I am genuinely freaked out by people who are totally fine with buying a car online – sight unseen, no test drive – and just having it show up. You don’t want to at least sit in an example first? I don’t know about you, but when I sit in a new or unfamiliar car, I can instantly identify ergonomic hitches that are going to annoy me to varying degrees, or may even be deal-breakers for considering the car.
Chief amongst the deal-breakers is seat comfort, of course, or lack thereof. I doubt any manufacturer is shipping cars with objectively uncomfortable seats, but not all backsides are the same, and some seats just feel off depending on one’s unique butt curvature, density, and durometer (not to mention shoulder width, torso length, etc.). I for one cannot abide an overly enthusiastic lumbar support. If I plop into the driver’s seat and feel like I forgot to take off a fanny pack, that’s an instant nope.
One of the most apparently comfortable cars I’ve owned was a Ford Country Squire wagon as seen in the topshot. I acquired it from my Dad, and fully expected its lack of dynamic driving excitement to be made up for by sheer comfort. And the big wagon was indeed comfortable as a stationary chair, but awful to actually drive. The split front bench offered no support anywhere (on top of being covered in slippery vinyl), so I had to put a hand down on the bench or brace my shoulder against the door to corner at anything over 30mph. Sadly, highway cruising wasn’t much better. After about an hour or so, the soft seats had me squirming to reposition my butt-bones to alleviate the hot, sore spots that were steadily eroding my will to live.
How about you? What car were you most surprised to find was uncomfortable as hell, or vice-versa? The Autopian is asking!
Top graphic: Imperial Motorcars
The best seats I ever sat in were in a higher level 1994 Ford Explorer… They had little thigh support extensions that were exquisite. For my body at least.
The vehicle whose ride surprised me the most was a mid aughts Toyota Tundra that rode like a Buick with some weight in the bed.
GM, at least in the US, has had a history of disappointing seats for me. But for a specific example, I rented a low milage Chevy Malibu last year and it really messed up my lower back after a couple of days of sustained driving.
I worked at a new car dealership for the 2022 summer, and part of that required driving cars 50 miles to our sister dealership. Throughout all that, the most surprisingly UNcomfortable cars were almost any of the new Mercedes. They made up for it with the cooled seats, but in terms of plushness, and just overall long distance sitting comfort, they were not my preferred. Sure the Volkswagens we had had more wind noise, and the Subarus didn’t have the greatest sound systems and felt a bit cheap, but seating wise, both were more comfortable than a C300
The jumpseats in the Ford Ranger extended cab circa early-mid 90s. Easily.
Wait, I wasn’t surprised, it was just garbage and I was a kid.
Mine was my ’99 Grand Cherokee. I did test drive it, for about 25 minutes before I bought it. I traded my ’93 Grand Cherokee on it, and I only got rid of it because it was pushing 100K and we were going to do some long distance traveling. I didn’t drive it long enough for the real bad thing to show up, the seats just killed my back. Other annoying things about it was the steering wheel was noticably over to the right, and the windshield top was too low and obscured traffic lights when I was first in line a lot of the time. The first trip we went on was about 3 hours, and by the time we got there, I was miserable. I went the entire 5 days driving as little as possible to avoid getting my back angry. I tried different seating positions and no matter what I did, or how good it seemed sitting there in the garage, about 45 min later, I was moaning and groaning. After a 2000 mile round trip, we decided it had to go. We paid the loan down so we had some positive equity, and traded it in at the same dealer we bought it at for a 2000 GMC Sierra, which I really liked, and only got rid of it after it was wrecked and just wasn’t right anymore.
1995 stripper Hyundai Accent. No air or power steering, but some of the most comfortable seats of any car I’ve had. Drove from St. Louis to DC and back with just gas stops, and wasn’t too bad at all.
The most surprisingly uncomfortable thing I’ve ever driven was a U-Haul Ford E-250 (350?), I was expecting a really cheap interior, but due to its size and purpose as a work vehicle (someone’s expected to drive it all day), I expected a decent seating position. However the steering wheel was fixed so far forward and the pedals so far back that I had to have my shoulders permanently tensed, with my arms straight ahead like a classical zombie. About half an hour was all my back could handle in it.
The biggest positive surprise was my wife’s first-gen CR-V, the interior has seemingly infinite space, the seats aren’t very supportive on corners, but arm rests help with that, but at least the suspension matches that, making the ride extremely supple. 15-inch wheels definitely help here.
