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Home > My Defender > Exmoor Trim E-Sport Seats

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simoco Member Since: 08 Sep 2015 Location: Hampshire Posts: 4

Exmoor Trim E-Sport Seats I have read quite a lot with regard to Exmoor Trims new E-Sport seats, but not from anyone who has actually purchased and fitted them, so I thought I would just give my personal take on purchasing and installing a set. First a little bit of background so you can hopefully understand my reasoning that led to the purchase of these seats, my apologises if it an overly long ramble. It’s been a couple of years since I last posted, long enough ago that my logon had been removed as unused. I stopped visiting the site after I had to sell my 110 TDCi as we could not justify the cost of an automatic gearbox conversion. I am disabled with a spinal cord injury and because of this I have no feeling in my left leg at all and limited use of it, so I drive an automatic. I have to walk with 2 sticks or use my wheelchair. A year ago I was lucky enough to come across a low mileage 90 TD5 XS for sale that had already had a good automatic conversion, so back to Defender ownership. Everything was great with the 90, except for the seats. I have had 7 major surgeries on my spine, the last a mass fusion with metal support, which means I have 5 vertebrae fused together with a bone graft and metal rods. The existing 90 seats (half leather and black rack) gave no support whatsoever and after any long drive I could not walk at all so would be forced to use my wheelchair. So I started researching replacement seats. I wanted some that firstly gave me the support I needed, and looked right in the Defender. My first choice was the Recaro’s as fitted in the SVX. They gave the support and looked right, but the cost was just too much and I could not justify it, and my wife was very clear that a divorce might be on the cards if I bought them, so the search continued. I have a friend who installed a pair of Corbeau Sportline RRS seats and he let me borrow his defender for a weekend so I could ge a good idea of whether or not they would be suitable for me. And they were, they ticked the right boxes with regards comfort and price, the only problem was I didn’t like the all black leather. A couple of days later I saw an advert in LRO showing Exmoor Trims new E-Sport seats. An email later confirmed that they would be doing a version in the XS trim of heated half leather and black rack, the cost was ok and to make things better they would take my existing seats taking the cost below £1000. So the deal was done and the order placed. Now to wait 5 weeks. When I placed the order, it was arranged that I would visit them at their factory in Williton, remove my existing seats and install the E-Sports seat in their car park. So my wife decided that we might as well make a weekend of it and spend a few day in Exmoor. We drove down on the Thursday and on Friday I drove over to Williton. As it was raining I only installed the drivers seat, putting the passengers one in the back to install later back where we were staying once the rain had died off. The drive back was a revelation, the seat was everything I wanted and I was really chuffed. All great so far. Later in the afternoon I fitted the passengers seat. It didn’t fit! The far side was jammed up hard against the bodywork by the upper seat belt mount. Okay so I fitted it incorrectly, so out it came again, checked all the mountings and fixings, fitted it again and it still jammed up against the bodywork. Ii then noticed from stand looking forward into the Landy from the back door that there was a significant lean of the seat back to the left hand side and there was a gap between the seat base and the seat back on the right hand side. It was now 17:00 on the Friday and I could not get hold of anyone at Exmoor Trim. I left voice messages on every number I could find for them and sent numerous emails, to say I was not happy would be an understatement. I spent the Saturday and Sunday really unhappy, thinking I should just give the seats back and re fit my old ones. Anyhow, Monday comes round and at 09:00 I was back at Exmoor Trim, they had received all my voice mails and emails and were ready for me. Within minuets the passengers seat was out, I nice lady came out and offered coffee. 30 minuets later the seat was back having been adjusted internally and reinstalled. The boss came out and apologised. All in all they couldn’t have done more to get it sorted. In less than an hour it was all sorted. For the next couple of weeks I still had the feeling that I had made the wrong decision and should have my old seats back and looked elsewhere for replacement seats, but after a month of living with the seats I am now convinced I made the right decision, for me the seats are incredibly comfortable, and after long drives I have no discomfort at all. They bases are ‘very’ hard which I love, but others may find them too hard. The seats are installed on riser mounts that allow for the seats to be mounted at 3 different distances back. The mounts not only raise the seat level but move the seat further to the centre of the vehicle meaning that you now sit slightly off centre from the steering wheel. The first drive like this feels a bit weird, but after a month I no longer notice it at all. (Without these off centred mounts, I don’t think that it would be possible to install the seats). I have read that people have had issues with regard the quality of the material and fit, but I am quite happy with mine I think the way the leather and black rack have been executed is really good and in my personal opinion work in the Landy well. Another comment I have rear is about the raised edges on the seat base. Due to my disability, I have to use the factory fit XS side steps to get in, and by doing this I enter the Land above the raised sides and drop into the seat so they are no issue for me. If you have no side steps, or have a raised suspension, I could see that they could be an issue, low base sides would most probably have been a better design, but again, for my purposes they work well keeping my left leg in position. I would like to point out that these are my own personal opinions and relate to how the seats work for me. I have no relationship with Exmoor Trim whatsoever (except that of being a customer). Below is picture so that you can see and judge for yourself. Click image to enlarge

