Och

iTrader: (3)

All of us here are car enthusiasts, and probably buy cars based from the drivers perspective, with rear seating being somewhat an afterthought. I personally never even cared about rear seats, in fact my next might be the new Supra which doesn't even have a rear seat. That being said, what about being a passenger in the rear seat? I don't normally seat in the back unless i call a cab, and in the past most cabs/car services were using Crown Vics and Lincolns, but now with Uber and Lyft becoming so popular I've been a passenger in a number of different vehicles, and would like share my thoughts.

Most ubers are using Camry/Accord/Altima and whatever the Huyndai sedan that competes directly with these. They are all about equal, and have decent rear seating. The bottom of the seat is at reasonable height from the floor, the back of the seat is reasonable reclined, and overall its allright.

Occasionally they still use old Lincolns and Crown Vics, and while those cars have roomy back seats with plush seats, their soft suspension systems always made me sea sick.

Many of them come in CUVs - primarily CRV and Highlander. These are ok, but I actually prefer sedans. I find rear seats in the sedans a lot more comfortable - just a more ergonomic seating position, with better angles and shaped seats vs flat seats that are designed to fold down in the CUVs.

I also sometimes call Uber black - mostly when I'm arriving at airports. With uber black the drivers are more service oriented, so they try harder to find you in the crown of other passengers, and help you with the bags. Most of them come in large Tahoes/Suburbans. I actually don't like the rear seats in those - the seats are flat and raised very high up, where you sitting way higher than the driver, and it makes it kind of weird. Then there isn't much room in the back, which is surprising give the huge size of these vehicles.

The one vehicle that I absolutely hate is the Infiniti Qx60. I don't know how it qualifies as luxury car, but it has the most miserable rear seat of any non subcompact car that I been into. The bottom of the seat is way too low too the floor, and the back of the seat is too straight up with no recline - so I sit with my knees almost at my chin. Whenever I call Uber black and I see that they sending a Qx60, I cancel and request again until I get a different car.

The other day I called an Uber and the driver arrived in the new Continental. I was extremely pleasantly surprised, the rear seat is as good as it gets in its class. Great legroom, and just perfect ergonomics for my large frame. A lot better than Lexus ES and some Cadillac sedan that I've been in. I complimented the driver on the nice ride. I was however somewhat disappointed with the engine - it sounded very coarse, and I was sure it was one of these stupid turbo 4 cylinders, but then I looked it up and Continental only comes with 6 cylinders. I expect a lot more refinement from a 6 cylinder engine.

mmarshall

Worst rear seat I've encountered on a normal-sized vehicle in the American-market (tiny minicars are another matter) was probably the last-generation Ford Escape (Kuga)...I mentioned it in my review of that vehicle. It was about like sitting on a park bench....hard, stiff, unyielding, almost no padding, and too small for American-sized butts.

Best seats? Hard to say.....I've seen many excellent ones. I like traditional Buick seats and their thick soft padding (IMO the softer the better)...but some of them could use better contouring and seams in the cushions. I also led the tufted-velour seats that were popular on American luxury cars in the 70s and early 80s. French cars of that period (Renault/Peugeot/Citroen) also had extremely comfortable seats (don't know about the modern French cars, as they are not sold here)...the French public at that time demanded soft comfort in seating and ride, and found most German and Swedish cars too stiff.

SW17LS

Shouldn't surprise you at all, that's exactly what the Continental was designed to be used for. Engines are quite coarse I agree, doesn't feel like a luxury car should. Great to ride in to and from an airport sure.

As for back seats, I agree with the GM SUVs, maybe the all new one will be better. I have ridden in the back of my LS460L a couple of times and it's really nice back there. Great ride, seats are angled and positioned just right, great legroom.

JDR76

I always loved the back seat of the first gen GS300. Very, very comfortable.

FrankReynoldsCPA

I always end up driving when my coworkers and I go to lunch....because of the back space room in my truck.

