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
I took a car service from Manhattan to the Newark airport. The rear air shocks in the Lincoln Town Car were toast and every expansion joint went straight up my spine.
Many years ago I rented a Mercury Grand Marquis with a bench seat for a long trip. My God, it was like sitting on a church pew. I cursed that car for every mile I was forced to drive it. Conversely, I had rented Crown Victorias that were fine. Go figure.
The most comfortable seats were in my 2015 Nissan Murano with their “Zero Gravity” seats. At first sit they were no big deal. But after a 12 hour drive there was no back ache or butt burn.
I was surprised at how different the seats were from my Charger Scat Pack to my 300C. The Scat seats were miserable on long trips, and they were the “nicer” ones with the leather and alcantara, not the base model. The 300 seats look identical, shape wise, so I expected similar discomfort. However, I’ve taken a number of long trips and arrived comfortable. Very happy with that purchase!
I also had an 1988 Grand Marquis Colony Park in college for a while, I used it to commute from Waterville, Maine to the University, about an hour trip. It was awesome! I miss that car…
I don’t think I’ve had any extreme cases of expectations clashing with reality.
Usually, what I’ve seen has been what I’ve gotten–including with my van, whose cloth seats looked fit for a king, because they were.
I would say the biggest surprise I’ve experienced was my dad’s Toyota Sienna with cloth seats. The seats all look like they should be very plush, but they barely have any give.
They’re still adequate seats, but there is definitely a disconnect when your eyes say “I should sink into this” and your butt says “you are definitely not sinking into this.”
Also, at work there’s a fleet of various vans. We carry a lot of shit in the back so most of them have a sort of wall attached to prevent stray items from hitting us. Rating them by comfort from worst to first is the transit, the nissan nv200, the Chevy Express cloth seats, the ford e250, and king is the Chevy Express with leather seats
This is not me, per se, but two of my friends had at some point ridden in my fiesta st with the recaros. One wasn’t expecting much and then fell asleep because he found them so comfy, the other was excited and turned out to hate them.
Honda Element. I test drove one, had no idea what the seats would be like and found the front seats to be one par with a bench at a bus stop.
One the opposite end of that, Grandpa’s late ’80’s Cutlass was a plush couch on wheels.
My mom had a silver Crown Vic, which considering how big it was, was cramped and had torture devices as seats. A plus was that SCHP also had silver Crown Vics and it was like the Red Sea parting driving down the interstate. Also had a F150 Lariat inherited from my dad that I had to drive with the seat heaters on high all the time because my spine and those seats did not get along.
After hearing how good Volvo seat are, some years back I was quite surprised by how uncomfortable a Volvo wagon rental in Europe was, as well as a V60 I test drove. I’m 6’5″, and couldn’t adjust the headrests, so just had my shoulders pushed forward horribly.
Volvo’s headrests seem to be designed to make sure your head remains in contact with the restraint at all times. You get better whiplash scores that way, but it’s unbearable for some of us. A seat that cradles the head of a long-armed driver in a laid-back posture is torture for anyone who likes to sit upright.
Here’s where we need to apply some additional tech to car interiors- make headrests move in response to seatback angle and driver posture. This would matter more to me than some 6G and 8K connectivity nonsense!
I was amazed how comfortable the seats in the Porsche 914 are, and how roomy it is inside. Note that if you are 6 feet tall you need to move the seat forward and recline it to not fracture your skull on the roll hoop.
I was also amazed how claustrophobic the Boxster is and how the seats are devices of torture.
I’m 6’5″. Both of the following are related.
For comfort in terms of least stressful: I wanted a compact hatch and was shocked at how many have such short hoods and gently sloping windshields that either the roof or sunvisor significantly blocks my forward vision, with some even making it impossible to see traffic lights. The one that stood out as worst was the Toyota Corolla. I ended up with a Honda Fit, which has a 90s car greenhouse by comparison.
For comfort as in most painful to drive: Audi A4. I have no idea how a tall nation of Germany makes their midsize volume seller so damn small on the inside. Mine had a sunroof, which isn’t the full width of the car, but sort of centered over the center console between the seats, and I would regularly slam my head into the sunroof frame when driving over bumps; I probably only had 1/4″ of head clearance, even with the seat all the way down.
I’m also 6’5″, and planned to get the a4 allroad version a decade ago, until I sat in it and didn’t fit at all with the sunroof. Strange thing was in a regular 2012 version I fit fine, but 2013 was not even close.
