5th seat in a Rio?

Those of you who made it along to Goodwood in Feb will have noticed the Kombi convoy being stalked by a sharp looking white Beetle. This is Tallulah's cousin and she came along as we needed an extra seat due to having two extra children with us on the day.

Generally speaking, we don't need much of an excuse to take the bug out in addition to Tallulah, but needing an extra seat might not be a one-off. So it got me thinking about how I could add an extra seat in the back of T without going to the effort of installing (and storing when not in use) and extra bench seat.

There must be another solution, ideally a temporary one, to add a single seat the back along with a seat belt? Or to convert the buddy seat into something more 'legal' for the purpose.

Any ideas?

@ianvwk, @jj123vw I would appreciate your input too if possible.

Should have used the search box first:

Extra seat

Still, any other suggestions?

We have discussed similar! We do have the extra bench seat but have never used it. However, one extra seat would be useful especially with a 3 point seatbelt. I find the restriction of not being able to open the fridge a pain with the bench seat. It would be OK if used as a 'day bus' style but not for camping

Keep us updated on any other options you come across!

Hi Talulah,

The only safe and legal way i can think to turn a rio into a 5 seater without a removable middle bench seat is a front bench seat like the one in our demo van..

Not ideal as you loose the walk through and have to get upholstered but a safe and secure solution!

Thanks Ian, I'd forgotten about the front bench seats. They used to be really hard to source, is that still the case?

Ideally I'm after a 'fit it when I need it' solution but it's worth comparing all options including this one.

Could you provide a guestimate for supply and fitting one of these?

There's also the big front flip seat I saw in one of your posts a while ago, I seem to remember they were a bit pricey, but a guestimate to supply and fit one of those would be useful too.

Hi,

As a special one time deal i could offer you a replacement double seat, with the frame work etc to make your camper a 3 seater in the front for only.....

.....


..

£200 supplied and fitted!

I can only offer this to 2 customers on the basis that we get to keep your old single seat and the frame work from under it.

The new double bench seat is fixed using VW factory fitted bolts and mounting plates.

It will take us an hour to change and you will of course need to get it upholstered to match ..

I will post some more images later on tonight..

Would be the same as the below images..

I'm guessing this is a rh seat that can't be fitted on the lhs? So in our case it would replace the drivers seat.

Ah yes...!

This is a very good point!

I will have to check to make sure they fit tomorrow..!

I will update then..

Matt and the Danbury service team can do the same deal . We can fit to lhd or rhd and in both instances the drivers seat is a single seat and the passenger seat will be the double

Yep please we want a set for yoshi

Please message me best contact details for anyone wanting one and I'll arrange for it to be booked in . Thank you

Hi,

Had a look at this, we will be able to offer this Free of Charge to LHD Campers only.

Please contact Danbury if you wish to have this on your Right Hand Drive Brazilian..

Many Thanks

Ian

Brazilian Kampers Ltd / www.braziliankampers.co.uk

Thanks for clarifying Ian.

dazdub wrote:

Yep please we want a set for yoshi

Extra space for the little dude!

Tallulah wrote:

dazdub wrote:

Yep please we want a set for yoshi

Extra space for the little dude!

yep

The only other option is the following:

https://brazilianvwbay.forumotion.com/t4401-fixed-buddy-seat

Matt and the Danbury service team also offer the cab flip front bench seat ( holds three people ) should anyone be interested .... Just pm me . We offer both options on left or right hand drive Thank you

I recalled this from a year ago, but the link to vw evolution seems to fail, I don't know whether they have gone out of business, which is a shame as they were only just down the road from me in Westbury.


https://brazilianvwbay.forumotion.com/t4546-front-flip-bench-seat?highlight=front+seat


However, looking round the web, it looks like the mechanism wouldn't be too difficult to copy, there is a cracking one on TheSamba.com forum someone has built, where the back also acts as an additional table.

Just a thought if anyone fancies a bit of metalwork

I am in Salisbury tomorrow so I will go see if I can find them anyone have idea if price