As easy as it is to complain about the ever-growing complexity of cars, sometimes creature comforts make things a little more pleasant. Be it a gadget or a bit of trim, it’s historically not uncommon for home-centered things to eventually make their way into cars, and some of them make perfect sense. For context, I’m driving a new Toyota Sienna this week, and it’s made me want to ask a question.
More specifically, I’m testing a 2025 Sienna Platinum, which means it has a freaking vacuum. For someone who keeps their home a bit messy but their car spotless, a built-in vacuum seems like a godsend. Even though the Sienna isn’t the first van with a vacuum, it got me thinking — what things from home would you want in a car?
This probably isn’t controversial, but carpet is a stupid material for a trunk. It makes a ton of sense for a cabin where sound deadening is of the essence, but in a sealed trunk with the rear seats up, big whoop. Instead, I want to get a bit classy and shift the weight distribution rearward. I’m talking a hardwood floor for the bottom of the trunk. Easier to clean than carpet, plus if you don’t want stuff to slide, you could just segment it off with suction cupped dividers. Simple as.
The other big thing from home I’d want in a car? Well, even though I don’t eat in any of my cars, I love a picnic, and keep a picnic blanket in my Boxster at all times. What pairs well with a picnic? You’re right, an espresso. Sadly, the sort of shot you’d get at most chain coffee shops isn’t very good, so I’d quite value a good portable espresso maker harnessed in the trunk. Fiat actually offered an in-car espresso maker, but it took pods, and that’s not quite my jam.
So, what would you take from your home and put in your car? Whether a simple gadget, or going full “Top Gear” and putting a wood-burning stove inside, I want to hear it.
(Photo credits: Toyota, Fiat)
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A 50-gallon barrel of Jatco CVT fluid.
I want my toilet.
Not “a” toilet. “Your” toilet.
Is anyone else allowed to use it?
Of course not. What are you a savage?
i want bench seats back
See 2026 Palisade front seat bench (at least in South Korea)
How about some seats that can come out of the vehicle and make a chair or couch? I guess that is a thing for some minivans, but I would use that for tailgating or whatever.
You could try a 2CV.
ok hear me out: a larger tank for the windshield fluid, and a port that attaches to it, in the back with a hose so I can wash things off
Urinary catheters, for those long trips. No need to worry about fluid intake, just drive until the fuel tank is empty.
But then you have to take the catheter out at some point and that is incredibly strong nope.
They make roll up ones that go on and off like a condom. Issue is humidity but I’ll take humidity over a traditional catheter any day!
I don’t think they make those for us girls…
Fair point
diapersYears ago I had a college professor tell me about rigging up a spittoon next to his gear shift lever, so he didn’t have to roll down the truck’s window and/or deal with clean up issues (you know, from wind blowing stuff back into the cab, or less often if he forgot to roll the window down).
He was a significant factor in me getting out of the Mechanical Engineering department.
I see multiple people with variations of this idea and I have to say HECK NO. Gross. Also sitting in a car uninterrupted for long distances fricking sucks, getting out of the car for a rest stop gives you a chance to stretch and move your legs a bit, which already does a lot to reduce fatigue.
I get the desire to get to the destination as quickly as possible is real, but you do not want to pee in your car. You’re going to feel even more like crap when you get where you’re going, and your car will now be full of pee. Not worth it.
Same for all the people saying they want a toilet in their car. Sitting on a toilet for any length of time long enough to justify having a toilet in your car in the first place is how you get hemorrhoids if you make a habit of it. Additionally, toilet seats have no padding, and padded toilet seats get nasty real fast. You’re asking for an extremely uncomfortable drive, far outweighing any comfort advantage of being able to pee.
Actually wait a minute, this question is about THINGS YOU HAVE IN YOUR HOME that you’d like to have in your car, and you- you know what, I don’t want to know.
A Roku TV on the back for road trips that I can control from my phone too.
An integrated Keurig machine under the cup holders where you only press a button and your coffee cup is filled up automatically.
A glovebox that can act as a microwave too.
Microwave glovebox is a decent idea, but kick it up a notch and do an air fryer instead.
Crispy egg rolls WHILE DRIVING?!? Truly, that would be a magical world….
I’d settle for a toaster in my dashboard. If I’m in enough of a hurry to eat in my car on the go, a bagel or pop tart will do.
My Lincoln MKT had a full on ice making fridge. That was cool, no pun intended.
For the big road trips, need an EZ Leaker.
refrigerated storage (actual Danfoss compressor, not those BS peltier coolers), coffee brewing ability (or at least hot water), and a trash can.
I like to do miles when I road trip, and stop on my terms. Instead of finding infrastructure for a stop, I’d rather stop in a random park or wooded area and have a relaxing break. With food and drink onboard, along with a trash bin to aid in litter management, I could do that.
