There comes an inevitable point in a road trip when you feel the need to shut the drive down for the night and get some rest. Most people do the cushy thing and get a hotel room, but if you’re a cheapskate like me, you’ll find a rest stop and lie down in your car.
I’ve noticed that some folks take this pretty seriously. If you hang around a rest stop long enough, you’ll find hotshot drivers with beds in the backs of their crew cab heavy-duty pickups. I’ve also seen families in minivans with curtains, string lights, and most of the bits you’d find in a camper van.
I’m not like that. I pack extremely lightly for a trip, so the only sleeping gear I bring is a pillow and a blanket. The vehicle’s seats function as my bed. This had led to both great and horrible sleeping experiences on the road.
The worst sleeping experience I’ve had is, without a doubt, the Scion iQ.
The iQ has a couple of problems working against it. The car is too small to actually lie down in, but that’s not surprising because, well, it’s super tiny. The little Scion makes up for it with front seats that recline pretty far back. However, these seats are about as comfortable as the ones you’ll find in a city bus. The only times I ever catch anything resembling sleep in the iQ is when I’m a drunk passenger.
Weirdly, this isn’t an issue for the Smart Fortwo (below), because the Smart has a fold-flat passenger seat. If you’re traveling solo, bring a couple of pillows, a yoga mat, and a blanket, and you should be able to achieve something resembling okay-ish sleep. Or, bring a tiny inflatable mattress and have surprisingly decent sleep.
I’m usually driving a big truck of some kind when I pick up a car from across the country, so I typically just lie down in the back seat with a pillow and blanket and achieve a decent night’s sleep.
I expected the 2025 Ford F-250 Super Duty XL regular cab loaner that I have right now to be no different.
It doesn’t have a back seat, but it does have a 40/20/40 bench seat that looks like it could be a decent bed. Unfortunately, the center part of the bench folds, but it does not recline. It also doesn’t move back. So, if the center of the bench is in the way, there’s not much you can do about it. This makes the regular cab F-250 one of my least pleasurable sleeping experiences.
My favorite road trip sleeping experience yet was in the 2025 Ford F-350 Super Duty Platinum Plus. Ford went through a lot of work to make its flagship Super Duty as comfortable as a luxury car. The F-350’s seats do an amazing job of soaking up huge bumps. A byproduct of this is that the rear seat is almost as comfortable as the bed I have at home.
I was able to get a full eight hours of sleep in the back of the F-350, and I felt as refreshed as I would have sleeping at home. That was with nothing more than using my clothes as a pillow and a truck stop blanket.
Here’s where I turn things over to you: What car has the best seats for snoozing? For the purposes of this exercise, the cargo areas of vans and wagons don’t count, we’re strictly talking seat-sleeping. Recline and relax, stretch out across the rear bench … what cars are most comfy for a night?
A wagon with a fold flat seat. I slept in the back of my 1991 Cavalier wagon during finals in college (people liked to pull fire alarms in the dorm at all hours) and my 2003 Jetta Wagon TDI.
I thought a stow and go Caravan would be good but the floor isn’t actually flat when the seats are stowed. That resulted in poor sleep when we rented one for a camping trip.
Our 2004 Astro van was good with campervan version 1.0 (rear seats removed – sleep on the floor)
Not sure if this counts because it’s not sleeping ON the seats, but in my 5th gen 4Runner with the slide out cargo tray, I have a completely flat surface in which to stretch out. At 5’10 I’m perfectly comfortable and have had great nighty’s sleep in there, especially when it’s raining.
For taller people, removing the rear seat bottoms would free up at least another 8″ of length to stretch out in.
I find my Mazda 5 is OK for rear seat napping on the move. I assume overnight sleep is even better. Ample legroom with sliding and reclining functions help a lot.
Also sliding doors can be handy for being able to stay open for ventilation without being slammed shut by a gust of wind.
Legally? I still remember dozing off in the bed of a pickup for one of our Pensacola trips. Was young, stupid, and living in the gulf coast at the time. Nothing like bouncing around with nothing but sky above you.
My Genesis Coupe. Those seats were hella comfy and amazing on road trips. I could do 7 hours in that seat and be no worse off than a 15 minute drive.
The seats would recline nearly flat and the bolsters were just supportive enough to keep you in place.
When I started working nights, I was doing an hour commute on the highway. After putting four off in the gravel at 120km/h, I resolved to take naps at a park & ride partway home if I felt unable to do the full stretch.
The entire cockpit of that car worked amazing for naps. I’d take a 30 to 45 minute nap and be more rested than my own bed at home.
Ford Aerostars with the Eddie Bauer package.
Because the 2nd/3rd row benches had a special feature to fold in to one continuous bed across the 2nd + 3rd rows.
