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
I’m 6’3 with long legs and my back gets very sore unless I’m reclined which is a fun combination. This is how I do it:
I have been in very few cars that I feel truly comfortable in.
Gangsta lean
What’s Your Favorite Driving Position?
Jesus, Take the Wheel.
COTD
If the squab of the seat (the butt holding part) can tilt up a little, I tilt it up. If I can lower the seat I lower it. Set the back bolt upright. I’m probably banging my head on the headliner, but that’s just temporary. Then I press hard on the brake pedal and adjust the seat on the track so that my leg is fully extended, then move it forward about 3 inches which usually gets for the maximum force on the brake pedal if I am in a situation where I want to stop the car. Then I tilt the back so that my arms are bent enough to exert maximum force of the steering wheel, which is usually pretty comfortable anyway. With any luck, my head is no longer banging into the headliner.
In some cars, I don’t have to have the seat adjusted as low as it can go, but often I do.
Oh, and in my wife’s Subaru Crosstrek, I then have to adjust my seat so that my knee isn’t banging into this hideous seam in the center console that is there for no reason other than to irritate my knee.
But you know, in nice cars, you can adjust the pedals and the steering wheel to suit your seating position.
I like to have the seatback upright, the seat base slightly inclined at the front to keep me from sliding around, and the whole thing moved back enough that my foot gently rests on the accelerator. The steering column should be extended so that my elbows droop a little and the wheel ought to let me clearly see the instruments. I’m of average height for a a US male so the only common impediment to these preferences is posed by a column that doesn’t tilt. Neither of the vehicles I currently drive pose a problem in that regard.
I dearly want a Lancia Stratos replica but have the good fortune to be financially barred from either owning one or affording the extensive orthoplastic surgery needed to make such a car comfortable to drive.
I’m by no means tall, so I suppose I have the “luxury” of being able to sit however I want as long as the controls are all comfortably within reach. But for me, it largely depends on how the car is set up as far as basic seat/pedals/wheel orientation. I’ve probably driven more various trucks and 4x4s than anything else, which all demand a fairly upright posture for visibility and comfortably operating a clutch and manual transmission.
Cars have been a mixed bag — everything from traditional American large cars with bench seats where you pretty much sit like you’re on a couch, to my Chevy Corsica which had a rather low seating position by design (it very much had a deep “step-down” footwell arrangement). The Corsica’s most natural position was a good deal more reclined than typical cars today — and the seatback was formed so that you had enough support that you weren’t craning your neck, so it was clearly intentional. In that position, the sightline to the mirrors and straight ahead was excellent, and the wheel could be very comfortably positioned for long-distance cruising. It probably centered the driver’s body mass well behind the door beams, too.
Nevermind that most other non-sporting Corsica owners were always driving with their seatbacks ramrod straight and the tilt wheel only one notch down from the fully-up position. Meanwhile, drivers of the twin Beretta coupe were usually seen with their heads nearly in the back seat. Same basic car, same seating, just different number of doors and rather different driver preferences. Meanwhile, GM engineers had designed the natural driving position to be somewhere between the extremes — unfortunately it was just a little more reclined than what I suspect most drivers were used too — closer to the position used in fixed racing seats of the time. Reclined enough that the body has more inertia to overcome before hitting the seat belt but not so reclined that “submarining” below the lap belt is a risk. (The more upright you sit, the easier it is for crash forces to make your head snap forward and your body to double over at the waist, so before modern airbags and pre-tensioning seat belts, it was safer to put the body in a little more reclined position so you were less likely to be slammed so hard into the seat belts, steering wheel, dashboard, windshield, etc..)
As a former Beretta owner, I had to chuckle at your description. Thinking back, the driving position was really low…and the seats punched way above their weight class I thought.
My son who is slightly taller than me prefers being closer and more upright. As in as upright as the seat back goes. Feels very NASCAR to me. I need to be a bit more distant with just a slight recline – call it a more relaxed position. My arms and clutch leg still have a bend to them so I’m not too far.
I’m 6’2″ and I drive closer than what you would expect. I don’t drive “80 year old lady” glued to the steering wheel, but I like to be as close as I can while still being comfortable. I also like a more upright seat back but the cushion has to be almost at its lowest position. I guess I have shorter legs and a longer torso for my height.
I’ve tried to recline and move the seat back, but I feel I’m not as in control. Only on very long trips I recline just a little bit.
What year did they introduce power steering in NASCAR? Upright and big steering wheels was like that for a reason.
I think in the mid-80s? But given the play in most street cars’ steering, that style still works – it’s my usual postion.
All my favorite cars don’t have power steering. The next thing that gets changed on the Porsche is figuring out a way of putting power brakes in it though. Un boosted drums are fine, un boosted discs, not so fine. I think the guy that did the refurbishing thought it was going to be a track car so that might be part of the problem.
Reminds me of the 80’s in Queens when every 19 year old guido was in an Olds Cutlass or Eldorado with the seat reclined and one foot out the window with freestyle music blasting and a giant red, white, and green jellyfish-looking bow hanging from the rearview mirror.
