I know this has been asked a couple of times, but there seem to be numerous threads with partial info, or don't really come to a conclusion :(

 

Following a recent 5hr trip, my other half was complaining how uncomfortable the passenger seat in my 2009 FL Elegance estate is compared to our previous car. Whilst I don't find them too bad, I'm inclined to agree that they could be a lot better!

 

So far, from research, it appears the options are:

 

An alternative FL estate (either VRS or L&K) - easiest option, should be a straight swap, but are they likely to be any more comfortable?

Mk5/6 Golf - fronts should just drop in, but might need to do some rewiring of connectors, rears won't fit

Audi A6 C6 S-Line - fronts should be a relatively easy fit after removing down an additional locating lug, might need to do some rewiring of connectors, rears won't fit

Audi A3 8P S-Line - same as the A6

Audi A4 B7 S-Line - same the A6 (I'm not sure if these actually fit, but a couple of posts on some Audi forums suggest they seem to be interchangeable with the A3/A6?)

 

In all cases I need to make sure they are manually adjusting, not electric as I don't have the necessary wiring.

 

So far locally to me I've found:

 

A set of leather PFL L&K estate seats, I've messaged the seller to check if they are electric or manual. (Did they even do the L&K in manual?), also, as they are PFL will they fit my FL? These would be the ideal option if so.

A set of leather Golf MK5 GT seats (actually same seller as above), have messaged to check if they are electric or manual.

A set of half-leather Audi A6 seats which look in good condition

 

Any other options I'm missing?

 

Thanks!

I find the leather seats in the 1.9 PFL L&K ergonomically poor even with all the electric adjustment and lumbar support and can't imagine what body shape they were designed for, they're half vinyl anyway and the rears being unadjustable are like firm upright dining chairs.  From what I've seen, a similar age Golf has the same seats.

 

I wouldn't recommend them.

 

Graft some Volvo seats in and relax...

Edited 22 June, 20214 yr by MicMac

I have a set of vrs leather seats I'm planning to sell if that's any help.

4 minutes ago, MicMac said:

Graft some Volvo seats in and relax...

Nice as Volvo seats are, that sounds like far more effort than I can be bothered with to be honest! 

 

Really I'm looking for as clean a swap as possible, but willing to put up with front/rear mismatch as long as it's not too glaring.

 

Thanks for the feedback on the L&K seats, maybe not such a good option then. Seems like the A6 ones are the best option in terms of comfort then? They seem to be the easiest to get hold of too!

2 minutes ago, MikeTheThinker said:

I have a set of vrs leather seats I'm planning to sell if that's any help.

 

Assuming you mean for an FL estate (or PFL if they are a straight swap)? Any idea how they compare to the standard cloth ones in the Elegance? I think her main complaint was the lack of lumbar support (which is probably why I don't find them too bad since the driver's seat has this).

Estate and saloon are the same as long as they're both 4-doors.

 

I bought them (full set) to upgrade the seats in my Octavia Ambiente estate and tried them out in the donor car. I found they gave me better support than the Ambiente cloth seats (I'm late 60s).

 

I didn't use the seats in the end because I rotated my car to our daughter and bought a Scout instead

 

I'm sure there will be someone near enough to you with a VRS that would let you do a "bum check" on their seats.

 

I'm in Lancashire BTW.

Edited 22 June, 20214 yr by MikeTheThinker

19 minutes ago, MikeTheThinker said:

Estate and saloon are the same as long as they're both 4-doors.

 

I bought them (full set) to upgrade the seats in my Octavia Ambiente estate and tried them out in the donor car. I found they gave me better support than the Ambiente cloth seats (I'm late 60s).

 

I didn't use the seats in the end because I rotated my car to our daughter and bought a Scout instead

 

I'm sure there will be someone near enough to you with a VRS that would let you do a "bum check" on their seats.

 

I'm in Lancashire BTW.

 

I was under the impression that the estate and hatch had different rears?

 

Can't see much in the way of comparison between the Ambient and Elegance seats, but it does look like the VRS have lumbar support on both driver and passenger side?

 

I take it they have airbags (from what I can tell all MK2 have, but they weren't standard on MK1 VRS?)

 

Although something more local would be preferable, Lancashire isn't too bad, depending on price and condition. Supposed to be heading up to Manchester at some point in the next few weeks anyway, so potentially something could be arranged.

 

I'm guessing you mean the half-leather white/grey and black ones? Or is there a full leather option?

Edited 22 June, 20214 yr by Haggisking

3 hours ago, MicMac said:

I find the leather seats in the 1.9 PFL L&K ergonomically poor even with all the electric adjustment and lumbar support and can't imagine what body shape they were designed for, they're half vinyl anyway and the rears being unadjustable are like firm upright dining chairs.  From what I've seen, a similar age Golf has the same seats.

 

I wouldn't recommend them.

 

Graft some Volvo seats in and relax...

Agree with MicMac L&K seats are not that comfortable and same as normal Octavia ones apart from the leather and the electric adjustment.  I would go for Audi front seats as the quality of the materials will be better than VW golf.  Ive tried Audi A3 and Vw Eos front seats and both are superior to the stock Skoda ones.

It seems another member has managed to get the golf Mk5 rears to fit

 

 

That certainly swings it towards the Golf - those seats look the same as the ones i'm looking at, although that thread doesn't say if they've gone into a hatch or estate. 

 

Also the Golf set near me is full leather, whereas the A6 ones are half leather. Probably true about the quality being better on the Audi ones though. Choices... 

