According to You: The best seats you’ve ever experienced
You’re gonna want to sit down for this one. The feedback from the Hagerty Community in this episode of “According to You” was just that good.
To wit, we asked this loaded question and you responded in kind. There are simply too many great choices to single out a handful, so I doled out praise via country of origin. Well, not entirely, because some seats can be curated more elegantly. So, without any further ado, the best seats you’ve ever experienced.
High-performance Mopars
Dennis: The best seats we ever had were the ones in our Shelby Dodge Lancer. Comfortable with great bolsters that held you in place while you played in the corners!
Drew Timm: By far the Dodge Ram SRT-10 truck seats. Oh my … I want these in all my cars.
Jack+Van: 2008 Dodge Viper seats: Bad back, screwed up neck, tall, doesn’t matter! Firmly encased without pressure points. They feel great accelerating, cornering or just cruising.
Michael Schwartz: For me, the seats in my Dodge Omni GLH Turbo were a great fit. Simple, yet supportive. For a friend with a heavier build, they were horrible.
Swede seating
John Paul Fitzpatrick: I owned a Saab 9000 and later a Saab 9-5 wagon. I was an on-the-road salesman for 25 years, and the leather heated seats in both of these cars were superbly comfortable. It’s a real shame this manufacturer is no more.
Ben Galipeau: My 1984 Volvo 240, used to cross Canada (Calgary to Ottawa) eight times. The last time in two 16-hour days with NO numb bum!
MarkS: The 1989 Saab 900 was a perfect fit, and [the seats] were still good at 200,000 miles. All this from the company that invented the seat heater! (Perhaps Robert Ballard would beg to differ with the last statement. —SM)
Robert J Hiller: Gotta be my first Saab, a 1958 750-GT. Great all-day driving with padded headrest for snoozing passenger. Best thing was that both seats fully reclined for a nice, sheltered place to sleep.
Doug Wagner: Volvo 1800 seats from the ’70s: Owned a ’71 when I was young and loved those seats, along with the car.
M. Ockwell: Volvo 140 seats in the late ’60s set a benchmark for comfort, support, and an adjustable lumbar cushion. (I see what you did there! –SM) Volvo even sold swivel bases that turned them into household seating. Most dealer waiting rooms used them!
Les+Fender: As far as a car I’ve owned, our 2007 Volvo S60.
Wil: The thrones in the Saab 9000 Aero. I have driven a lot of vehicles with a lot of different seats and the Recaros in the Aero are peerless when it comes to driver comfort.
2008 Chevrolet HHR SS, driver’s side
David Stevens: Loved my HHR SS driver’s seat. Really great support, grip, and comfort for the twisties.
hyperv6: I had a first year SS (that only had the good seat on the driver’s side) and I bought the parts and converted the passenger seat to the same performance seat. (The next year it became an option, then standard.)
German perfection
Paul Hickey: The driver seat of my 2016 Mercedes-Benz Metris van was the most amazingly comfortable for hours of driving, and still is after 45K [miles].
Matt: Mercedes Sprinter. The seat was cross-country comfortable and could be raised where your feet could be flat on the floor or stretched out.
Eric Bagdikian: The seats in my 2019 Audi RS5, which I really miss since I traded it on my my 2021 RS6.
Maurcio: In my classic cars, the Porsche 356 has great seats, they are very comfortable. (Of course they are from other era, in a modern car the Kia Telluride is my best experience.)
John Schafer: I still fondly recall the seats in my 1957 Karmann Ghia. The bottoms and sides were contoured and felt like nothing I had experienced in the Fords and Oldsmobile I had driven. Still miss that car.
Gary: The Recaros in the 1983 Volkswagen GTI.
Roy: My (bought new) 1974 Audi 100LS coupe had the most fabulous seats ever! While not infinitely adjustable, they supported where they should and reclined flat (you could sleep in the car if necessary). Car is long gone, wish I had kept the seats!!
