Rear seat configuration
11-03-2014, 06:06 AM
#11
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It's not bad - I ordered it sight unseen in February. Performance & gas millage came in under my expectations. The car isn't bad - by far the best CUV out there. I didn't really need a CUV though and I really don't like the feeling of driving so high off the ground. It's also a little slow (might not be much slower than the A7 but it feels slower - probably because of the smoothness of the engine and turbo vs. supercharger). The handling is amazing, the seats are great, and pedal tip-in is also phenomenal. Considering the high demand for them, I can sell mine close to MSRP - which is the only reason I'm considering the switch.
11-05-2014, 11:09 PM
#12
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Hello all...this is my first post to the site although I have been looking through for a couple of months now.
I took delivery on a new 2015 S7 Phantom black with Black Optics and Diamond stitched grey interior on Thurs of last week. Like many with kids I struggled with the backseat issue. My wife convinced me to pull trigger anyway and I figured I could make something work if we all (5) had to drive together. It's a long story for another day as to how I got to the S7 from a 2013 S6 but suffice to say it may be of great benefit to many what I have discovered through my complicated Audi experience.
Looks like the S6 rear seat (bottom), with the 3 seat option is an exact fit for The S7's. I have a great dealer who assisted with the swap ...took about 10minutes....literally. They allowed me to take my seat from the 13 S6 and the 3rd seatbelt receiver. They would have allowed me to swap the seat backs too with the shoulder strap but it would have caused a code in the donor car. I figure at the least I could rig another lap belt until I find a S6 seat back to buy and use. BTW...cannot tell difference other than my bench has 3 seatbelt receivers and my seat-backs have only two belts...other than that everything matches up perfectly. I have to mention that if the seat-backs are swapped too the S7 will not have any sensors or ability to tension the 3rd seatbelt. Also the S7s seats are countoured slightly differently but don't Impact a 3rd passenger in rear.
Sorry I don't have pics right now, I am out of town but will take some and post when I return next week.
Really don't know why they don't offer the 3 seat option in the S7....clearly ll the components are there for use. In fact I would have paid extra for the option. Many thanks to my dealer and service manager for going out of their way to satisfy me...experiment and be reasonable.
Hope this helps someone...only struggle will be finding a salvage S6 to take donor parts from.
I took delivery on a new 2015 S7 Phantom black with Black Optics and Diamond stitched grey interior on Thurs of last week. Like many with kids I struggled with the backseat issue. My wife convinced me to pull trigger anyway and I figured I could make something work if we all (5) had to drive together. It's a long story for another day as to how I got to the S7 from a 2013 S6 but suffice to say it may be of great benefit to many what I have discovered through my complicated Audi experience.
Looks like the S6 rear seat (bottom), with the 3 seat option is an exact fit for The S7's. I have a great dealer who assisted with the swap ...took about 10minutes....literally. They allowed me to take my seat from the 13 S6 and the 3rd seatbelt receiver. They would have allowed me to swap the seat backs too with the shoulder strap but it would have caused a code in the donor car. I figure at the least I could rig another lap belt until I find a S6 seat back to buy and use. BTW...cannot tell difference other than my bench has 3 seatbelt receivers and my seat-backs have only two belts...other than that everything matches up perfectly. I have to mention that if the seat-backs are swapped too the S7 will not have any sensors or ability to tension the 3rd seatbelt. Also the S7s seats are countoured slightly differently but don't Impact a 3rd passenger in rear.
Sorry I don't have pics right now, I am out of town but will take some and post when I return next week.
Really don't know why they don't offer the 3 seat option in the S7....clearly ll the components are there for use. In fact I would have paid extra for the option. Many thanks to my dealer and service manager for going out of their way to satisfy me...experiment and be reasonable.
Hope this helps someone...only struggle will be finding a salvage S6 to take donor parts from.
I think you will need to find a replacement A6/S6/A7 seat back (the larger of the 1/3 : 2/3 folding rear seat backs), together with center belt and head restraint, to get an arrangement that functions like the factory three across seat, with a real shoulder strap and head restraint. I agree Audi makes it strangely difficult to get three-across rear seating in the S7. As I stated above in an earlier post, I paid thousands of dollars to replace the two across seat in my S7, which was especially annoying since it was a no-cost option when the A7 first came out in 2011 or 2012.
11-06-2014, 12:43 PM
#13
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It's interesting you got your dealer to help in replacing your rear seat. My dealer would not touch a similar S7 seat replacement I undertook, although they sold me the A7 parts I needed to do the job elsewhere. By the way, what is the dealer going to do with an S6 with three rear shoulder seat belts and three head restraints, but only two rear seats? The new owner will be scratching his/her head trying to figure that one out.
I think you will need to find a replacement A6/S6/A7 seat back (the larger of the 1/3 : 2/3 folding rear seat backs), together with center belt and head restraint, to get an arrangement that functions like the factory three across seat, with a real shoulder strap and head restraint. I agree Audi makes it strangely difficult to get three-across rear seating in the S7. As I stated above in an earlier post, I paid thousands of dollars to replace the two across seat in my S7, which was especially annoying since it was a no-cost option when the A7 first came out in 2011 or 2012.
I think you will need to find a replacement A6/S6/A7 seat back (the larger of the 1/3 : 2/3 folding rear seat backs), together with center belt and head restraint, to get an arrangement that functions like the factory three across seat, with a real shoulder strap and head restraint. I agree Audi makes it strangely difficult to get three-across rear seating in the S7. As I stated above in an earlier post, I paid thousands of dollars to replace the two across seat in my S7, which was especially annoying since it was a no-cost option when the A7 first came out in 2011 or 2012.