Edited 22 June, 20214 yr by Haggisking

If the Golf's seats are identical to my L&K ones (they looked to be), it's supposed to be full leather but that's only the centre bum and back bit, the rest is lookeylikey vinyl so don't get excited.

 

The  L&K rears are 2+1 fold flat with extendable central armrest/opening for long cargo, full width covered stowage with retractable cargo cover.

So I've had a reply and a few more pictures for the A6 seats I was looking at, they are indeed manual and look to be in pretty good condition, there is a bit of wear to the driver side bolster, but nothing major. In terms of connectors, there are 3, yellow (airbag), black (I guess for the seat belt sensor?) and red (lumbar support?) looking at the current connections, I have yellow and black on driver side, so I guess those are a straight swap (or at least easy rewire) but for the red connector, I would need to find a spare fuse and run a 12v connection? 

 

Passenger side currently only has the yellow connector, so again, easy swap, could I just piggyback the 12v from the driver side for power or would it need a separate run from the fuse box? 

Edited 22 June, 20214 yr by Haggisking

A potential new solution:

 

Audi A6 fronts

L&K rears (and possibly door cards)

 

Yes it will still be a hybrid mishmash of scavenged parts, but I think the leather rears will probably match the fronts better than the current cloth ones.

 

 

Airbag connectors can be easily swapped over if you are handy with a soldering iron.

8 minutes ago, wiilydog said:

Airbag connectors can be easily swapped over if you are handy with a soldering iron.

 

Not a problem - will probably end up sticking some connectors on each set so they can be easily swapped/returned to stock if needed

Managed to pick up some A6 S Line seats over the weekend, and spent yesterday swapping them over, relatively straightforward - the most time consuming part was crimping all the connectors so I could easily swap the plugs back if needed! The electric lumbar adjustment connection was a bit of a PITA to run the 12v to, but after a bit of research, they have a relatively low current draw (the original fuses are 5A), so I piggybacked them off the lighter socket. All fully working, night & day in terms of comfort!

 

They are full leather heated, I was trying to figure out if it was possible to get an aftermarket heated seat kit and just hook it up to the existing pads, but I don't think that would work too well. Happy with it all for now anyway - will see how they are in winter and can always stick an aftermarket kit in if they are too cold!

 

Back seats don't look too bad even though they don't match, so don't think I'll bother with those for now.

 

Now I just need to get rid of the rear Audi seats and figure out what I'm going to do with the old Skoda fronts!

9 hours ago, Haggisking said:

Managed to pick up some A6 S Line seats over the weekend, and spent yesterday swapping them over, relatively straightforward - the most time consuming part was crimping all the connectors so I could easily swap the plugs back if needed! The electric lumbar adjustment connection was a bit of a PITA to run the 12v to, but after a bit of research, they have a relatively low current draw (the original fuses are 5A), so I piggybacked them off the lighter socket. All fully working, night & day in terms of comfort!

 

They are full leather heated, I was trying to figure out if it was possible to get an aftermarket heated seat kit and just hook it up to the existing pads, but I don't think that would work too well. Happy with it all for now anyway - will see how they are in winter and can always stick an aftermarket kit in if they are too cold!

 

Back seats don't look too bad even though they don't match, so don't think I'll bother with those for now.

 

Now I just need to get rid of the rear Audi seats and figure out what I'm going to do with the old Skoda fronts!

 

Nice to read you found a solution I have a FL 09 estate and find the front seats becoming more uncomfortable as both they and I age !!

as said elsewhere Volvo seat provide supreme comfort but I just bring myself to buy a Volvo 

always fancied an Audi we have a family member who swears buy them but I can’t justify the premium price outlay 

so my question is which year Audi seats fit your ( thus mine ) Octavia ( I’m not bothered about the rears mines an estate a more often than not I can’t be bothered to lift the rear seats back up )

The donor car was a 60 plate A6 saloon, so no chance of the rears fitting (although actually, I haven't tried), as far as I'm aware, any C6 (2004-2011) variant will do.

 

In my case (manual cloth Elegance), the following connectors needed to be swapped:

 

Driver side: Airbag (3 pin yellow), seatbelt (2 pin black)

Passenger side: Airbag (3 pin yellow)

 

The donor seats came with 4 connectors:

Airbag (3 pin yellow) - easy swap, the wire colours match

Seatbelt (black, not sure of the connector as it was already missing) - different colours, but I just matched up the ones with the stripe - possibly doesn't matter as I'm guessing it just checks for an open or closed circuit.

Seat Electrics (8 pin red, although only 4 wires) - had to do some research on this one, it appears 2 of the wires (pins 4 + 5) are for the lumbar control, and the other 2 are for the rear footwell lights, I didn't bother with the lights, just connected the lumbar to 12V

Seat Heating (green 6? pin) - no idea, ignored this one as I don't have the wiring.

 

If you just solder/heatshrink the new connectors on, it's probably quicker, and in hindsight I think this would have been a better option as I can't envision swapping them back.

 

There's also an extra locating pin on the Audi seats which I cut off with hacksaw and then filed down, otherwise they just drop in.

 

You'll lose the rear seat pockets, and the storage under the passenger seat (could probably be attached somehow, but I couldn't get the screw holes to line up).

 

 

Edited 28 June, 20214 yr by Haggisking

Forgot to say, make sure it's the S Line seats, the normal ones aren't as good I think, only "problem" is you'll end up with S Line logos on them (you might not care, it doesn't bother me )