Tjr: VW Touareg by far, all-day comfort for a guy with a bad back. I like them so much that I’m on the hunt for [a seat] at the junk yard to convert into an office chair. I keep being told [yards] can’t sell them because of the airbag in them!
I68PD156: Having owned and driven many vehicles after the last forty years, my favorite vehicle seats have to be, hands-down, [the ones in] my 2003 Mercedes Benz E500 Sport. What won me over was an eleven-hour journey to Asheville, North Carolina. I completed the trip non-stop, with several rest-area stops to grab a drink and the usual necessities. After close to 1000 miles in two days, I felt fine and just needed to catch up on a little sleep.
English craftsmanship
Brian: 1981 Rolls Royce Corniche with parchment seats and black piping … better than my couch. It’s probably only reason I kept the Rolls for 5 years because mechanically it was a dog. Worse than a dog!
George: The seats in my L322 Range Rover Supercharged were heated, cooled, and adjustable in every way possible. The best seats of any car, including those in my current L405 Range Rover Autobiography!
Japanese quality
Don Lafferty: This probably seems odd but the most comfy seats in any of my cars were in my 2016 Nissan Leaf. I could drive it for many, many miles, if I hadn’t run out of charge every hundred.
david: My 1990 Honda CRX Si had great long-distance seats. 14 hours one day, I got out and stood up with no aches or pains. Fantastic cars with fantastic seats: Shame they are gone!
Kenneth Carroll: The best seat I ever had was in my Datsun 240Z. My head fit exactly against the headrest and did not require any tilting to remain in contact. My line of sight was exactly what it should have been. I could drive the car great distances without even thinking about it and never suffered from any discomfort or fatigue.
Nicholas MacDonald: For me it was my 1990 Celica All-Trac (GT-Four). Those seats were amazingly comfortable and supportive.
Jonathan: The second generation Supra seats were excellent. Cloth covered with good support and adjustable lumbar with the sphygmomanometer. Divine.
Daniel Brown: Having owned over 50 cars, the most comfortable and best supporting seat is in my 2003 Toyota Solara SLE convertible. Better than my newer Lexus!
Lee: The seats in my 1991 3000GT VR4 are the most comfortable I have personally ever experienced. Leather with power adjustable lumbar, and power adjustable bolsters.
Hal Osteen: 1993 Honda Prelude seats designed by Recaro, one year only. Work great in my 1934 Chevy Master Sedan restomod!
A cloud-like French consommé
Phil Downs: 1975 Peugeot 604, a luxuriously comfortable seat with European support, something American cars could never get right.
Steve Welch: Citroen DS Pallas. Seriously—the French do clouds really well.
rudolf geissmann: The most comfortable seat is in the Citroen SM and [in] the DS.
American ingenuity
Robert Petty: The optional sport seats in my ’88 C4 [Corvette] are the best. Difficult to get in and out [of], but once in them, I don’t want to leave.
Gary: There are undoubtedly lots of opinions on this subject, and lots of very comfortable seats. My personal experience, after having a number of mostly domestic vehicles, is that my 2005 Cadillac SRX had the best seats I have known. I could drive that car for endless hours without feeling any signs of tiring.
Jeff Hawes: The 2008 Ford Edge Limited has the most comfortable seats I have ever sat in. They are just like a big comfy living-room chair, I could sit in them for hours.
Lexusman: I have owned a lot of vehicles in my 86 years. The most comfortable seats are the ones in my current driver, which is a 2006 LT3 Silverado extended-cab pickup. The leather seats in my Silverado are heated and they have lumbar [cushioning] which gives great lower back support. I hope to drive it for as long as I am able to drive.
David+O: Hands down, my 1995 Buick Riviera. Nothing else comes close.
Greg Haugen: 2014 Lincoln Navigator.
Bill: My 1976 Lincoln Continental.
James S: An early ’90s Ford Thunderbird SC seemed to have seats that were designed/molded around my body at the time. I remember sitting in one for the first time thinking that there was no way that the seats could be improved for me.
