My wife has retired her 2015 RAV4 and, as a Toyota-for-lifer, she has replaced it with a Lexus NX 250. Until a recent trip to Austin, I had only driven the NX by myself, and just a mile or so to the car wash. As I got hours of seat time on this trip to Austin with my wife, I learned there is a no-armrest rule. As in, I mustn’t use the armrest to rest my arm. Because I might dent it.
As you can imagine, a four-hour highway sesh without being able to assume my signature road-trip position – slouched heavily to the right, really enjoying the armrest, right hand hanging over the console while my left is hooked over the wheel at the 12 o’clock position – was quite uncomfortable.
I suffered along with both hands on the wheel like some kind of safety nerd, and recalled I’m supposed to have my hands at the three and nine positions clockface-wise, which I do not like. I’m a two-and-ten guy, and yes, I know about the airbag and why you don’t want to have your arms at two and ten, but sorry, I just can’t. I’m old and untrainable.
As for how I drape the rest of my frame on the driver’s seat and pedals, I think I’m pretty standard. The seatback isn’t particularly laid back or bolt upright, and my left foot rides the dead pedal. On long drives, I might pull that left foot back close to the seat.
I don’t tend to notice many others’ driving positions when I’m on the road, but there are two weird modes that stand out, and when I spot them, it’s always the youths assuming the positions in question. The first is “driver somehow in the middle of the car.” How is the driver’s head perfectly aligned with the CHMSL? Or even slightly to the right of it? I’m behind an Altima, not a McLaren F1! Like, I may lean a little rightward when I drive (I’m on the armrest, remember), but I remain fully within the confines of the left side of the cabin.
The other mind-boggler is the “10G liftoff position,” wherein the driver is fully reclined or close to it, seat pushed all the way back, so at most all you can see is the top of his head, which is well past the B-pillar. How do they reach the wheel? How is that comfortable? I tried it, it’s awful!
Anyway …
What’s Your Favorite Driving Position?
Top graphic image: Nissan
Depends on how long the trip is as longer times require moving a bit, but mostly, I recline it a bit, but nowhere near as flat as the 5’4″ tire jockeys would return my car to me (I’m 5’11” and longer limbed). I like the wheel close, which usually means near the extent of travel with the seat bottom back a bit, but not so much that my legs are stretched out. Again, those short tire guys somehow move my car not only with a flat seat back, but with the seat at the full extent of rear travel where even I might have a hard time fully pressing the clutch (this is why I have 2 sets of wheels and drop the other set off when I get new tires). I sit a little higher than I prefer, but even my GR86 doesn’t go that low and the height helps to see. I can’t sit upright as it hurts my back, though I don’t have apparent back problems, so single cab pickups, vans, etc. and Miatas are no-gos for me for any time longer than an hour. If I do longer, I’ll want to run everyone ahead of me off the road so I can get to my destination sooner. With an old work E-250 with a cage restricting seat recline where I’d have to drive for more than an hour regularly, I’d end up moving the seat forward a little to recline a few degrees, then lean into the corner between the door and seat to drive with my left foot and have my right on top of the engine cover. Coworkers would marvel at how I could drive with my left foot, but it’s not really any different than driving with your right (maybe winning a gocart in a raffle as a kid had me adjust to it so readily, IDK, but I also left-foot braked my cars from the time I got my license). I marveled at how they could stand the seats.
As a young man, all my car seats only adjusted back or fourth. So I adjusted them where I could comfortably reach the pedals with my arms close enough to the wheel for leverage for when I had to hang on around a curve. Thus imprinted, I tend to adjust my seat that way now.
I run the seat as high up as possible, and was far back as I can while still reaching the controls comfortably – and despite how the car wants them in that position (they automatically rise to their upper position when I have the seats so positioned) headrests all the way down.