Here’s a video that shows what I mean:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9TSUhBDNdY
Well, duh. The Toyota Alphard Executive Lounge. Isn’t this coming to America as a new Lexus?
Honda Element is almost always the answer.
At 6’2″ and 230 literally none whatsoever. Maybe I should look for an old Rambler?
Similar height… My Peugeot 504 had comfy seats that leaned pretty far back. In college, my Datsun 510 wagon with the rear seat folded down wasn’t bad with a sleeping bag underneath me for cushioning, although I had to assume a semi-fetal position.
I grew up in a family whose idea of a fun vacation was to pile into a non air conditioned, vinyl interior car, drive to godawful campsites, and pitch a family-sized tent. During my high school and college years, I slept in a Beetle where the seats didn’t recline fully, and a Z-28 where the seats didn’t recline at all. Therefore, I am at the station in life where my overnights consist of a very comfortable hotel bed. To paraphrase Scarlett O’Hara: “As God is my witness, I will never sleep in a car (or a damn tent) again!”
Related to the iQ, the other OG Scions had fold flat seats that you could make the whole interior one spacious platform, pretty comfortable when needed.
I believe Jason found the Rodius most comfortable.
As long as the top doesn’t leak (much) and/or it’s not raining (much), I’m not all that picky about the seats.
I’m only 5’9″ and 165 pounds, so finding sleep in nearly every automobile is very possible for me. But of course, the best were the old large American sedans that had front bench seats. Those are perfect for sleeping in.
The Superduties have front seats that fully recline for sleeping purposes…
That, and the Aztec due to…you know…the tent.
As an XXL human, my answer is not many.
“stretch out across the rear bench”
My first reaction is incredulity that any rear bench can accommodate an adult human. But I recall knowing a guy with an early ’70s Cadillac land yacht with an exceptionally wide rear seat. I could lay down and (sorta, kind of diagonally) stretch out on the rear seat. It was quite comfortable. I probably could have slept in that car.
As for modern cars, I can’t think of any. I’m doomed to spend my road trip nights in a Holiday Inn Express.
Some years ago, I rented a Yukon XL for a family road trip from Denver to LA. While I did most of the driving, my (now ex-) wife spelled me for a while through Utah. The third row seating in the Yukon was very comfortable for this 6’5″ lummox to curl up in for a nap.
I don’t overnight in my cars, but if I’m a passenger on a long trip, I’ll almost always nod off. Best mod for this? The E65 BMW 7-series introduced headrests that have a separate neck cushion that flips out at the sides, like the headrest on an airplane. These headrests will also swap directly into the Comfort or Contour seats on older E38 and E39 7- and 5-series models. So when I put the Comfort seats into my E39 wagon, I got a set of E65 headrests for ultimate car napping comfort.
Anything with Apple CarPlay. You can just ask Siri to find you a decent hotel along the route.
I am just bummed that Jeep JKU and JLU are just to short in the back with the seats folded for a 6ft person to sleep without curling up a bit. Just a few more inches of space in the back would make all the difference.
The 1966 AMC Rambler 770 station wagon has a back seat that reclines into an awesome bed. I’ve slept in one and it’s great. Not sure why nobody has copied this idea.
Many Ramblers, and Nashes before them, shared this feature.
I posted this elsewhere before I got to your post. My Dad and I did it a few times and it was fun.
Back in the early 00s I worked for a few years as a courier, most of this was in my ’03 Tacoma extended cab. The thing about being a courier is you don’t always have something to deliver but you may need to stay on the other side of town in case a call comes in from that location. If I cleared up downtown I could go into the office but if I was on the west side my choices were limited to fast food restaurants or shops. After a while you’ve visited all of those so you just sit in your car with a book. For whatever reason I can’t read in a car for more than 30 mins with nodding off so I ended up sleeping in the driver seat of that Taco more than my own bed it seems. I kept a small travel pillow and bucket hat (to cover my face) behind the seat just for my naps. As a result of this I can tell you exactly which parking garages in the Houston Galleria area are great for sleeping in.
The bed in a conversion van (not a camper van, just a regular conversion) is quite adequate, although the plush seats in those are sufficient on their own.
The bench seats in older E-series passenger vans are also decent.
Ford Aerostar, my sister and I slept a lot on family trips in the second and third rows. That third row seat was almost as long as my bed at home, and just as comfortable, give me a pillow and my Discman and I was out.
We once flew from Georgia to Texas. It was my wife and I with our two small girls in tow. When we landed, my parents picked us up at the airport in their Chrysler Town and Country. My younger daughter, under a year old, was super cranky from the trip, but she refused to sleep anywhere but on me, with the seat reclined.
So for my daughter, it’s the middle row captain’s chair in a 2nd gen Town and Country with her dad as a pillow/mattress.
At least, that was the case 20 years ago.