Surprisingly comfortable: ZJ Grand Cherokee. I had a 96 Laredo with cloth seats and a 95 Limited with the pillowy leather seats. They were so relaxing to drive. Put my GF (now wife) to sleep on every road trip. The 99 WJ is a close second.
Surprisingly uncomfortable (by comparison): 16 WK2 Grand Cherokee Limited. The leather seats are too hard, bad blind spots, and (somebody please tell me I’m not the only one crazy enough to think this) the quicker ratio rack and pinion steering is less “relaxing” to drive than the recirculating ball of older solid front axle GCs (albeit, properly maintained ones).
Yes, I found this too! My wife owns a ’97 ZJ,and when we test drove a ’16 WK2, we both found the steering twitchy at highway speed.
The ZJ is very easy by comparison to keep straight once you’re traveling at highway speeds.
At 6’5″ I’m pretty sensitive to seat comfort-perhaps the car that’s surprised me most is the 2015 Subaru Legacy we recently picked up. Has the charming Subaru only (at least in the states) combo of heated cloth but more importantly they’re surprisingly comfortable on the short 1-3 hour road trips we’ve taken so far-be curious to see how they hold up on longer trip, but they’re neither too hard or too soft, with enough cushion and shape to be reasonably supportive.
Generally I’ve found Toyota and Mazda have good seats-most of the domestic brands have ok seats that aren’t terrible but are rarely great. I’m always surprised that (at least older Hondas) didnt have better seats-like they’re shaped well and whatnot they just feel very thinly padded. Germans usually have somewhere solid seats and often even they’re the great. Best I’ve owned were in my recently sold 2008 Cayenne.
The worst 2 I ever encountered were both older American trucks-a ’73 Chevy Blazer I owned in college for awhile, admittedly 30 years old at the time, and worse yet my friend’s dad had a ’69 Ford with a bench and my god did that thing kill my lower back on even a short drive. The Blazer was bad enough I started leaving an old sweat shirt in it to roll up and stuff behind my lower back. Not sure how much it was age and how much bad seat design but both those old American trucks had 0, maybe even negative lumbar support.
My BMW i3 has heated cloth seats with leather accents
Pacifica minivan – Sure, the stow ‘n go seats are fold-out ironing boards. But the leather power fronts adjust 10 different ways, except the comfortable way.
A friend had a 2-3 year old Escalade, we used it to tow a car about 3 hours one way and within an hour my back was killing me – either I didn’t fit the seats well or they were just terrible seats.
My 2003 Cooper S also didn’t fit me well, those were really uncomfortable seats, but my 2009 Clubman S had great seats – just the std ones.
My current Audi Allroads have very good seats – in fact all my Audis have had great seats.
Same! My wife and I both hate the back seat of a relative’s Escalade. Comfort should be an Escalade’s chief priority, so it feels like failure every time.
I had a E61 BMW 535d Touring with comfort seats that adjusted in a gazillion ways. I hated the seats (compared to the 520d with less adjustable sports seats I had before) for months but one day I moved the upper backrest by a couple of millimetres and my god they were the best seats ever and I’ve never sat in anything more comfortable since.
We had a second generation Honda CRV. For some reason those seats and my back did not get along. It was primarily my significant other’s car but I would use it for my commute sometimes. (1 to 1.5 hours each way) After a few days driving it, I was in agony.
Here’s a bizarre one – 2007 Volvo V70. The seats left me with excruciating back pain if I drove or rode in it for more than an hour.
The seats were in great condition, as was the car overall. They were the primary reason I sold it and replaced it with an E83, which has super comfortable sports seats with thigh support.
Not really surprising, but my buddy in SoCal lent me his ’93 80-Series Landcruiser to use while I was visiting, and I fell in love with it. VERY comfy seats and driving position; it was like piloting your favorite comfy chair down the road.
I totally see why people love those so much. Offroad capability aside, they’re just so nice to drive and be in, lots of glass combined with thin pillars and a low beltline give it an open feeling one doesn’t get in new vehicles.
Sixties Mustang. Uncomfortable as hell. Low seat, feet straight out forward. Ugh.
’92 F350 longbed dually crewcab was extremely comfy on a 12 hour drive towing a car on a flatbed.
Surprisingly comfortable: my 2024 Prius, which are on par with my first car, a SAAB 900S. It even has adjustable lumbar support, which is great since I fractured a couple of vertebrae in a rollover accident. 0/10, experience not recommended!
My brother’s ’87 GMC pickup with the vinyl bench seat, and no A/C.