Modifying Seat Height For Taller Drivers

[WobblePizza]

Hello I am new to this forum. I am considering a baja. It has everything I am looking for. However, my head hit the ceiling when I test drove it. I'm having a hard time finding another car that offers the same thing as the baja, so I am willing to consider some kind of seat modification. Have any of you heard of a seat lowering kit or something similar? Maybe a roof bulge removing method (there is a bulge on the left that my head hits).

I'm not really that tall but I like to sit upright. I used to have back problems and taught myself proper posture to combat them. Have a bunny:

[bajaguy]

I know a number of people have done seat swaps with a WRX... I believe the bugeye generation. Not sure if it gains you anything. I've also seen custom seats installed on occasion. The bulge is for the sunroof stuff that sits up there. Without replacing the formed headliner I'm not sure what you would do to make that thinner. And yes, you'll be hard-pressed to find something that offers what the Baja's got.

[WobblePizza]

Thanks bajaguy. Looks like you are right. I talked to another user here through PM who has done some seat swaps in a Baja. He had tried 02 and 03 WRX seats and they both work and have a crank down option to raise and lower the seats. Gives quite a bit of clearance apparently. He said outback seats might work too and should bolt right in because its the same chassis. If anyone else has any more info, I would greatly appreciate it. I'll probably be getting a Baja, just need to wait until the right one comes along.

[wranglah]

Wobblepizza, Im 6'2", and am interested in additional leg room. did that person have any pics or a thread regarding the swap he did with the WRX seats? thanks

[thenewrick]

I'm in the exact same boat. I'm only 6'0 but the seats are way too tall for my liking. They are comfortable to me as well. I was hoping there was a simple solution to get some lower seats. I hope yall continue to post with your results.

[WobblePizza]

The user is Hankish here is our conversation: I cut out some useless parts for brevity. It's a good jumping off point but there is some confusion. He took no pictures of the process.

Hankish wrote:
I had a 2003 WRX drivers seat in my wife's Baja so I could crank the seat up and down. Im 6ft 4, and the wise is 5 ft 3.
It bolted in no problem, it just didn't match too well...
So, I picked up a set of black 2004 WRX front seats. Boy do they sit HIGH! I cannibalized the 02 seat rails so the drivers seat would crank down a little lower than with the 04 rails. Im still working on lowering the pass side, but the wife loves them, and they look much better than the '02's. Any Early model WRX, STI or Forester seats should bolt in. You might look for some heated Forester seats.

Hi Hankish. I saw this post and was hoping you could help clarify some things for me:
1) What year is your wife's baja?
2) You bolted in an 03 WRX seat at first, did you change out the rails? I'm wondering if it's the seat or the rails that sits lower. If I could grab some rails off a WRX I would prefer that to swapping a whole seat. I only need an inch or two of headroom.
3) So then you put 04 WRX seats in and they were too high. Then you put the rails from an 02 WRX in? How was that in comparison to the 03 setup?
If I'm going for as low as possible it sounds like I want 02-03 WRX seats in here, is that right? Not just rails? How much increase of headroom do you think it gave you?

Our car is a 2005 Turbo manual Baja, but as far as the seats mounting they are all the same. The 2003 WRX seats were great. With them cranked all the way down they made a huge difference. I would say 3-4 inches lower and were very comfortable. (I have a 2002 WRX wagon and the seats are still great. The 2002 seats are even better than the 2003's)
I dont remember exactly what i had to do, but I'm pretty sure I had to switch the rails and use the Baja rails on the WRX seats.
You can also use seats from a similar year Subaru Outback. The Baja is biased on the Outback chassis, not the WRX and this should bolt right in. I know many of the Outback seats do have a manual crank to lower them and are pretty low profile and comfortable.
Hope this helps.

Thanks a lot Hank. Sounds like I can make it work then. One way or another. The lowering crank actually would be nice now that I think about it. How do you like the baja by the way? Any complaints?

Its alright. Im 6 ft 4 and its a little small for me. It was better with the 03 WRX seats but they don't match as well as the 05 WRX seats so... Its great for my 5 ft 4 wife. Good luck!

[thenewrick]

It sounds the guy above had some troubles. Still didn't really clear up a whole lot. I wish we had some more info on which model year/model seats bolt right in and lower for sure. Sounds like the 03 WRX worked but didn't match? I'm not sure what matching means, color?

[thesavo]

Is it the butt cushion or the rail assembly that provides the lower/potentially Lower seat? My father is 2 meters tall and hated getting in my Taurus, it's no better in my legacy L His town car has much lower seats. You're practically sitting in the floor pan.

Sent from Tapa talk. Because SEO.

[starr-]

C'mon people... This stuff really isn't hard to find with a simple google search... Why all the confusion? Pretty much all subaru seats from late 90s to mid 00s will bolt in directly. Its newer models and generations where you need to start screwing with swapping seat rails just to get them to bolt in.
Also... 02 and 03 wrx seats are the same just like 04-05 and 06-07. The 02-03 have dark blue inserts so that is why the guy probably said they don't match.
02-03 will probably be your best bet for lowest seat hight. If the color bugs you than find a different seat that you like and swap the foam and fabric over to the 02-03 (drivers) seat frame.