I stopped by here: http://www.g-werke.com and sampled the seats they have in the showroom - there's no substitute for getting to sit in them! My trip there resulted in me deciding against the Pole Position (which was the top contender at that point) and the Profi XL (which I hear is too wide for the car anyway). The Pole Position is a nice seat and the width of the lower part of Pole Position was OK despite me being a big guy, but my shoulders sit well above the shoulder bolsters and coupled with my shoulder width being what it is, my upper back was pushed forward off the seat...no good.

Also, keep in mind that seats like the Pole Position are not DOT approved and they lack any padding in the headrest as they are intended to be used with a helmet. Then there is the seat belt routing which looks worrisome with the stock belts. You can use a harness, but only if your are the right height (the harness pass throughs are well below me shoulders).

I'd advise anyone to give a thought to how these last two points may impact your driving safety if you do not use them with a harness and helmet and have an accident. I wanted more head and legroom (wheel-leg clearance in particular) and I'm still on the hunt for something that will do that without any safety/fitment compromises.

 

This is a good point and I can say that I experienced this first hand when a mercedes slammed into the back of my car on 101 freeway. Anyone have any input about how this affects insurance payouts for non fault injury settlements? In my situation, the adjuster didn't mention anything about my seat when I filed my personal injury claim, and that process went smoothly. Injuries were not from head hitting the seat but more from the typical whiplash effect.

 

Almost all Recaro Pole Positions sold in the US are the FIA certified versions, hence the smaller/lower seat belt holes and thin padding in the headrest.
Then there's the Pole Position ABE (sold elsewhere in the world) that are TUV certified for road use. The seat belt holes are larger and lower to use with oem seat belt receptacles. The padding in the headrest is also a lot thicker. Best bet is to import these since Recaro is ultra stingy on selling to out of market distributors/dealers. Not sure if TUV translates over to US DOT though.

Terry from Griffin Motorwerke is probably the most well versed in Recaros on the West Coast since he is one of their biggest distributors. Great place to test fit and learn about Recaros. Just be prepared for any hilariously unintentional racist comments from Terry.