Tsker7t9: My 2005 Pontiac GTO had very comfortable and supportive seats. Hard to believe that the Holden-produced car could have a much better overall interior than the U.S.-produced GM vehicles.
Paul: Our 2006 Chrysler 300C have the best seats and I’ve owned lots of cars. My wife has had 12 back surgeries and she is really comfortable in this car.
Buz Brown: Both my 2009 and my 2013 Ford Flex had the greatest, most comfortable seats.
Howard Scott: My 1979 Sedan DeVille with the d’Elegance trim level’s pillowed velour. It was like driving in your favorite living-room recliner. Combined with Cadillac’s cloud-like ride, it could be driven all day with nary a hint of fatigue.
Steve: For me, it was the seats in my ‘89.5 Mustang LX 5.0, which were the cloth sport seats with adjustable knee bolsters: All-day comfort, excellent bolstering. I’m rarely uncomfortable in a seat—though after several hours some require taking a break—but those were remarkable.
Eliseo Vizcaino: My 1988 Olds 98 Touring Sedan with multi-adjustable leather Lear-Siegler bucket seats. Absolutely the best I have ever sat in. They provide all-day comfort without peer.
Bill: Strangely enough, my favorite seats were a set of buckets in a 1985 Pontiac Grand Prix. Didn’t look like much, but I could drive that car longer and more comfortably than any Euro or Japanese car I’ve owed.
Panther love is conditional
Don C: My dad’s 95 Lincoln Town Car: Nothing comes even close to it, even my ’04 Town Car.
DALE ZALAORAS: The OEM French-stitched black leather seats in my 2003 Mercury Marauder are not comfortable (after only one hour of driving) and adjusting the lumbar support does not make any difference. But the well-worn OEM cloth seats in my 2009 Crown Victoria Police Interceptor are not much to look at, but are still all-day comfortable to ride in! Ford knew what they were doing with THOSE seats!
So what did we collectively miss? Do you have a favorite seat that we missed?
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2017 Lincoln Continental “30 Way” adjustables with heat, AC, and massage. Amazing. Honorable mention: 1995 Olds Aurora – could drive forever without fatigue in this greatly underrated car.
2002 Buick Century. Cloth bench seat. I always used to joke that it had a front couch. Nothing was more surreal than being warm and comfy sitting that way while driving in the snow. Instead of waiting for traffic to move, I would just slide over and exit from the passenger door. Honorable mention to my 2013 Mazda 6. Again, comfy cloth but no bench.
Seats are subjected to Opinion as everyone’s tush has a different expectation.
What strikes me is how bad some of the material and colors are in some of these past seats. The designers had to have been color blind in some cases.
90-93-95 Taurus SHO seats. Had all three years of SHO. Were my salesman cars and did 40-50K/yr in each. Great seats with excellent side support for G forces!
I had a ’96 Pontiac Bonneville with cloth bucket seats and they felt like you were sitting in a Lazyboy recliner! They had a nice supportive contour and the cloth really held you in place around corners. I only weigh about 150 pounds but when I finally traded it in it had over 300,000 miles on it and they still felt and looked good!
Our 1970 Renault 10 had very plush seats for a car that cost under $1500 new
My 2020 Acura TLX A-Spec perforated leather seats are the most comfortable I’ve experienced. A big plus is the power adjustable thigh support extension. The back support and breathable perforated leather are the two other major factors.
I’ve driven hundreds of different types and brands of vehicles in 44 years, from BMW, Mercedes, Porsche, VW, Ferrari, Honda/Acura, Toyota/Lexus, Nissan/Infinity, Mazda, Ford, GM and Fiat/Chrysler and the only other one that could leave me refreshed and rested after 10 hours of driving is the Acura TL I previously owned.
The driver’s seat is the thing that can make it break the experience. Thank you to the designers at Honda/Acura for making your efforts!
Believe it or not my 1960 Bugeye Sprite is the most comfortable thing I ever drove. The seats are soft but supportive. Hard to believe a cheap car could feel good like this, (no real lateral support though).