Sorry that you had to go through what you did. Truth be told your post was part of the reason I pushed, and asked, and pushed, and asked....Thanks! We will see how much luck I have in finding a donor S6 seatback but in the meantime I have a something in a pinch if I had to haul all three kids as a last resort.
05-14-2015, 07:46 PM
#14
AudiWorld Member
Hello all...this is my first post to the site although I have been looking through for a couple of months now.
I took delivery on a new 2015 S7 Phantom black with Black Optics and Diamond stitched grey interior on Thurs of last week. Like many with kids I struggled with the backseat issue. My wife convinced me to pull trigger anyway and I figured I could make something work if we all (5) had to drive together. It's a long story for another day as to how I got to the S7 from a 2013 S6 but suffice to say it may be of great benefit to many what I have discovered through my complicated Audi experience.
Looks like the S6 rear seat (bottom), with the 3 seat option is an exact fit for The S7's. I have a great dealer who assisted with the swap ...took about 10minutes....literally. They allowed me to take my seat from the 13 S6 and the 3rd seatbelt receiver. They would have allowed me to swap the seat backs too with the shoulder strap but it would have caused a code in the donor car. I figure at the least I could rig another lap belt until I find a S6 seat back to buy and use. BTW...cannot tell difference other than my bench has 3 seatbelt receivers and my seat-backs have only two belts...other than that everything matches up perfectly. I have to mention that if the seat-backs are swapped too the S7 will not have any sensors or ability to tension the 3rd seatbelt. Also the S7s seats are countoured slightly differently but don't Impact a 3rd passenger in rear.
Sorry I don't have pics right now, I am out of town but will take some and post when I return next week.
Really don't know why they don't offer the 3 seat option in the S7....clearly ll the components are there for use. In fact I would have paid extra for the option. Many thanks to my dealer and service manager for going out of their way to satisfy me...experiment and be reasonable.
Hope this helps someone...only struggle will be finding a salvage S6 to take donor parts from.
I took delivery on a new 2015 S7 Phantom black with Black Optics and Diamond stitched grey interior on Thurs of last week. Like many with kids I struggled with the backseat issue. My wife convinced me to pull trigger anyway and I figured I could make something work if we all (5) had to drive together. It's a long story for another day as to how I got to the S7 from a 2013 S6 but suffice to say it may be of great benefit to many what I have discovered through my complicated Audi experience.
Looks like the S6 rear seat (bottom), with the 3 seat option is an exact fit for The S7's. I have a great dealer who assisted with the swap ...took about 10minutes....literally. They allowed me to take my seat from the 13 S6 and the 3rd seatbelt receiver. They would have allowed me to swap the seat backs too with the shoulder strap but it would have caused a code in the donor car. I figure at the least I could rig another lap belt until I find a S6 seat back to buy and use. BTW...cannot tell difference other than my bench has 3 seatbelt receivers and my seat-backs have only two belts...other than that everything matches up perfectly. I have to mention that if the seat-backs are swapped too the S7 will not have any sensors or ability to tension the 3rd seatbelt. Also the S7s seats are countoured slightly differently but don't Impact a 3rd passenger in rear.
Sorry I don't have pics right now, I am out of town but will take some and post when I return next week.
Really don't know why they don't offer the 3 seat option in the S7....clearly ll the components are there for use. In fact I would have paid extra for the option. Many thanks to my dealer and service manager for going out of their way to satisfy me...experiment and be reasonable.
Hope this helps someone...only struggle will be finding a salvage S6 to take donor parts from.
05-18-2015, 05:26 AM
#15
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05-18-2015, 08:59 AM
#16
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Great! I was wondering how you're planning on adding the third seat belt? Also even though you got the seat bottoms from your own S6 Im curious as to how much they would charge to buy one.
05-19-2015, 07:50 AM
#17
AudiWorld Super User
FWIW if I was going to change the rear seat, I would look for parts on eBay. Not many people are looking for rear seat parts so they should be selling at a much lower price. Find someone parting out a A7 and ask.
05-22-2015, 06:10 PM
#18
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If you want to complete the job with a proper center shoulder & lap belt, in addition to the center belt assembly, you're going to need a new seat back which has the fittings to hold the shoulder strap and roll it up into when not in use. If you go this far, you might as well get the center head restraint, which clips into the new seat back. I did this when I got my 2014 S7 last year and posted the part numbers in an earlier post on this thread. I suppose you can just get by with an old fashioned lap belt and no shoulder belt, but it seems the belt will just flog around in the back if not in use. I agree buying the parts on eBay is a good idea if you can find them. I was able to get a deal on my parts from the dealer since I was buying a new car and I could bargain, but as a walk-in, the new Audi parts prices are steep, even for trim items like these.
05-26-2015, 05:57 AM
#19
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I was planning on finding a set from an S6 and swapping out...the middle belt would be basic function and not connected to car systems. The other option was to have lap belt only for middle seat of course this is not something I would utilize regularly it really is for the times I am stuck and need to fit three across the back. I can tell you (although many I am sure will have comments about safety) that I have had three in back and just criss-crossed the two outside belts over the center seat occupant..this worked for a quick trip for ice cream but not a real solution as well.