6’7″ Yes really, I would like to recommend the Bristol Fighter, easy to get in an out of, usable as a dd for two, the luggage space is really good, small car to park, and very very comfortable. The 200+mph bit is overwhelming but 170 feels fine. Also I would like to sell It to someone on a different continent. Oh It is amazingly comfortable. Less comfortable, this thing owes me money break even? Silly money, but it is really nice.
The only car I can remember I found notably bad was the Dodge Charger I got as a rental a few years back. Just terrible.
Surprisingly most uncomfortable? The old school Chevy Caprice. We had one (86 brougham in dark blue) when I was little and it seemed like such a huge car back then. I recently went to look at one I saw for sale near by and I don’t understand how they made such a huge car have such a small interior. I know I’m like way bigger than I was back in the early 90s but wow is it small and cramped in there.
Surprisingly Uncomfortable:
05 Ram 2500- Coming from a regular cab 96 Dodge Ram 1500 to a Quad Cab 05 2500 I thought would be an upgrade, but the seats in the 05 were a step backwards. The lower cushion foam was so thin that after an hour or so of driving all you feel is your ass on the metal seat frame. I’ve since replaced the foam with an aftermarket one that improved things, but I still miss the 96.
05 Toyota Highlander Limited. Borrowed Mom’s car for a few 500 mile trips when I didn’t need the truck to tow anything. I could never get the seat comfortable in it. maybe the lower cushion was too short, not sure.
19 Toyota Tacoma. Was happy to get a few hours behind the wheel of one on a road trip. While a compact pickup doesn’t suit my needs for towing I hear how great these trucks are all the time. I didn’t care for the seating position. As a driver or as a passenger, the low seats with your legs stretched out in front of you didn’t feel right in a truck, just didn’t love it.
Surprisingly Comfortable:
80’s Mopar products. I grew up driving these and still find the seats always fit right. Omni’s, Minivans, Shadows, Daytona’s etc. I imagine the seating model used by Chrysler at the time must have been carved in my image.
Not surprising but bring some advil:
Ram Promaster – Chicago to Detroit behind the wheel of this left me in pain the next day. It’s fine for short trips but was frequently realizing the that my back wasn’t even touching the seat due to the awkward driving position.
Focus RS – I arrived at EAA airventure (about a 3 hour drive) crippled. We take anything but my cousin’s RS since that trip. We did do another 4 hour drive in it, but were wise enough to stop frequently and stretch. My drive home in a worn out 92 Dodge Daytona IROC R/T was like going to a spa.
The Focus RS looked worse than the ST, which I had to add 1″ of padding to the back of the bottom (such a terrible angle and the seat sat too damn high even at the lowest setting) and chop over 1/2 the side bolsters out of it to not feel like I was getting blood clots on a drive of 2 hours or more. I’m a 32″ waist and this was an American car, FFS, who the hell did they design the seat for?
Here’s my guess: Ford had a compact chassis with enough width for two ordinary flat seats that you could fill out comfortably. The sports seats they installed for the go fast versions could be no wider overall, so the side bolsters were added to the original seat space, robbing inches from both sides.
This Sports Seat Squeeze bothered me with my last GTI, a Mk V. Which made me wonder – who’s sliding bottom-first out of their seat sideways? I’ve always wished for more bolstering from the seatback, but my butt, anchored by seatbelt as well as my own mass, tends to stay put. I think tall side bolsters are a styling affectation, but I might be wrong.
Surprisingly comfortable: 2013 Viper.
Contemporary reviews of this car were universally merciless toward the seat comfort, going above and beyond the usual measured language into outright hate. I was more nervous about this than pretty much anything else when I bought mine.
So I have no idea if all the test drivers are oddly shaped or if I am, because I’ve gone on multi-hour road trips, hard track days, etc and felt fine.
I did a 9-hour round trip in an SRT10 a long time ago, and I was surprised that other than my feet pointing toward the side of the car and the seatbelts being backwards, it was pretty comfortable. Cruise would have been nice given most of the drive was on highways and that V10 was so tempting.
I don’t know what I should expect, but the descendants of the original Jeep haven’t gotten any more comfortable to sit in or drive. The JK I drove around at the used car lot I worked at to take pictures for their website wasn’t any more comfortable than the YJ that I borrowed from my buddy when I was in college, which wasn’t any more comfortable than the CJ-5 we bombed around in when I was younger. While I realize the older generations were implements, there is no excuse for the newer models that weren’t based on an ancient architecture to have such a bad seating position and relationship between the pedals and the steering wheel.
