Hundreds Of Products Ready Today. Dispatch/Collection Customer Question: Recaro Sportster CS Seats In A 2007 Aston Martin V8 Vantage?
Customer question, Aston Martin V8 Vantage
Recaro Sportster CS seats into a 2007 V8 Vantage. Cameron read that one out and the pair of us came at it from opposite ends, which is usually how it goes. He wants to know what bolts to what before anybody gets excited. Garreth wants to know whether it is the best two grand you could spend on the car.
You get both answers here. The seats will go in. They go in on parts that were never drawn for each other, and we would sooner tell you that now than halfway through the job.
Your car has form for this, mind. The seats in it are built on Recaro frames, and the factory lightweight option was a Pole Position underneath its Aston trim. That badge has been in this cabin since the car was new.
- Yes, on the Cobra tailored Vantage subframe with Recaro runners mounted on top of it
- The CS is 918mm tall and 539mm at its widest, and Recaro cut it for a 32 to 40in waist
- It is base mount only: seat onto Recaro double locking runners onto a vehicle base, always
- That Cobra base is drilled 405mm wide for reclining seats, the same width Recaro use
- Cobra built it for Cobra seats though, so expect to adapt where the two meet
- The no-adapting answer, and the one we would recommend, is the Cobra Nogaro on the same base
The seat you are asking about
Cameron knows the numbers on this one without looking them up, because he quotes them most weeks. 918mm tall, 517mm across the shoulders, 539mm at its widest down by the base, cushion 483mm deep. One piece shell, integrated headrest, harness slots in the shoulders, about 15kg, and it reclines, which is the whole reason people pick it over a fixed bucket. Recaro cut it for a 32 to 40 inch waist, though on a broad driver it is the shoulders that run out first, not the waist.
You will have read that Recaro went under in 2024. They did. The Proma Group bought them in January 2025, the aftermarket range went back into production, and the Sportster CS is a current seat we order through the official UK channel. So this is not a hunt through old stock, it is a seat you can order today in plain, heated, side airbag or matched pair form.
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From £1,581.30 Incl. VATPayPal CreditKlarna ReadySelect options This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product page
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Will it actually fit the cabin?
Straight answer first: we have never put a Sportster CS in a Gaydon Vantage, and we cannot find anybody who has. Cameron would rather tell you that than guess at you.
What we can lean on is the Porsche crowd. A 997 sets your car the same trap, narrow footwell, wide transmission tunnel, door card close to your elbow, and there are plenty of Sportster CS installs in those to read. Two things bite over there and Cameron would check both on the Aston. The recline knob ends up close enough to a 997 door card to rub, and a Vantage is no more generous through there. And every layer you put under the seat lifts you, which you notice quickly in a seat 918mm tall if you are anywhere near six foot.
The car has something in its favour too. At 539mm across the base the CS is no wider than seats already going into Vantages, and this cabin took Recaro-framed seats from the factory, so the shape is not fighting you.
Before anything leaves us, Cameron wants the width between your transmission tunnel and door trim at cushion height, and to know whether the car has the memory seat package, because the two factory subframes are different and it changes what comes out of the car. The wiring behind the old seat gets talked through on the same call.
The mounting stack, priced layer by layer
Garreth’s line on Recaros is that the seat is the easy part, and on this car he is right.
The CS is base mount only. It does not side mount and it will not sit on another brand’s runners. It goes seat, Recaro double locking runners, then a base bolted to the floor. Recaro never made a Vantage base and neither did Planted, so the base we start from is Cobra’s tailored Vantage subframe.
It works because of one number. Cobra drill that subframe twice: 292mm left to right for their fixed back seats, and 405mm left to right for reclining ones. Recaro’s pattern is 405mm wide as well. Widths agreeing is the awkward half of any adaption and that half is already solved for you. Where the two part company is the fore and aft spacing. So it goes together Cobra base to the floor, Recaro runner on top of the base, seat onto the runner.
