Since July 2003 (it's September 2003 as of this writing) I have owned the Recaro SRDs, Sparco Torinos, and currently have the Bride Brix in my car. Here's my humble opinion. Sparco Torino Positives - Very underated. Comfy, sporty, price is reasonable in comparison to the other two. Many colors available. Negatives - Brackets have been discontinued from Sparco even though they'll tell you they are on backorder. I guess they are not lying, they are on permanent backorder. Brackets are available from 3rd parties though. Neutral - Ride height is about the same as stock, maybe slightly lower ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Recaro SRD Pos - JDM, well known, very comfy and sporty. Neg - Seats have been discontinued. Black or Red when you do find them. Seats seemed really big to me...it would hit the sunvisor when i pushed the seat back forward. (Could be because my seat is closer to the wheel due to the 10" inverted subs back there). I didn't like the Wedge brackets for the seats as they were big and rather cumbersome. I also had a bad transaction with those, so I may be a little biased against them. Neutral - Ride height seemed higher than the Sparcos, but it could all be in my head. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bride Brix (pronounced "Brid" in the motherland) Pos - They are Brides! Hella JDM. Name recognition for us "brand whores". Expensive, so not everyone will copy you (except in Ballah-fornia where everyone has bank). Definitely sit the lowest, and they hold you in place well. The Bride bracket has a mount for your seatbelt receptacle like stock seats...pretty cool. The side bolsters on the Brix are high, and the seat is snug around your shoulders. The nickname "Holding Monster" is definitely appropriate. Neg - Expensive. They DO NOT use the Sparco brackets like the Bride rep said. It looks very close to it, but you'd need additional pieces to make them work. The seats are made for short, small Japanese people. I'm 6'0, 155 lbs, 29 inch waist, so I'm not a big guy. I thought I was going to die on a road trip to Orlando the first weekend I rode in them. The seats are too snug on my hips and began to hurt after a while. They are alot more comfortable when my knees are not elevated, but there is no way around that for me in my car. I had one of the seats out of the car at the show and sat in it for a while and it wasn't nearly as bad as they are in the car. I'm told I can bend the bolsters out to help this problem which I will definitely do. I definitely recommend finding a pair you can sit in, although, you really need to sit in them for a while to see if they will be uncomfortable. I sat in them at a show and they felt great for that short duration. I do think this is resolvable though. Summary - It's your money, so you have to live with whichever choice you make. If I'm able to fix the Brides, then it is easily the first choice for me now that I've already dropped the coin for them. I think I have the only pair in Atlanta too. The Recaro and Sparco are a much better value. My 2nd choice would go to the Sparco with Recaro not far behind. The color choices and options sway in favor of Sparcos for me. If I had it all to do over, I'd probably go with the Sparcos. |