Hello again RiceFam! Happy Friday! Go have some FRIes on FRIday. Whatever suits you.

Going to go a little unconventional this time around with the Recaro Pole Position seat and what I feel are the pros and cons of it for someone in my age group. This would be going into the Civic.

Starting off, the installation is that of any seat. I had a Bride Vios III replica in my old Miata and the installation was very similar to that. For rails I went with some Buddy Club Super Lows. I was back and forth on these as went I went to research online about them – because I was looking for something that was low and that had sliders – I got mixed reviews about them. Biggest concern was the welds.

Phil has a set in his 86 and I was able to kinda look at it when I did the shoot. He had no complaints about it.

I also didn’t really have a choice, the rails were a gift from my brother, as an incentive to put the seat into the car. Short story, I got the seat as a gift from my other half about 3-4 years ago but I didn’t have any rails for it. Brother got me rails, but it took me about a year later to install it… I was so excited for it, but just didn’t make the time to since it wasn’t high priority.

The drive was also that there would be the last SCCA event for Oahu, and it’d be foolish not to feel this thing in action.

In the picture, that is where I originally set the seat up on the bracket

I’m going to do my best to review this with my experience with my Bride Rep from years ago as setting some sort of baseline. And once I mocked it up in the car….

…holy sh!t

I felt like I was almost on the floor (an “UP” ironically). It fulfilled my goal in getting the feel of being lower in the driver seat.

The seat itself felt like it held me but still didnt feel very squished (“UP”). My Bride rep years ago def was a tighter fit, not to mention that I do weigh more now than when I had the Miata.

It was much more challenging to be able to get in and out of the car (“DOWN”) than I recalled but this is probably more attributed to me being older and not so much mobility. I had to take a deep breath whenever I had to get in and out of the car, as if I was preparing myself for a 1 rep max or something.

Next, as for how it is with “normal” driving around – which I did for a few days – it was actually comfortable to me (“UP”). Of course the stock seat will be more comfortable, but the trade off is worth it to me.

I didn’t really take notice the lowness of the seat till probably into the 3rd or 4th day. It felt like the seat was positioned upwards and – though this is a tad of an exaggeration – felt like I had to crane my neck to see over the dashboard (“DOWN”). I guess it might be too low for my liking…

Looking back at the picture of where I set the rear seat bracket, I took it out of the lowest setting and moved it to the highest third slot. It felt more tolerable and still low in the car.

The complaint I have is that the combination of my height, the height of the seat, and the limit of the steering wheel adjustment is at such a way that the top of the steering wheel blocks my view of the speedometer (“DOWN”). Not a big deal, but I can’t see the speed if I glance down with my eyes. I have to actually move my head to see the speed.

Being lower in the car messed with my spacial sense. Being lower in the car means I can’t see anything really low to the ground when its close to me (“DOWN”). I get really paranoid when I’m driving around curbs now as I can usually see them. Remember It feels scary, like I don’t really have a feel

Where the seat really shines was when I took it out for runs at SCCA. Gone was the feeling of bracing myself against the center console and door card with my legs. I felt more planted, stable, and comfortable in the seat as I thrashed the car around (“UP”). I felt invincible like I did in my early car/college days.

Finally, the seat is on the pricier side. I’d prefer to have two since visually it’d look nicer, but I guess I can live with the rawness of it being solo for the driver. I did do the same with my Miata.

By the way, in comparison to a replica seat vs a non-replica is no comparison. I can really feel the difference (“UP”)

Is the seat worth it? Well objectively I have more DOWNS than UPS, but if I was in my younger days I wouldn’t have complained about my DOWNS because I’d be too giddy about the seat.

Final thought: Younger days, resounding yes to this seat! Now that I’m older and I don’t daily the car, still worth it. But if this was my daily, I’d probably only use it for street cred.

You be the judge.

Till next time RiceFam!!!