Totally with you on the road trip thing. For some trips, I get my shit together and pack a cooler so that we can do rest stops. Other trips, it’s McDonalds and letting the dog pee in the strip of grass by the drive thru. 🙁
Last solo trip was an 8.5 hour stint. I strapped my Koolatron to the front passenger seat and only stopped to use the rest room (My F150 would do 1100km on a tank).
The only thing I would add is a sofa, which my Buick already has.
“Whether a simple gadget, or going full “Top Gear” and putting a wood-burning stove inside, I want to hear it.”
I read an article in an aircraft outfitting trade magazine about outrageous requests customers had for completing their business jets. Everything from basketball courts (the Globetrotters apparently had one in their 747) to full size bathtubs.
But the craziest one they listed was a guy asked if they could install a wood burning fireplace in his bizjet. And not a simulated one that just LOOKED like a fireplace. And gas logs? Unacceptable.
He wanted wood and fire. In an airplane.
So the outfitter studied the problem and figured out a way to put in a fireplace. How to vent the smoke, how to keep all these hot coals contained during turbulence, everything. There was no guarantee the FAA would approve it, but they did their best.
In the end, the client decided not to do it. But NOT because an open flame in an airplane cabin was dangerous and stupid. And NOT because having this installed was going to be ungodly expensive.
He changed his mind because it was going to take up too much space.
There’s a novel by Andy Weir (the Martian), Artemis, that details life on a plausible lunar colony. Among the cool details for which Weir is such a nut is how fire is one of the worst possible dangers, b/c they can’t just go outside if things go up in flames.
So open flames are mostly forbidden and only the very wealthy can afford the fire suppression systems to have them. A very corrupt business tycoon has an awe-inducing functional fireplace.
Fascinating underappreciated book.
Neal Stephenson’s book “Seveneves” has a bit about this too. After human civilization has to rebuild itself in space, there’s a bit about the first time the new civilization built an open woodfire and the contrast between enormous technological achievements implied by being able to do that (i.e. *having wood to burn*), and the atavism of doing so.
It’s been on my shelf for years (gift from a friend) – you’re prompting me to actually start on it now!
A trash can.
Coffee maker, freezer, not a fridge.
I live in an area best described as the Devil’s butt crack in the summer.
As such a fridge is a no go option.
Better A/C as well would be great too.
I’d like a refrigerated trunk so I don’t have to drive straight home from the grocery store.
One thing I do like about the winter is not having to save the grocery for the last stop.
I do appreciate nature’s refrigerator 5 months a year.
Nothing, leaving the back of the cargo van empty as our van wasn’t designed to tow or haul.. except to haul ass..
A place to put my purse. A built-in fridge for snacks and drinks. Shades for the back windows that actually block the sun that I can operate from the front seat. A soundproof divider between the front and back seats. Removable, dishwasher safe cupholder liners.
Yes. You guessed it. I am a mom.
Yes!
Manufacturers, are you listening? Rather than mechanical, how about units that use electric current to flip a polarizer on or off? That would be great for a minivan.
I lament the loss of the separate dash and console that used to be common before the ’90s, before automakers decided everything had to be “seamless.”
There was often a space between the bottom of the dash and the front of the console (where they’d meet like a T) that could easily provide a decent on the go storage area. Some of them even made it into a little open bin.
And a place to store soccer balls. (sorry, just joshin)
My car actually has an rear window shade that can be controlled from the front. However the side-rear shades are still annoyingly manual – and they’re the ones I’d actually want to be automatic as the baby seat already shields the little one from the Sun coming through the back.
A coffee maker of some sort would be nice, hard wired in, permanently mounted, and able to brew while the car is in motion, and make more than 1 cup at a time
Aside from that, maybe a couch. I want comfortable seats to come back
My husband just got a 1996 F350 and hooooo baby the bench seats are big old couches. Bring back soft cloth seats!
Welder and air compressor, though I carry a portable compressor when I’m in the mountains. They do make portable stick welders that can be adapted (of sorts) to a 12V system, but I haven’t found one I really like yet. Having a welder when you smash a driveshaft or blow a U-joint on the trail is super nice.
Couple batteries, some jumper cables, and welding rod = trail welder
Amusingly, the one I like the best is essentially just that: https://badgerwelder.com/product/m22-wire-feed-welder/
Is that as useful as a stick welder when out in the … sticks?
Hopefully, but even if it isn’t it’s always a good idea to branch out every once in a while so you don’t get rooted to one spot.
I’m going to echo what quite a few commenters have already said- A fridge! My friend has a mid 90’s Japanese Land Cruiser with a center console fridge. Uses the AC system to cool down, but does it rather quickly, and has a section cold enough to make ice cubes!
