Most comfortable vehicle?

Difficult to choose.

If I had to say, it would be my old '73 Imperial-

Our '96 Roadmaster wagon was really close, but it is difficult to feel comfortable when you are worrying about your next Optispark failure.

Straight-line interstate, those malaise couches sure are pretty comfy.  My problem with them is that every exit ramp has to be taken at 20 mph because not only do you slide across the seat (or into the door), but the stay-puft springs and pencil-thickness sway bars let's it roll over on its side.

Having just purchased my first car in the "personal luxury" sector (97 Lincoln Mk VIII), I have to say it's pretty amazingly comfortable.  Couch-like seats, awesome driving position, great visibility, and 4-wheel airbags.  I have since ruined the cushy ride by tricking it into lowering the airbags, but handling isn't awful, and the side bolsters do a great job of keeping your ass planted.

I also have to give props to the W210 I used to have.  I never understood how Mercedes seats are so firm, yet so able to cradle my tush for 500 miles without a single wriggle, squirm, or repositioning.  The W210 (and many other euro-luxo cars) somehow have found a way to make the handling more than competent and yet still quiet and smooth.  The W210 handled better than my dropped and stiffened Impala SS, and the ride was infinitely better.

1996 Grand Caravan with cloth seats. Best combination of comfort, support, and driving position.

I miss that van. The dog does too

First Gen LS400 does make a compelling case.  It's the kind of comfort that leaves you more rested and present AFTER a long drive.  A Cadillac puts you to sleep.  A compact beats you up.  After 4 hours in the LS you feel good and you're 300 miles away from whatever was bugging you enough to leave town.

Comfort for me means my back doesn't hurt after several hundred miles, and that's more dependent on the seat than anything else. My MINI is good for a 1000 miles, and so were the Astros I had years ago. The Dodge Magnum I had 15 years ago wasn't bad, but was a rung below the MINI. One thing I learned in the auto seating industry was that you can't simply move a great seat from one vehicle to another and expect the same comfort. It does interact with the suspension and they should be designed as a system.

Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) said:

Straight-line interstate, those malaise couches sure are pretty comfy.  My problem with them is that every exit ramp has to be taken at 20 mph because not only do you slide across the seat (or into the door), but the stay-puft springs and pencil-thickness sway bars let's it roll over on its side.

Having just purchased my first car in the "personal luxury" sector (97 Lincoln Mk VIII), I have to say it's pretty amazingly comfortable.  Couch-like seats, awesome driving position, great visibility, and 4-wheel airbags.  I have since ruined the cushy ride by tricking it into lowering the airbags, but handling isn't awful, and the side bolsters do a great job of keeping your ass planted.

I also have to give props to the W210 I used to have.  I never understood how Mercedes seats are so firm, yet so able to cradle my tush for 500 miles without a single wriggle, squirm, or repositioning.  The W210 (and many other euro-luxo cars) somehow have found a way to make the handling more than competent and yet still quiet and smooth.  The W210 handled better than my dropped and stiffened Impala SS, and the ride was infinitely better.

If you're dive-bombing exit ramps, you're not really looking for comfort :) Just relax into it, there's no hurry. Let the smooth flow through you. And this can predate the malaise era, let's just go with basic land yacht.

Some of the most comfortable seats in my fleet are actually in my Vanagon. A big part of it is the very tall van seating position, you're sitting upright like you're at a table. Part of it is proper captain chair armrests. And the general shape is good. But the rest of the vehicle prevents it from being the most comfortable vehicle, mostly due to HVAC that doesn't really.

My 987.1 is the most comfortable car I have owned. many trips across country in it an never a complaint.

After 2 10hr days in the car even Mrs. preach commented that it was so comfortable that after 20 hours in the thing her butt did not hurt. I have done 18 hours straight in it and felt no fatigue.

I don't get the 70s and 80s American tanks. they didn't ride better. They sat better. You could sit stationary in one for HOURS and probably feel fine. But anything that has steering that ponderous is tiring after not terribly long. Anything with literally 0 lateral support is tiring because you're always bracing  yourself so you don't slide around. My first car was a '76 Coupe de Ville, so I know of what I speak.  
I've owned a lot of cars and the two that pop to my head as being comfy are the NS body style ChryCo minivans (the jelly bean style). Like was said above, super comfy, especially with cloth seats.  The second was my 124 body style mercedes 300D. When I bought it I hit the road back home. When it was time to fill up I realized that I just clicked off 700 miles and didn't even know it. I filled up and kept on going.
My 89 grand wagoneer was very comfy as well, but the leaf spring suspension did make it a bit choppy, so it didn't make my list.

In reply to Crxpilot :

I have the same model LS in gold beige. The state inspector said it was one of the most comfortable cars he's been in, not bad for being 20 years old and 370k miles.

In reply to preach :

mine was comfortable as long as the road was decent, really liked the driving position. However, when the road got a bit less smooth you could definitely feel it more than any of my other cars. I got to the point where I knew what lane to be in at any point on all of the atlanta highways to avoid bumps

The most comfortable seats were a 1987 Lincoln Town Car. They were more comfortable than the recliner in my living room. Interstate miles melted away without a care. It did not handle well at high speeds and would literally drag the rockers if you made any abrupt movements but for tooling around town or eating up the miles there wasn't much better. Driving from here to Alaska, it would be my car of choice. 