12th Sep 2015 12:30am

ericvv Member Since: 02 Jun 2011 Location: Near the Jet d'Eau Posts: 5816

Happy it works. They surely look like having hard base and firm (i.e. good) back support. Can imagine that once you are in the seat, the experience probably is not so much different from sitting in my Recaros. The main difference I see in your picture is that the side supports on both seat base and back rest are definitely more pronounced that those of the SVX Recaros. Enjoy. Eric You never actually own a Defender. You merely look after it for the next generation. http://youtu.be/yVRlSsJwD0o https://youtu.be/vmPr3oTHndg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GtzTT9Pdl0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABqKPz28e6A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLZ49Jce_n0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvAsz_ilQYU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8tMHiX9lSw https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dxwjPuHIV7I https://vimeo.com/201482507 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSixqL0iyHw

12th Sep 2015 12:46am

camelman Member Since: 27 Feb 2013 Location: Peak District Posts: 3355

Hi Simoco, sounds like they sorted your issue out pretty quickly when you turned back up at their door. I'm assuming if you'd received these mail order they would have had to be couriered back to them? I had a set on order but eventually had to cancel them as they kept pushing the delivery date back and back, apparently due to a problem with 'materials and the seat foam'. It sounds like your issue was with the actual seat frame? It's a pity as the seats look really good in their bumph but I think I'll wait until a few more if their problems have been ironed out.

13th Sep 2015 10:40pm

Pickles Member Since: 26 May 2013 Location: Melbourne Posts: 3772	Simoco, 3/4 of the way through your post you say that you thought you may have made the wrong decision, & would revert to your old seats,...why did you say that? They do look good, Pickles.
13th Sep 2015 10:55pm

YOLO110 Member Since: 14 Feb 2015 Location: Perth Oz and Stansted UK Posts: 1640	Look great! A useful write-up, thanks. I agree with a post on a different thread that the standard seats are way too short in the seat base, these look to have that well and truly sorted! They also look like they are based upon the Corbeau seat... are they? YOLO... You Only Live Once...
13th Sep 2015 11:12pm

Barney12 Member Since: 09 Jun 2015 Location: South West Posts: 744	They are a Corbeau 'design' but a previous thread suggested that (having looked at the tilt mechanism/leaver) that they were not genuine. That would seem a reasonable assumption especially when you consider the price point. Have to say though they look good in the picture!
14th Sep 2015 8:11am

Clemmo Member Since: 03 Aug 2012 Location: Mile Oak Posts: 1215

Quote I got from Exmoor Customer Services with regards to questions I asked "The seats are imported we supply the cut trim to our supplier who sew and trim them for us in the stock trims if they are a bespoke trim (full leather etc.) then they are cut and trimmed here we have blank frames in stock. No they are not a Corbeau The seats have a one year warranty As I have put earlier stock seats are the listed trims in link (XSBR, diamond XS etc.) bespoke (full leather odd fabric choices) would be bespoke made 14-21 days from confirmed order. The other option that makes the seat bespoke is the OEM heater option this again we would make/trim here all that are imported have our heater kit." Clemmo  Make today a little better than yesterday but not so good as tomorrow.... Defender 90 HT............Pangea Green BMW X3 Msport............Carbon Black Mini Electric................Grey. (wow!) MGB Roadster……..........Vermillion 17k miles Honda Benly CD200....Maroon --------McLouis Fusio........7.4m of fun

