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?
My ’99 Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero Sport is pretty unassuming from the outside, but it is extremely practical. All the seats fold fully flat, essentially creating a two person bed! I want to take it camping sometime. I’m also pretty sure that if I fold all but the driver seat down, I could fit relatively thin, but up to 3 meter long cargo in it, possibly 4, if I open the tailgate!
The old school 1980s and 1990s Suburbans with the flat floor, not the recent stuff with the power folding seats etc. I recall many a trip in them and as a kid we drove Cleveland to Albuquerque NM. That dual AC, wide open space in back. I think I slept thru the majority of Oklahoma and the Texas Panhandle in a small fort of blankets, a foam mattress in the back of a 1987 Chevy Suburban with tinted rear windows and that ice cold rear AC charged with R12 aimed at me…
Overnight, Throw a decent memory foam or crate type foam mattress, good battery fan or small heater when parking and you’re good!
Sleep? You know the meaning of that word Mercedes? I don’t know how. With the amount of intriguing articles you post all of the time I assumed you never sleep. When do you have time for that? I was under the impression that you work 24/7. Oh and according to my old vintage Nash brochures, their car was the ultimate overnight rest stop hotel. They even offered snap in window screens to keep the bugs out. There is an old promo Nash film on you tube with two fisherman sleeping over in their Nash during a fishing trip. Look it up, it’s a hoot!
I haven’t tried it, but I’ve seen videos of people camping in the Chevy Volt. If you’re able to plug it into an outlet, the battery will run the A/C or heat without poisoning you. Fold the rear seats down, push the front seats forward and hope you wake up in the morning.
Don’t know what it would be like sober, but I had enough sense once in East LA to pull over, recline the driver seat, and zip the tonneau cover up in my ’72 Spitfire.
Woke up when the owner of the car lot was trying to push the car out of his driveway.
He was pretty surprised when I popped up.
So far, the only vehicle I’ve slept in was my former ’85 Caprice. The front bench was pretty comfortable during my nap in a rest area on the way home after a New Year’s party.
I created an account after being on the site for a long time to comment on this. Others have said it already. First gen Honda CRV.
Front seats went forward, tilted fully back after removing the headrest, matched to the back seats after a slight lift and fully tilted.
I’m tall and big and it was better the mattress I could afford back then. I perfected the art of finding the perfect hill or curb to get the seat perfectly flat when stopped. Pull over, less then a minute later I could ready for bed and it was so comfortable and convenient.
Have multiple fond memories road trips with friends where we drove day and night non-stop from Florida to Colorado or Colorado to Central Alberta taking turns getting 6 or 8 hours sleep in the passenger bed. I was once fortunate to be the one who slept through Texas.
I bought an inflatable drink holder for pool parties that perfectly bridged the gap between the front seats so it became a cuddle bed as needed.
Slept in nearly every ski area parking lot in Colorado and Utah in a neg thirty sleeping bag and had a 12v coffee maker I plugged into the trunk socket while the car would warm up before first tracks. Never woke up sore and cranky.
All that and a picnic table under the back.
I carried some insane things inside with the passenger seat set up as a bed, windsurfing gear and board. Multiple surfboards, a huge roof box that I found. I continue to keep searching for one in good nick on trademe as I want it to be my kids first car. Best car I have ever slept in.
Older Japanese SUVs (and vans) are practically unbeatable at this. My Pajero Sport transforms into a big bed just like you wrote too. It was the best surprise when I found that out!
I’ve got a mate in Japan who travels all over the country in his Mazda Bongo van, and like many other Japanese folks he sleeps in the car to save on accommodation. Futon on the cargo floor, add an electric blanket for winters or ice pillows for summers, and it’s usually enough for a great night’s sleep. Tried it once and I slept so good it felt like I had time-skipped 8 hours ahead!
Of course this being Japan, the roadside stations (michi-no-eki) where people park overnight are incredibly well equipped (with electric bidets!) and kept spotless. The parking lots are almost dead silent too; the noisiest thing you hear would be the diesel Hiaces and Coasters idling to keep their ACs on through the night. Crime is almost non-existent as well, though locals would often nick loo rolls from the toilets, so much so that the roadside stations now have their names and addresses stamped onto the rolls!
Uh… any of the full-size conversion vans of the 70s, 80s, and 90s where the rear seat folds down into a bed.
Our ’94 Aerostar did that as well; pull a lever on each back seat, and suddenly you have a full size bed.
Sweet. We had an ‘86 Astro that didn’t do that. You could remove the entire seat though fairly easily.
The best one I’ve been in at least was the rear seat of my Delta88 Holiday Coupe. Soft seat that sort of leans in towards the back so you don’t fall off.
Weird as it sounds, but the question of sleep comfort has been a part of my vehicle purchases for a number of years.
My old ’78 Bronco has ample floor space with the rear seat folded, but the rear bench is also a comfortable place. Last I slept there was on a trip to Denver.
My Saab 9-3 had a comfy seat once reclined, but it was a manual adjust so turning the knob was tiring. With the back seats folded forward there was just enough room to stretch out into the trunk.
My Polestar 2 has very comfortable front seats and when reclined and lowered makes a good place to fall asleep. The rear seats fold forward making a great shelf to put a sleeping pad on and zonk out without a dashboard in the way.
I know I would have only been 7 years old when she sold it, but it would be difficult if not impossible to beat the backseat of my mom’s 1974 Buick LeSabre. That brown and gold paisley/brocade bench seat was like a rolling Sealy PosturePedic. Others were also comfortable through the years, but they only got smaller from there. The back seat of a full-sized 70s land yacht sedan is damn near the size of a twin mattress.
Of course, then there’s the 1949 Nash AirFlyte, whose entire interior collapses into one gigantic bed. Probably not the greatest road trip car for about 40 or 50 years by now, though.