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The primary advantage of the LWB seats is that they will allow you to use 4/5/6 point harnesses for track use, while the sports seat plus seats limit you to the factory 3 point belts. My car has the 18 way seats and I regularly track it, and they are very supportive on the track. I've also gone for 1500+ mile road trips in the car and they have been comfortable on long trips too. I've ridden in cars with the LWB seats on both road and track and they're great on track, but I doubt that I would be happy with them on a long road trip.
(fwiw, you'd probably get more informed opinions asking this question in the GT4 sub-forum)
I have LWB and track the car and love them. I also drove the car on a 13-hour road trip when I bought it and found the buckets to be very comfortable. I’m a smaller sized guy though. My wife complains the buckets are too narrow and are uncomfortable, so we rarely take it out together. Also, the buckets can be too upright for some people and don’t really have any way to recline without adding Adapters to the brackets. All that being said, I love the look and feel of the buckets for me. I’ve considered installing a comfort seat for the passenger side though for my wife 😂😂
Nothing wrong with the 18 ways, I suspect most people prefer them. I do and specifically sought them out and wouldn't buy one without them. If you are using the car as a dedicated track car then I could see the utility in the buckets but otherwise I have never had an issue staying planted in the seat in my spirited drives. When a friend was spec'ing his new GT3 last year, he asked me the same question. I recommended the 18 ways and he agreed. He is happy he went with the 18 ways as far as I can tell.
Buckets are a "tacticool wanna be racecar" thing just like the pull handles. They are an inbetween that aren't ideal for any use case. If you are gonna track heavily get a proper seat, if you will street drive then buy the seats that fit the AC/Radio/Nav/Bluetooth luxury experience you are actually in.
That being said, if you like the buckets...get them!
Not to be a broken record but if you use the car on the street the 18s is the way to go... The only reason to go buckets is if you track the car enough to need/want harnesses. Explaining the in out process to anyone of the opposite sex will lead to total turn off and make the in out process a chore. Unless of course that is the goal... My car is primarily on track but enjoy the occasional date night so my solution is one of each.
I've never found buckets to be uncomfortable. Getting in and out of them takes a bit of finesse, but nothing too challenging. If I was getting in and out of the seats often, such as in a daily driver, I'd take normal sport seats (4 way or 18 way). If I was only driving the car on the weekend and getting in and out of them a couple of times every weekend, I'd take buckets. You feel more connected and locked in with the car.
Side note, I have standard sport seats in my GT3, so I wouldn't call myself biased, just someone that's spent enough time in buckets in other peoples cars.
I just traded my '17 Caddy CTS-V with recaros for a GT4 with 18 ways and could not be happier.- Personally, I would have spec'd the car with them. I'm beefy and prefer comfort. I couldn't care less about the "must have" or the carbon fiber factor. In fact, I was overjoyed that my GT4 has a plastic splitter, cause' I was just waiting for the day the $3k caddy splitter would meets it's demise. As for the 18 way seats- I've had this car for 3 weeks and am 1500 miles into it - I baby nothing and have driven the hell out of this thing. Haven't fallen out of the seats yet. Does it affect resale value? it does- To me, It's a car, I didn't buy it for any other reason than to drive the wheels off it.
I .have 18 ways in a Boxster S. I'd probably get the 18 ways. They are not the best on the track, but you can adjust the side bolsters to help hold you in place. As mentioned if you truly track you want a 6 way harness which can be added to the GT4 seats. You can retrofit a set of track seats into a car with 18 ways. I' m guessing putting a set of 18 way into a car with GT4 seats would be much more difficult because of the electrical connectors and programming.
Not to be a broken record but if you use the car on the street the 18s is the way to go... The only reason to go buckets is if you track the car enough to need/want harnesses. Explaining the in out process to anyone of the opposite sex will lead to total turn off and make the in out process a chore. Unless of course that is the goal... My car is primarily on track but enjoy the occasional date night so my solution is one of each.
The 18-way are great seats, but I'm also a very "shallow" person. I just love the way these cars look inside with buckets. It's like having a nice suit on partnered up with some fancy tie or belt (mind you i wear slacks and T-shirts daily lol).
Jokes aside, as a street driver, I just really like having the buckets. This may differ for track junkies with desire to swap seats out at track events. The looks are great, and I find the buckets to work really well with my personal preference. I was stuck in these buckets for heavy (and I do mean HEAVY) traffic for 2hours+ non-stop with a lot of 0 to 5mph driving, yet I found the seats to be great in terms of support and comfort. Mind you, I do sit up relatively straight compared to most drivers. So the angle and ergonomics work really well for me.
I would argue I can't feel the coilovers and all the "GT" components on a regular basis, but I can definitely see the seats every time I hop into the car. I would rather go for a GTS with a lower price tag if I were to go for the 18-way. I was never the fastest driver on the track, and I'm only looking for the overall experience of car ownership, and having anything but the buckets just doesn't quite cut it for me. the buckets are just a big part of these cars. It's like, ditching the manual transmission for automatics just defeats the purpose of these cars. Personal preference only here of course.
07-10-2022, 04:18 AM