I’ve never understood the lean waaayy back SpaceShuttle lift off position either.
Doesn’t work for me. I’m tall but that means my shoulders are even further from the steering wheel and I don’t have orangutan arms to reach.
I had a friend who drove like that. He only touched the bottom half of the steering wheel ever. I always assumed that he was afraid of getting shot and wanted to slink down as low as possible to be protected by the door.
I’m a big fan of “Right-side-up”
Being 6’8” I have a long torso and long legs. I don’t know if I’ve ever found the perfect driving position. My seat is usually all the way back in most vehicles and slammed to the ground. I try to drive in an upright, most ergonomic, position but even then I’ll have to gangster lean back on 90% of all vehicles. Instead of leaning on the center armrest, I have my left arm resting on the window sill and doing most of the driving.
When turning or merging, my B pillar is my POV unless I glance through the drivers side passenger window and a fun blind spot 99% of the population never has to deal with is the rear view mirror and safety assistance systems on the top of the windscreen. I’ve had 2024 sierra crew cab long beds hide behind those before.
My chiropractor loves me atleast. So far the best vehicle I’ve found that fits my frame almost perfect is the current gen Tundra.
When I was younger I was fully reclined. I had a sportscar so I guess I thought it looked cool. These days my back and neck hurt too much if I do that so I sit more upright.
Regarding the arm rest… I’d probably buy a spare arm rest and put it in a closet somewhere to replace the other one in case it ever dented, just so I could rest my arms.
i’m 6’5″ so my favorite driving position is however i can fit, provided that i can indeed fit. how long i can drive in said position depends on other factors – time, destination, company, etc.
There are plenty of times that I wish I were taller but whenever I get in a car I’m happy I’m average height.
Also airplanes. Being average is fantastic, I tell ya.
I can’t agree there, airline seats have gotten too small even for average ole me.
I’m tall with long legs. I’ve never driven a car where I could get the wheel as close as I would like. I end up sitting in what most people would consider a track position- compromised on legs to get the best reach. On long trips, I will ease back a bit. I never use the arm rests. My last car was a GR Corolla, which doesn’t even have one.
The two things that cause me the most issue are my tailbone and my left knee, so extremely adjustable seats are the name of the game for me. If I can get sorta… I dunno, cradled? That’s the best position for my back, and I need enough space to move my left leg around a bit. If they could somehow make the Eames Molded Plywood chair a car seat, I’d use that. As long as I’m not forced to lean or reach, I’m good. Left arm is usually on the armrest and steering loosely.
I try to sit so that everything important is in easy reach, and I have a good view of what’s around me. My FR-S requires a bit of a lean back to avoid my head getting too close to the ceiling. I also like the bottom of the seat low at the back and angled upwards. My Beetle has like…one seat back position and the rails don’t move very well, so I’m stuck with that. I do have a pair of New Beetle Turbo S seats from one my brother parted out, though…
On long stretches on the highway my right elbow is on the armrest and hand at the 4-5 o’clock position. Left arm idle.
Also i now rule out anything for a daily that doesn’t have lumbar and seat angle adjustment. I reluctantly had to let go of my GE8 Fit just because of the back pain.
I’m 6’3″ with a long torso, so I’ve gotten used to my default driving position being a little “gangsta lean” just to fit in some cars. Telescoping steering wheels help with that. Also sitting bolt upright with no armrest to lean on makes my back sore after a while.
Detroit drivers in the 70’s sat in the middle of their large American land yachts, so the girl friend was close. I assume they only used the left foot on the pedals.
2020funtodrivehondaCRV: steering wheel as near and as down as possible, hands at 8 and 4 palm up resting on my thighs, fingertips and thumb making light adjustments. Left knee bent, foot on doorsill. I can’t handle the symmetry of the dead pedal.
Mondial: right knee against center console, left elbow on door with left hand in Wave Ready Position at the top of the A-pillar!
When my wife or kids borrow my car, they make an exaggerated plop into the seat and say, “pimp mode”.
I tend to have two driving positions, one for manuals and one for automatics. In a manual I sit closer to the wheel and usually have the seat more upright. If I’m driving an automatic I tend to recline a little more and push the seat back a little farther, since I’m not depressing a clutch and moving around a shifter. Hands at 9 and 3.
For track driving I usually sit a little farther forward than I normally would in a manual, elbows at about 90 degrees. Racing seat means no reclining option.
Im tall enough ricer lean was a staple. 3rd generation eclipse convertible required driving from the rear seat the seat was so reclined.
Whatever gets me to fit in an ND Miata. I’m on the taller side, so it’s a squeeze, but I can make it work just enough. Basically bolt upright, legs bent a bit much and arms a little straighter than I’d prefer, but it’s workable, and for a Miata, that’s worth.
Upright, elbows slightly bent, hands at 3 and 9, seat at optimal distance for airbag.
The cars I have are too fast to dare consider anything else.