My partner is quite a bit shorter than me and has regularly complained about the driver’s seat in our various fives being too low. She is now making the same comments about our new Mk3 (NC1). Having read that from the Mk3.5 the driver’s seat is height adjustable I am thinking about fitting one in place of the stock seat. I assume the mounting points in the floor are the same but what I want to check is that the connectors for heated seat and side airbag are the same.
Has anyone done this and can you advise if it is all just plug-and-play?
The seat its self from an NC2 is a straight bolt in, The air bag is also plug and play so will be fine… The heated seat however is different as they are 3 stage adjustable in the NC2 so im afraid you would loose the heated seat element all together as its not compatible
From looking at the EPC the NC1 non-adjustable and NC2/3 height-adjustable seats seem to be almost identical, bar the seat base which contains the adjustment mechanism. I guess it’s a long shot that anyone has done this, but I’m wondering if it is possible to strip an NC1 and NC2 seat down and:
Swap the backs over - attaching the NC1 back to the NC2 base
Fit the NC1 cushion (containing the heating elements) onto the NC2 base
In theory that would give me a height-adjustable seat fitted with my existing back and cushion and so with the existing heating elements.
My NC1 Niseko has height adjust on driver’s seat, both seats are leather with seat airbag, seat heater, and basic on/off seat heat control. Passenger seat has iso-fix points.
Some speculation then, I expect that a later h-adjust mechanism could be swapped in for the standard base, which would be easier than messing about with different seats. Now find an h-adjust base mechanism…
My OH suffers from the same as the OP we had a 2007 Sport NC1 and I purchased a 2008 Sport NC1 seat. A straight swap, heaters worked and had the height adjustable function.
I’m a bit confused now. Firstly I thought 2008 was when the NC2 came out. And if I’m wrong, then what was the difference between the 2007 Sport NC1 and 2008 Sport NC1 that resulted in one having height-adjustable seats and the other not?
Is it the case that some NC1 cars were fitted with the height adjustable seat and the single-stage heating system? (Richard’s post suggests that at the very least that was the case for the Niseko but if I am looking specifically for seats from a special edition I think that might take me into rocking horse territory.)
There is a set of Mk3.5 cloth seats on eBay at the moment for a bit over £200 - which seems a bit steep for swapping to height-adjust but may be what I end up having to do. In the short term I have ordered a seat cushion for the missus to confirm to my satisfaction that her sitting higher will actually make a difference. (There would be nothing worse than putting in the money and effort to get a height-adjustable seat only for her to say it hadn’t made any difference.)
Check before you buy, but I think the height adjustable seat only goes lower than the non adjustable one not higher. Your car is a pre-facelift so the same as NCs built from 2005 to 2008. The facelift NCs, built from 2009, had the different seat heaters. The digit 1 on the 6th from last position on he VIN denotes a pre-facelift car, a 2 or a 3 denotes a face lifted model. There are VIN decoder sheets in the Downloads section in the Technical folder.
I have a 2006 NC, hated the original seats ( £50 on Gumtree is anyone is looking for some ) I bought a set of 2010 Mk3.5 (?) leather seats with adjustable height on drivers side. They drop straight in with no mods or effort. Also, I bought a set of RX-8 switches, and turned the seat logo 90 degrees - these are a straight fit into the existing wiring that is already there ( you have to cut a hole in the panel - but this is easy as the panel has a template on the back ) and the heated seats work just fine ! The height adjuster I would say at lowest is where the standard seat would be and adjusts upward which is what you are looking for ( I know as my head touches the roof when I do ) Easy job
Hi, this is really good information. I’m just getting confused after you refer to the RX-8 switches. Turning the seat logo?? Cutting a hole in which panel?? (Did your car not already have heated seats?) You say they fit into the existing wiring, but I had read above that the heated seats in the NC2 use different connectors?
If you could expand I would be really grateful. I’m planning to have my seats re-trimmed so if I am going to change them now is the time to do it.
My NC had the cloth seats, not heated. The panel where the cigarette lighter ( auxiliary 12V socket is ) was plain. If you remove this panel ( dead easy ) you will find the wiring connectors attached to the back of the panel just as if there were switches fitted … hang on I have a spare panel I bought for when I sell the car - let me get it an photograph it …
Ok - So you have fitted your new leather seats and plugged in all the wires that are under the seat that are there to be plugged in on the seats ( they will only fit in specific holes so you cant really get it wrong - ) I have no airbag wiring in mine, so no issue there. Onto the interior panels and switches then
so this is the panel from the front -
when you take it out, the connectors are on the back where they would be if switches are fitted - there is a left and right hand and they have different connectors for left and right. You can see where I have done a dotted line, this is where you need to cut out for the switch to fit. use a Dremell, or a soldering iron - keep as close to the line as you can as there isnt much room for error if you make the hole oversize. once you have cut these out - the switches should just fit straight in.
Now - I was aware that the switches in the later models were adjustable - but just assumed that they varied the voltage which restricted the amount of heat - the switches I have are just the basic on / off ones ( because A. This is what switches would have been fitted B. I’m a tightarse and didnt want to pay for the later switches ) - bear in mind when I started I didn’t have a clue whether these would work or not ! These come as a pair - this is important as they are not swoppable - you need a left and a right switch or the connectors won’t fit (the connectors are different colours from memory - black and white to match the switches) Now - you CAN buy a set of Mazda MX-5 switches - these cost about £30 … or if you are smart ( and not a lot of people know this, in fact I couldn’t find anyone who knew before I tried ) the Mazda RX-8 switches are THE SAME, and cost about a tenner !! … BUT, because they are mounted vertically, the seat symbol is 90 degrees out - so you need to carefully prise off the seat label (shown on the picture - I did it with a scalpel … no I am not a surgeon) and stick it back on in horizontal fashion ( they are self adhesive so if you are ultra careful it pops out and pops straight back on - try not to touch the back and peel off SLOWLY so as not to ruin the logo )
So now you have your RX-8 switches fitted, and the wires connected - you just put the panel back, switch it and get a lovely warm bum and back - I assume its just the same as setting the later switches to full ? well - it certainly works for me.
Ok, much clearer now. My car is already fitted with heated seats so I would be using the existing switches and wiring. From what you have said the connector should be the same (which is odd because that clashes with what I was told earlier) so it’s just a case of sourcing a set of s/h height adjustable seats then I can swap them straight over.