14th Sep 2015 9:43am

SailingTom Member Since: 19 Nov 2013 Location: ESSEX Posts: 1716	Very nice I take it Exmoor retrim The Defender Bad Boy seats then as look very close
14th Sep 2015 9:50am

need4speed Member Since: 23 Nov 2012 Location: Kilmarnock Posts: 746	I agree. Especially as they have stated they are not based on a genuine corbeau.
14th Sep 2015 10:05am

simoco Member Since: 08 Sep 2015 Location: Hampshire Posts: 4

Pickles wrote: Simoco, 3/4 of the way through your post you say that you thought you may have made the wrong decision, & would revert to your old seats,...why did you say that? They do look good, Pickles. Sorry for the delay in responding. After I had fitted the passengers seat and found the issue with the lean, I was really upset. I had just laid out nearly a £1000 and now had a major issue. I suppose that I had been really looking forward to getting the seats and waited 5/6 weeks from order and after finding the issue with the passengers seat I think the bubble burst and I came down to earth with a bump. I suspect my wife would say that I threw my teddy out of the pram and got it all out of proportion! The fact that it was fairly easy to go back to Exmoor on the Monday morning, and their attitude to getting it all sorted helped, and after having lived with the seats for the past month or so, I am really happy that I did not revert to my old seats. They have had a really major impact on my comfort. I don't care who made them or if they are a copy of some other seat, I am happy. Simoco

20th Sep 2015 2:08am

RRUK Site Supporter Member Since: 31 Mar 2010 Location: Leicestershire Posts: 2021

Great write up, thanks for the info on these elusive seats, as I am looking into them too. I have a question about the seat heaters, as I have standard Puma XS seats with heaters and the original connectors under the seat bases, how do the Exmoor heaters connect? Do they simply plug and play or is there a modification required. Does anyone have experience of connecting Exmoor heaters to Land Rover connectors? 2016 D4 HSE 1998 110 TUM HS FFR Hard Top XD WOLF 1982 Series 3 SWB Petrol

21st Sep 2015 10:07am

Clemmo Member Since: 03 Aug 2012 Location: Mile Oak Posts: 1215

Exmoor Trim told me that "as standard" the seats came with theire own connectors which you would need modify to fit the LR ones...If you order a bespoke seat then they will modify the connectors for you at additional cost. Clemmo  Make today a little better than yesterday but not so good as tomorrow.... Defender 90 HT............Pangea Green BMW X3 Msport............Carbon Black Mini Electric................Grey. (wow!) MGB Roadster……..........Vermillion 17k miles Honda Benly CD200....Maroon --------McLouis Fusio........7.4m of fun

21st Sep 2015 11:01am

RRUK Site Supporter Member Since: 31 Mar 2010 Location: Leicestershire Posts: 2021	Well, I could do that myself, just need 4 x connectors to solder and shrink wrap onto the seat wires. 2016 D4 HSE 1998 110 TUM HS FFR Hard Top XD WOLF 1982 Series 3 SWB Petrol
21st Sep 2015 11:20am

K9F Member Since: 12 Nov 2009 Location: Bournemouth Posts: 9610	Plenty of information regarding wiring up with links to suppliers of what you need here: http://www.defender2.net/forum/topic23580....oseal+seat and http://www.defender2.net/forum/topic32858....eat+heater If you go through life with your head in the sand....all people will see is an ar5e!! Treat every day as if it is your last....one day you will be right!!
21st Sep 2015 11:27am

camelman Member Since: 27 Feb 2013 Location: Peak District Posts: 3355	I think the standard exmoor heated seat kit has a 2 stage heating setting (low or high) as is visible with the twin position switch in their kit. Has anyone tried just swapping the connectors over as I'd be interested too know what level of heat the factory installed single position switch ended up providing.
21st Sep 2015 12:48pm

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