Seat Interchangeability Between Years

[hooligan169]

Greetings All,

I have a 91 BMW 325ix with the standard seats- non-sport. My drivers side is coming apart in both the bottom & back.

I have the opportunity to purchase a complete set of seats from a 1988 BMW 325i. One compatibility chart says they will not be a direct replacement.

Can anyone clarify that they either will not fit or will fit with minor changes?

If this does not work out, I’m thinking of standard seats from an E36. Does anyone have experience with this swap?

As a side note, I will probably try the install myself and if I can’t complete have a local repair shop finish.

Thanks.

[ELVA164]

Are both of the cars either 2-door or 4-door? It doesn't matter for the front, but the rear seat bottoms are slightly different. I'm not sure about the iX in particular, but I swapped a complete interior from a '91 325i into my '87 325i without any issues at all.

[matthugie]

And if it's a 325i vert the rear seat won't work either. Fronts should be fine regardless.

[audiquattrot]

they will fit on the iX.

[agent]

The only difference I'm aware of between the 2-door and 4-door seats is the rear lower bench. On 4-doors it's rounded on the front corners, on 2-doors it's more squared off. With the exception of 'verts as Matt mentioned, it's all interchangeable.

[audiquattrot]

the only thing you might need to adjust slightly is the 'handle' on the drivers side seat rail adjustment might hit the floor. You can easily bend it out of the way so it doesn't interfere with the floor. The rear sedan seats should fit fine too, just slight difference like mentioned above.