and this is the bright side of it all. Anything could go in here now, it’s a blank slate, I’m not restricted to getting any one thing. After many days weighing options, I decided to go with the Takata Drift Pro LE seat.
I liked the leather, the subtle green stitching, and the carbon fiber back. It has an integrated seat heater but I didn’t end up wiring it in. I also plan to add a roll bar later to run harnesses so I figured now would be a good time to get rid of the rear seats too.
Since I won’t have anyone in the back anymore I decided to get rid of the seat belts, rugs, and miscellaneous metal brackets too.
I also got rid of as many plastic panels as I could, I’m really enjoying the exposed look of it all.
Front seats had to come out next. This was a bit of a challenge as it has all the electronics attached to them and the bolts are done up really tight, naturally. A bit of elbow grease and we were able to get them out.
I wish I had a picture of the car with no seats at all but my excitement was really high and I forgot to document a lot of this. I did a test fitting of the new seat on the passenger side before committing to it completely.
Another full day of mounting the seats to the base plates and rails and they were ready to go back in. I went ahead and mounted the lap belts of the harness too as I’d have to mount them here anyway. This is the finished product.
They feel great and I couldn’t be happier with how they turned out. After all the mounting bolts were tightened, I took it out for a spin. They’re certainly different. I can now go into a corner with confidence and focus on driving, not on how soon i’m going to slide out of my chair.
Comments
Credit is due, I couldn’t do that to my 10 year old car let alone a new Evo. The seats and the exposed look does look fantastic (the seat shape looks like they should be in from factory). Two questions though;
Does the back seat removal make the car much louder inside?
Any plans to match the stitching? or are you not as ocd as me ;P
Haha, thank you. I was apprehensive at first but I do have a vision for this car and there only one way that gets done. To answer your questions:
1 - Yes, and in the weirdest ways. Firstly, I can now hear the exhaust puttering anytime I’m sat idle, like at a stop light. I can also hear the fuel pump priming which actually makes me laugh. The weirdest thing is now I can hear all the mechanics for the window washer fluid of all things. It it loud and angry and i honestly though I’d broken something the first time using it after the seats came out, especially since the washer fluid reservoir is in the boot.
2 - No plans not match, no. I’ve actually accepted the fact that my car might end up being a myriad of different colors and I’m totally okay with that, haha. That all might change though, you never know. :)