+1
I go on enough long drives it would be nice to have a place to keep drinks cool and keep a sandwich from going bad. There’s already enough storage with the console or glove box, just make one have optional cooling.
Yeah good coffee is the biggest thing I need for long trips.
An actually functional trash bin?
/Where does the vacuum go?
I’d love to have a kitchen drawer type setup, but for tools instead of utensils.
I know you can outfit SUVs and trucks with similar, but I’m talking cars here and from the factory. Having a pull out (or up) divided tray drawer setup somewhere that could neatly carry assorted tools and related stuff would be so cool. Bonus if for some cars with room, there’s another, deeper one that’ll hold things like oil cans.
I’ve never understood why they don’t make glove boxes into drawers. Especially with how most modern cars have them mounted so low that it would make life so much easier if it was a drawer that slid out onto the passenger’s lap instead of a door that falls open and hits their knees.
Nash had that in the late ’40s/early ’50s, I think Hyundai does it on the Ioniq5, but weirdly didn’t catch on
Too bad. It’s a great design (in theory, I’ve never seen one in person).
Cybertruck has a very complicated high-drama drawer, too. A lot of engineering for a hole.
As a kid our 93 Aerostar had a drawer below the passenger seat where we kept things. I think it was for tapes originally.
Our 1996 Plymouth Grand Voyager had a drawer under the front passenger seat. It was fantastic for gloves and hats, but was also lockable.
I forgot about those! I had one in my old 2003 Odyssey as well. It didn’t lock though.
I believe pull out drawers for tools were a thing on prewar luxury cars, sometimes in the sill under the door/above the running board, sometimes under the front seat (like the PT Cruiser also had, for reasons)
It was widely believed that the PT Cruiser drawer was there simply because they could. The seats were positioned high about the floor, and the drawer was added simply to make use of that space. Around here, where frunks and other nifty storage methods are appreciated, that little detail should be applauded regardless of your opinion of the car as a whole.
The car had a lot of good ideas in it, like the front passenger seat with a hard plastic back that could fold forward flat to create a really long load space, in what was essentially a tall Neon hatchback
I had a 2005 Hyundai Tucson that had a nice divided tool tray under the rear deck. It sat above the spare and acted as a support for the deck, and it was amazing how much it could actually hold when organized properly – jumper cables, a full set of screw drivers, wrenches, a complete set of SAE and metric 5/8ths sockets with ratchets, a tow strap, and some of those “NASA-inspired” thermal-reflective emergency blankets.
Earlier BMW 5ers had a wrench holder that dropped down from the open trunk lid. It wasn’t a 50 piece Craftsman set w/ ratchets and sockets, but carried a selection of open end wrenches and a couple screwdrivers and pliers to get you moving again.
Built in mini fridges. Why did these not catch on? Give me a place to stick a roadtrip energy drink, or some ice cream. Gotta make that bandit run of Storts ice cream from NY to California.
I donno, I think they are rad. My buddy has a mid 90s JDM Land Cruiser with a center console fridge. I think you could get the same setup in the Toyota Van here in the US
My minivan has a cooler box that fits like four 8oz soda cans. It is nice when you are driving, but lacks the insulation to keep things cold for more than 30 minutes when the vehicle shuts off (and it loses its cooling source in the A/C system). Actual portable fridges are bulky and energy-intensive, but with larger battery packs in EVs and hybrids, there’s a chance they could become more common.
A refrigerator. It would be so nice to have a beverage just ready to go whenever I so chose. Capacity for maybe 12 beverages. I’ll mix it up, have something ready for whatever whim comes along. My own truck mini fridge.
Stuck in traffic? not so bad with a cold one.
leaving the beach on a hot day? cold one.
done at the kids soccer/baseball/basketball game? cold one.
just got home and the game is on the radio and I don’t want to go into the house? cold one.
At a party with only gazpacho and chelada. Heading to the truck for a cold one.
I don’t think there is a reasonable way to implement but I didn’t see that as a stated requirement.
We had the same idea- must mean its good.
My buddy has a Japanese market 80 series Land Cruiser that has a built in fridge. Pretty impressive! Even has an ice cube tray. I had a US market Land Cruiser at the same time, which in comparison was as well equipped as a school bus.
If I could have the sound system I have in my home in my car I’d be a very happy camper, but at the same time it would eat up most of the space in my cars and vinyl records don’t really work in moving vehicles.
https://thevinylfactory.com/news/amazing-photos-of-a-time-when-cars-had-record-players/
I carry about everything I could ever need with me, tools, first aid, survival stuff, emergency food, a firearm………A nice, functional coffee pot would be amazing.