Rear Bench Seat

[tourangang]

Hi All, this is my first post, so hopefully its not too much of a stupid question.

Im trying to persuide my Wife to swap her Vauxhall Meriva for a A2, I think ive cracked it, but the one thing thats outstanding is the A2's 4 seats,

Most of the A2's i have looked at only have 2 rear seats. It was an option i think. Is it possible to swap the rear seats for a bench seat if i were to source one?

or should i change the missus!!!

Thanks for your help

John

[spike]

Hi tourangang, welcome to the A2oc.
The bench seat was an option as you thought. I'm not aware of any Club members doing the conversion but it should be possible. A2's in breakers yards are quite rare so sourcing second hand A2 parts is difficult. You should first check the Dealer price of the seat, centre headrest and belt as the cost may put you off. Much better to buy a car with the seat already fitted
Keep the wife - good ones are even harder to come by than A2's with bench seats

Cheers Spike

[ULP]

This wouldn't be technically feasible if the two types of seat arrangement have different locating points, specifically I am thinking of the 'hinges' at the front of the base. I'm guessing (without checking) the bench seat has two and the seperate bases have two each.

However, I think the more realistic problem may be in the vehicle registration and insurance - this is a bit of a grey area as a car with only four seats (which will be on the V5) is not technically legally allowed to carry five people. I am sure there are ways around this though as I know commercial vehicles used to be bought and converted to avoid tax. This might also be confused slightly because earlier cars with bench seats had the cheese-wire lap belt fitted where as later cars (like mine) had a 3-pointer.

Like Spike suggests, search out a car with the bench seat - they aren't everywhere but you will find them and don't be afraid to speak to your local Audi dealer and ask them to keep their eyes open.

Good luck and if you need any help just shout ;)

[ecoangel]

Does she really need 5 seats?

How often?

Does she realsize the benefot of the hidden boot floor and deep rear footwells and removable rear seats?

I've carried a Zanussi washing machine in my 1.2 TDI A2 wityh no difficulty!

A German car magazine found they could fit more beer crates in an A2 that the same year VW Golf 5 seater.

I bought the A2 over a Seat Ibiza 130 TDI / Audi A3 because the boot was bigger! Able to carry my 2x12 Valve amp and heavy duty trolly and still have room for 4 adults.

[Ricardo]

Funnily enough I have a 4 seater and looked at a friends new 5 seater only this afternoon. The front of the rear bench hinges in 2 places where the pair of rear seats hinge in 4. Also the handle to lift the base of the rear bench is in the centre of the car. For the 2 rear seats there is a handle in the centre of each seat.

The question is wether the floor has all the same anchor points.

What colour is your interior? my friend MAY be interested in swapping his rear bench for a pair of rear seats - his interior is light grey material I believe (1.4 TDi Sport) and he lives in Sheffield.

[shezlee]

When we were looking to buy our A2 we found the colour (Grey), engine (TDI), trim (SE) and then found out it had the optional bench seat; which we did not want; you see we needed the split folding option the single seats give you....

I asked just this question can thay be changed and after about an hour the dealer got back to me with this answer "NO but I have found you another A2"

Thing is, they have different mounting/locking points for the seats (Isn't the third seatbelt connected to the seat and not the car?) and they are not fitted; the holes are there but the inserts are not and the dealership could not fit them - some special tool!

Good luck in what you choose to do.

[GrayB]

Does she really need 5 seats?

How often?

Does she realsize the benefot of the hidden boot floor and deep rear footwells and removable rear seats?


The bench seat model still has the hidden boot floor (on SE models anyway), deep rear footwells and removable rear seat....

[A2Look]

Funnily enough I have a 4 seater and looked at a friends new 5 seater only this afternoon. The front of the rear bench hinges in 2 places where the pair of rear seats hinge in 4. Also the handle to lift the base of the rear bench is in the centre of the car. For the 2 rear seats there is a handle in the centre of each seat.

The question is wether the floor has all the same anchor points.

What colour is your interior? my friend MAY be interested in swapping his rear bench for a pair of rear seats - his interior is light grey material I believe (1.4 TDi Sport) and he lives in Sheffield.

Another Sheffielder with an A2. get him as a member on here :)