Worth knowing what that frame actually is, because it explains the whole page. Cobra build their tailored frames around a particular seat rather than to suit everything, and this one was built around the Nogaro. It is supplied with 405mm sliders to suit the Nogaro side mounts and the seat. That is why the wide pattern is there, and it is why the Recaro route below works at all: you are borrowing a width that was put there for a different seat.
The whole job in four layers, all of them parts you can order. The amber layer is the one to talk to us about: a Cobra base under a Recaro seat is a pairing that works on the numbers, not one the maker ever drew.
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The route with no adapting in it
Before you commit, price the other way round, because it is the same Cobra base doing the job it was actually drawn for.
That 405mm pattern is there for the Cobra Nogaro, and the frame comes with 405mm sliders to suit it. Put the Nogaro side mounts on top and the three parts are a designed set: nothing adapted, nothing modified, every hole where the maker put it. Cobra developed the Nogaro with this car in mind, and Vantage owners who have fitted them are blunt about it on the forums, it is the one that looks like it came with the car. All you add on top of the subframe is the Nogaro steel side mounts, because the sliding runner already came with the frame. Cobra include the runner with their frames where Sparco and Planted charge for it separately, so there is no sliding kit to buy on this one.
Garreth does the maths out loud whether you ask him to or not: seat, subframe and side mounts is £1,141.99. The Sportster CS is more than that on its own, before a single bracket exists. The CS still wins on living with it, because it reclines and the Nogaro does not, and if the Recaro badge is the point then none of this shifts you. But if what you want is a supportive seat that bolts into a Vantage with nothing adapted, that is the one we would put you in.
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Common questions on this swap
Is the Sportster CS still in production after Recaro's insolvency?
Yes. Proma Group took Recaro on in January 2025, the aftermarket range came back into production and the CS is a current seat. We order it through the official UK channel, so we can give you a real lead time instead of a rumour off a forum.
Will the Sportster CS fit me?
Recaro cut it for a 32 to 40 inch waist, but the shoulders run out before the waist does on most big lads. If that sounds like you, sit in one before any money moves. Bring the car and we will do both jobs in the one visit.
Do I lose the electric adjustment?
Yes. Your factory seat is powered, the CS sits on manual runners, so you slide it by hand and set the backrest by hand. Heating survives if you order the heated CS.
What does the whole Sportster CS job cost?
Three parts. The seat from £1,581.30, the Cobra Vantage subframe from £274.99, and genuine Recaro double locking runners at £365.40, which covers both seats. Call it £2,040 for the driver’s side with the passenger runner already paid for. What is not in that number is the adapting between the Cobra base and the Recaro runner, so ring us before you order.
Was the Cobra subframe designed for a Recaro seat?
No, and we are not going to pretend it was. Cobra made it for Cobra seats. It happens to be drilled 405mm wide for reclining ones, which is the width Recaro use, so it is a sound base to work from. That is exactly why we would put the Recaro runner on top of it instead of trying to bolt the seat straight down.
Is there a cheaper way to get a supportive seat into a Vantage?
Yes: the Cobra Nogaro was developed around this exact car. Seat, tailored Vantage subframe and Nogaro side mounts come to £1,141.99 all in, off the shelf. The sliding runner is already in the frame price, because Cobra include it and most makers do not.
What will Cameron ask when I ring?
Four things. The width between your transmission tunnel and door trim at cushion height, whether the car has the memory seat package, your height and waist, and a couple of photographs of the seat area. That is enough to spec the base and quote the job properly.
Where this goes next
Ring 0115 9893488 and ask for Cameron. He will take the measurements, we will price the Cobra base and the adapting on top of it properly, and if the sums push you at the Nogaro instead you will hear it from us before you have paid, not after. Better still, bring the car over. An hour with a tape and both seats in front of you beats a fortnight of forum threads, and we have spent that hour on stranger cars than an Aston.