My last Uber to the airport was a Hyundai Accent. i was surprised at the roominess of such a small car.
I felt the same about the new Elantra I rode in the back of, very roomy and comfy.
I’ve had some Tesla 3 Lyfts to and from JFK that I thought were rather nice.
The seats in my sisters 03 350z was surprisingly uncomfortable. You cannot be any taller than 5’9″ to fit in the driver seat. At 6’1″ 200lbs I was hunched over like Quasimodo in that car. I could only drive it for 10 minutes. Shame though. It seemed like to would be a fun car if I fit.
“Quasimodo predicted this”
Anyways, I’ve had a few taller friends sit in the passenger seat of my 350z vert. I asked one of them if he was comfortable (we were going on a longish trip, so I wanted to show him how to adjust the seat if he needed to) and he said he was, with the seat in an optimal position. I’m not at all tall so I can’t say much for the drivers seat but it can’t be that much different. Maybe adjusting your seats and the steering wheel would have helped.
And yes, it’s a fun car 🙂
The problem was my shoulders were too wide for the seat. It had them pressed in and pushing me forward.
I always liked the 350z vert. I liked the sound of the stock exhaust.
Ah, that makes sense. The way the side bolsters are make the center, flat part of the seat where your back rests a little skinny and kinda push you out as you said.
My 2005 MDX is surprisingly uncomfortable. I cannot get comfortable in the seat on longer trips and the steering has a tendency to wander. My WJ Grand Cherokee was no better. I recently rented a 2022 Mustang and was shocked my how much road ruts affected the steering.
My Camry I can drive all day.
My first and only original Mini. 25 Anniversary Edition (which did nothing special for comfort compared to the regular ones).
The thing was surprisingly comfortable, the French – who have a specific word for EVERYTHING car related – define it as “pingponging”. “The car pingpongs” has a pretty precise meaning, which is – that rather than shake laterally and/or longitudinally, it shakes only vertically.
The Mini didn’t get through potholes – it would get into one and then out of it. Going through a bump wouldn’t make a “thump-thump” sound, it would go with a single “frrrump”. It was that short.
That made it surprisingly comfortable for its size and generally low expectations.
When I was a kid, our MG 1100 which had the same hydroelastic suspension was pretty wonderfully comfortable.
The only other car we had with as good a ride was a 1939 Packard series 12 limousine from my grandmother’s brother.
I wasn’t exactly surprised but disappointed when I took the free upgrade from Avis and got a Tacoma. I know it’s a truck (I’ve owned a few and live with a 30-yr-old Ford) but man was it uncomfortable to take down the highway! I definitely regretted that one as the factory I was visiting was over an hour away from the airport. Should have just kept the Corolla I originally reserved.
I had a 2003 base Tacoma regular cab with the bench seat. As great as an around-town mini truck as it was, it was incredibly uncomfortable.
…My 08 F350 4×4…base model, with the 40/20/40 mouse fur front bench.
Unloaded, the rear end pogos and scrabbles for traction fighting the near- 700 lb/ft of torque its being subjected to, but your buns wouldn’t know that.
Loaded, though? Towing our jeep to Utah I clocked daily runs with over 14 hours of daily seat time, and it’s like being in La-z-boy. It’s good for about 4-5 hours straight drive time to a tank, and never once have I felt any sort of hot spot, cramp, or lack of support (and I’m over 50).
The ultimate qualifier, though? My wife, who to this day marvels at how comfortable it is to be in it for that stretch of time. Nice job, Ford!
My base spec Clio 2 with the cloth interior is incredibly confortable. Those seats are a joy to sit in, and I’ve driven full days in them without feeling anything but a soft embrace on my bum.
I spent a week in a then-new 2008 Accord EX-L and took a two hour roadtrip in it. Those seats were unbelievably rock-hard and I couldn’t wait to get to my destination. I lasted longer in Focus RS seats than I did in this car. Everytime I get it one, it’s still not comfortable to me.
The most surprisingly comfortable for me was the F32 BMW M4. The absolute best seats I have ever sat in in any car.
Have you ever sat in a conversion van?
The cloth captains’ chairs in mine set a standard I fear I’ll never experience again.
(not to bash what you suggested, of course. I’ve never been in one of those either)