Och

iTrader: (3)

Yeah, nothing beats a proper luxury sedan, and LS460L, S class and LWB 7 series have amazing rear seating.

signdetres

I've always enjoyed the S-Class' rear seat. It's one of the only sedans I actually have headroom in and can sit fully upright in the rear without having to slouch or crane my neck. I found the 7-Series to not have enough headroom as I had to crane my neck a touch (I think the seat bottom is positioned slightly higher than the S-Class).

I think for those who aren't as tall, my '18 4GS actually has really great back seats, comfort wise (not counting legroom, but even then, my issue is with the lack of headroom moreso than legroom). Very well shaped/padded/sculpted. Kind of remind me of the W220 S500 my mom had when I was growing up.

I was recently in the backseat of the new Corolla sedan that I had gotten as an Uber and I wanted to die. I was absolutely miserable. Definitely one of my most uncomfortable recent back seat experiences.

SW17LS

The 4GS has great rear seats, comfortable, well apportioned. The issue there is space, rear legroom is real tight.

GS3Tek

iTrader: (8)

On the same note, I find the middle transmission hump in most lexus (rwd) very high and wide where the middle rear passenger has to straddle it. The Germans don't have it as bad.

mmarshall

All else equal, today's low-profile tires cause vehicles to sit lower, forcing engineers to raise the rear drive-shaft to maintain the same ground-clearance. That, of course, means that the drive shaft has to protrude a little higher into the cabin, necessitating a higher hump to cover it.

SW17LS

Low profile tires do not cause cars to sit lower lol. Low profile tires have much larger wheels that make up for the loss in sidewall height. If anything total wheel/tire diameters today are LARGER causing cars to sit HIGHER.

When’s the last time you saw a 15 or 16 inch wheel with 40 series tires. You see 19 inch wheels with 40 series tires

mmarshall

Well, that's why, in the post (if you saw it), I said all else equal. Many different factors go into what makes vehicle-stance. But engineers and designers are sometimes forced to make the drive-shaft hump a little higher than they would like to.

And, BTW, that's one reason why Chrysler didn't offer the Stow-N-Go seats with the former AWD system on past minivans....the under-floor wells for the seats and the AWD hardware couldn't both occupy the same space.

SW17LS

But all else is never equal because no manufacturer runs low profile tires on the same size wheels they used to run high profile tires on. It simply has nothing to do with the placement of the driveline.

SW17LS

Example, my 1998 LS400 had 16" wheels and 225/60 tires, so the sidewall height was 135 mm, and the diameter of the wheel was 406.4 mm so the total diameter of the wheel and tire was 541.4 inches. My 2017 LS460L has 19" wheels and 235/45 tires. So the sidewall height is 105.75 mm, and the diameter of the wheel is 482.6 mm making the total diameter of the wheel and tire 588.35. So my car with low profile tires has wheels/tires that are 46 MM WIDER. 46MM is almost 2 whole inches, so thats significant.

Modern cars do overall tend to sit lower but thats not because of thinner sidewalls. Lower ride height increases dynamism, improves fuel economy...my LS460 rides 1.1 inches lower than my LS400, but as I illustrated the wheel/tire combo is actually taller.

mmarshall

That's one of the VERY few complaints I have my Lacrosse. They deliberately made the present 3Gen version longer lower, and wider than the last version, even with the standard 50-series tires. (you may not be old enough to remember that old "longer/lower/wider" styling theme from Pontiac back in the late 50s and early 60s...Buick decided to do essentially the same thing with the Lacrosse). It gives the car excellent stability and a smooth ride, but can be a PITA when parking near those concrete barriers in front of your car....I'm very careful pulling into a space, and usually give myself at least several inches leeway. SUVs, of course, don't have that problem...their front bumpers and air-dams are usually high enough to clear those blocks.

We're also getting a little off-topic.....car seats.