Interior

Dashboard

The dashboard in a S3 205 GTI is identical to the dashboard in a 205 Si, apart from the cluster. Just swap clusters. They're easy to swap. Same connectors.¹

205 Seats

Factory seats

205 Si seats are better than 205 GTi ones. ² They look great and feel much better to sit on.³

You can swap around the seat base between passenger and driver seats. They are a direct fit and will give you a "new" seat base for the driver. You do need to take it off the frame though.⁴

Alternatives - other Peugeots

Peugeot 405 seats are no good; they are designed to be bolted to a slanting floor. They will be too flat in a 205, the front of the seat will be too low. ² Peugeot 405 Mi16 seats may work, but to fit them it is necessary to remove the door pockets (as the seats are wide) and with that you lose the window button holder. Mi16 seats don't flip forward so a car with them fitted must be registered as a 2 seater.⁵

Peugeot 306 seats will fit; they are narrow enough so you can keep the door pockets, but are very heavy. ⁵

Peugeot 206 seats are not a good fit.⁶ They are HUGE and only just fit in a 306, also weigh a ton.⁷

Alternatives - Porsche Seats

Porsche 911 (996; also Boxster 986) seats are similar proportions to the 205 seats (actually 1cm thinner) and don't have massive bolsters, wings or harness holes like a lot of the modern hot hatch seats. Just simple black leather sports seats - which still provide fantastic cornering support. The seats are fully electric, with motors for everything. If the motors for height and forward / rear adjustment are removed, the seats are the same weight as 205 seats with the rickety tilt mechanism attached. Brackets can be fabricated to connect to the factory Peugeot rails to Porsche seats - this makes the installation easily reversible, if it is decided to go back to standard seats. ⁸

Alternatives - mid-80s Daihatsu turbo

Recaros from a mid 80s turbo Daihatsu are a perfect fit, very comfortable and good forward tilt.⁹