But the best ride without a doubt, goes to the Bentley. Little bumps just vanish. The big ones it just sucks up like a trophy truck. The Town Car was pretty good but not even close to the Bentley in the ride department. The Bentley also has the advantage of being able to go around a corner without the rockers hitting the ground. It would be my first choice for a cross-continent trip if it wasn't for the impossible to get parts that are going to fail. 

The suspension arms are literally 3' long. Nothing else can compare.

The frame is so heavy and deep that there is zero chassis flex. You can lift one tire 24" off the ground and the doors open and close like butter. Nothing twists. It's pretty amazing. 

The seats aren't quite as comfortable as the Town Car but they are a close second. 

Passenger vehicles are not comfortable because the seating position is always a compromise to facilitate more room somewhere else or a lower profile. Anyone who has driven a long haul truck sees quickly what the seating position should be for driving a lot of miles. You need to be in an upright position not too different from a kitchen chair, but then add in ten ways of adjustability,  heating and cooling and air ride. I have done 1000 miles in a day in reasonable comfort in a truck more than once but 500 in a car feels like more.

In reply to Toyman! :

I can dig the town car.  Super comfy, but my problem with many of those era cars was that the ergo was awful.  Changing the radio station, turning on the lights, or adjusting the A/C felt like a journey to the dashboard.  Part of my comfort is having everything within the arc of my arms' reach

Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to Toyman! :

I can dig the town car.  Super comfy, but my problem with many of those era cars was that the ergo was awful.  Changing the radio station, turning on the lights, or adjusting the A/C felt like a journey to the dashboard.  Part of my comfort is having everything within the arc of my arms' reach

Ah, but true luxury is having someone else do those menial tasks for you. A nice looking copilot who may rest laying across a nice bench seat between such ...jobs. 

Late model F150 with all the bells and whistles is awesome.  1000 mile days are completely doable - over and over and over.

My 2015 Land Cruiser was really nice too, but the infotainment was pretty dismal so that was a blem in an otherwise perfect vehicle.  That and the gas mileage.  

In reply to BlueInGreen - Jon :

I want to rub that dog's ears, give him a beef jerky treat, and tell him he's a good boy.

I had a Buick Rendezvous for a while that was the most comfortable vehicle I've ever had, mainly for the same reasons as your van.  It was the perfect road-trip vehicle for four people and their luggage and could haul an amazing amount of stuff even though it was less than a foot longer than a Saturn SL2.  I now have a 3rd-gen Odyssey that is a little noisier than the Buick was, and the seats aren't quite as comfortable, and you can't get the steering wheel exactly where you want it, and I miss AWD...but the Ody does everything else better.

Most comfortable vehicle I ever drove was a later model Lexus ES330 F-Sport I rented thru Turo in Florida a few years ago on vacation. That was a Q-ship that would eat up highway miles and float down the road at 75-90 mph with the air cranked. 

gixxeropa said:

In reply to preach :

mine was comfortable as long as the road was decent, really liked the driving position. However, when the road got a bit less smooth you could definitely feel it more than any of my other cars. I got to the point where I knew what lane to be in at any point on all of the atlanta highways to avoid bumps

I just turn PASM off and it rides like a Caddy.

My daily drivers have all been comfortable.  It's a requirement for me.  If they're not then I fix it so that they are.  I put aftermarket seats in my '78 C10 and my '86 E-150 to make them comfortable and I put Ford Ranger seats in my '93 RAM 2500.  I ordered my '01 F250 with captains chairs and selected my '15 RAM 3500 in part because of the captains chairs.  The ride is a compromise in trucks and vans but 90% of my long distance driving is done with either a load in the back or with a trailer and that (and good shocks) is all it takes to smooth out the ride.

I drove a '95 Cadillac Fleetwood hearse on a nice accuair setup across Michigan not long ago and its definitely the most comfortable vehicle I ever hauled an engine with.

E39 with E38 18 way seats, cupholder and audio upgrades is my jam. Relatively modern Escalade is a close second. 

E34 525iT 5-speed tops the list of the cars I've owned. For me, it was the "right size", comfy seats, quiet, rode beautifully, and had all the electronics I wanted. Surprisingly little wind noise, decent gas mileage, did a very good job of eating up the miles. Really wish I hadn't wrecked it.

Recently did a road trip in a buddy's quite new F150 ecoboost. It was pretty close to the best, but the ride quality was oddly not much better than my Suburban 2500. The E34's combo of lots of sidewall and a good amount of suspension travel under a much lighter vehicle seemed to really help.

The most comfortable vehicle I ever owned was a 1986 Honda CRX Si.   

It just fit me right (5'-8"/ 150lbs). Seats were comfortable and nicely positioned.   The shifting was telepathic.  I  have  had three Miatas, with totally rebuilt shifters, and none of them shifted as smoothly as the CRX did.

  The 2 seat hatch back set up had plenty of space for luggage for two. 

I put 100k miles on it, lots of it over 80mph on rural interstates,  I still regret selling it.

I'll throw another vote for late 90s Buick. Few years ago was rolling my dad's like 98 Park Avenue Ultra (supercharged v6) and took 4 friends hiking about an hour away leaving about 6 am and covering about 8.5 miles. Had all 4 asleep on the ride home. One girl mentioned it was like driving a couch.

Yeah my family had an early 90s Buick with the velour seats. That car was a E36 M3box but it rode real nice