Audi A5 Seat upgrade

[Dubya]

My wife wasn't a great fan of the passenger bench, and given the cost of captain's seats, I thought I would have a go at fitting Audi A5 seats.


I sourced a complete Audi A5 S Line interior from ebay. The seat runners are a couple of inches wider than the VW's, but they're easy to fit using some flat or angled bar on the original seat base. I made up a new seat base for the passenger side, but with hindsight it would have been a lot quicker / easier to source a standard base and make up some runner adaptors the same as the drivers side. I made a small cupboard out of ply, covered the top / front with some leather from the rear seats, and used a generic arm rest from ebay in the middle. Was hoping to use the Audi one from the rear seat, but was too wide. I removed the Audi rear headrests and their plastic support inserts from the rear seat frame, shortened the inserts and plastic welded them into the T6 door trims, to act as arm rests.




The seats are really comfy, with a huge range of adjustment. If I'm doing a lot of steering wheel swivelling in tight spaces my elbow does clonk the door arm rest, but it's easy enough to slide them out and chuck them in the back, but they're super comfy on the cruise! I'll move the passenger seat over half an inch when get time and then fit twin armrests in the centre, but other than that it's been a success. Even managed to sell my original seats for more than the Audi interior!

 

[andys]

I love it when someone comes up with new ideas not seen before! I did similar in my T5 with A8 seats but never got round to doing anything like this with armrests, despite actually having a complete back seat and headrests too (in fact it's still in the shed )

I also found that even after fitting kiravans swivels, the seat height was still lower than the original VW ones.

 

[Andrew]

That looks superb. Wish I had the skill for something like that.. My wife also moans about the standard seats but I've used my powers to ignore her rather than doing anything about the seat..

Great work..

 

[JaySal]

Great job, just on with a similar set at the minute. Just wondering, can you swivel the passenger seat or is it fixed?

 

[Dubya]

I've just seen your thread, those seats look fab!

My passenger is fixed, but I'm planning to fit a swivel in the future. I think fitting a swivel base would be straight forward, but the issue is having the space to rotate (which you've already mentioned). The only solution I could come up with is to have the centre console on some kind of runner, so that it can be moved back, the seat turned, and the console slid back. Keep us posted on your solution - I'll probably copy it!

 

[Lord Mfwic]

Watching

 

[J8usx]

Super effort, really impressed.

 

[wileyk80]

I've just started a thread on fitting a pair of Audi RS4 seats into a T6 and I understand that you maybe able to help with advice regarding the wiring
They are full electric operations so I will need to be ready before fitting
I don't have the have the van yet but hoping it will be a T32 combi DSG 204

 

[Dubya]

The A5 seats that I fitted were the manual version, and I just left the seat heaters disconected, so I can't offer much advice on wiring full electrics. From what I read on a google search, you need the seat control ecu as well as the seats themselves. The seat belt occpancy sensor was straight forward, but that was as far as I got!

 

[wileyk80]

Thanks for the reply
Sounds as though I should have done a little more research before parting with my brass
I was hoping that it was more just a case of modding the plugs

 

[Pauly]

It could well be

 

[Candid]

Thanks for the reply
Sounds as though I should have done a little more research before parting with my brass
I was hoping that it was more just a case of modding the plugs

did you ever get these seats fitted with working electrics etc?

 

[JaySal]

They are fitted , have been for about 18 months but now sold the van so never got round to wiring.

 

[Spaced1]

The A5 seats that I fitted were the manual version, and I just left the seat heaters disconected, so I can't offer much advice on wiring full electrics. From what I read on a google search, you need the seat control ecu as well as the seats themselves. The seat belt occpancy sensor was straight forward, but that was as far as I got!

Hi I'm just about to fit some Audi seats to my T6 how did you wire in the seat belts ,is it a easy job .Thanks Colin

 

[Dubya]

Yes, straight forward, just join the 2 seat belt sensor wires on the van to the 2 wires on the Audi seats. I recall that you end up with 2 male sides of the factory plugs so you can't just plug them in, but just snip the plugs off and use aftermarket connectors. Only 2 wires, and it's a basic switch so doesn't matter which way round you connect them.

 

[Spaced1]

Great thanks for your help and quick reply.
Colin

 

[sensiblejohn]

Love the seats, very tempted to do the same unless anybody knows where I can find a single Tassamo passenger seat for less than a grand...?!?!

How did you 'tidy up' the exposed mechanism to the inside edge of the seats, or is it not that obvious when they are installed? Does your cubby box hide it?

Cheers, John

 

[J19WMK]

My wife wasn't a great fan of the passenger bench, and given the cost of captain's seats, I thought I would have a go at fitting Audi A5 seats.
View attachment 20552

I sourced a complete Audi A5 S Line interior from ebay. The seat runners are a couple of inches wider than the VW's, but they're easy to fit using some flat or angled bar on the original seat base. I made up a new seat base for the passenger side, but with hindsight it would have been a lot quicker / easier to source a standard base and make up some runner adaptors the same as the drivers side. I made a small cupboard out of ply, covered the top / front with some leather from the rear seats, and used a generic arm rest from ebay in the middle. Was hoping to use the Audi one from the rear seat, but was too wide. I removed the Audi rear headrests and their plastic support inserts from the rear seat frame, shortened the inserts and plastic welded them into the T6 door trims, to act as arm rests.
View attachment 20553

View attachment 20554

The seats are really comfy, with a huge range of adjustment. If I'm doing a lot of steering wheel swivelling in tight spaces my elbow does clonk the door arm rest, but it's easy enough to slide them out and chuck them in the back, but they're super comfy on the cruise! I'll move the passenger seat over half an inch when get time and then fit twin armrests in the centre, but other than that it's been a success. Even managed to sell my original seats for more than the Audi interior!
View attachment 20555

These look fantastic, I will be picking up the same seats early next week to attempt the same!

I do have a few questions about the job though;

What type of and how thick was the metal you used for the mounting plates?

What bolts and fastening did you use to secure the plates and seats?

Did you manage to wire in the airbags?

Was there any implications on the MOT?

Thank you,

Josh

 

[saintclarkey1]

Just noticed Transporter HQ have developed a base VW / Audi Seat Adapter Plates - Non Swivel Base - T5 / T6 Interior Styling - Transporter HQ. Install video. Anyone else scouring eBay now for seats ...... Be interesting to see if they can get them working with swivels