The 10 Best Car Seats In Existence

While modders love to replace standard wheels with oversized rims, perhaps even swapping the steering wheel for a sexy Momo one, the poor seat always seems to be forgotten. But not today. No. We’ve rounded up some of the best (and worst) car seats in existence.

10: Top Gear "Quaint My Ride" seats

Here at Car Throttle we like to stand out, and Mr Clarkson’s country pub seating arrangement for a vintage Merc S Class definitely stands out – but sadly for all the wrong reasons. Clarkson’s seating “solution” fails to stand up to the forces of acceleration, cornering, braking... and we suspect even mild indigestion, so skip the baked beans. Next!

9: Squidgy leather armchairs

Cows are moronic creatures that do nothing but chew grass all day and fart enough to blow the ozone layer into shreds. Our grass-grazing bovine buddies are neither attractive nor clever, so we say yes to leather seats. But no to slippery, shapeless cowskin chairs that freeze your ass in winter and stick to your thighs in summer.

8: Velour

Back in the 70s everything was brown; clothes, wallpaper, Tom Jones’s hair and all car seats. And velour was the material of choice for brown-obsessed car interior designers. However, this dreary, dowdy, depressing fabric looks like it’s been peeled off the lower levels of hell and stained in the Thames for several thousand years. No thanks.

7: Bucket seats with full racing harness

Bucket seats have their place. Rally drivers need hip hugging, arse grasping buckets, specced with million point racing harnesses to stop them falling out of the car on every powerslidey corner. The rest of us however, don’t. And with racing harnesses requiring a degree in quantum physics to operate, buckets are more suited to racing drivers blasting around Le Mans than wannabe boy racers cruising around Lewisham in sh*tbox Corsas.

6: Retro

Back in the olden days when men were men and women were... not men, health and safety hadn’t even been invented. This is a good thing. However while old skool semi-buckets look the business, with no form of head rest whatsoever, your head will snap clean off if someone rear ends you. Not cool.

5: Bench seats

Now, there is only one reason bench seats don’t come dead-last in our line up. While they may be useless for a quick ride around town, they’re a lot better for a quick ride with your girl as they offer space to stretch out and the absence of an invasive gear stick or handbrake on the err “seating” surface. Ya get me?

4: Luxury seats

OK, this one’s more for people who live in the back seat than those who get to steer, but in return for sacrificing control you get a hell of a lot of toys. With individual, electrically reclining seats you can lay back and relax and play with the “multicontour backrests” and “dynamic lumbar support” and choose from cooking or cooling your arse cheeks and massaging or pummelling your back. Mmm, comfortableness.

3: Leather sports seats

We may have slated slippery standard cowskin seats earlier, but leather sports seats get us much more excited. With the side support to stop you slipping straight out the window, leather sports are right up there. High quality leather looks, feels and smells a million dollars and comes in some suitably zany colours. We like.

2 : Cloth sports seats

If you prefer your cows a little bit less dead, you’ll like cloth sports seats. Ok, they may not feel quite as high end as leather but you are compensated with the option of some funky patterns. Tartan GTi fabric anyone? Unlike leather you’re not going to slip ‘n slide across the car or have to peel your sweaty thighs off the seats every time the sun decides to make an appearance. But we can’t help thinking seats should feel just a little bit more... special.

1: Alcantara sports seats

No we have absolutely no idea who Alcan Tara is either, but we do know that she makes some sexy seats. And Lamborghini obviously agrees having specced a gorgeous pair of ‘tara seats for its mega LP 570-4 Super Trofeo Stradale. Likewise Maserati, Porsche, BMW and Audi all spec alcantara for their tastiest models. What you need to know is that alcantara looks wicked, feels quality with a suede-esque texture and works perfectly with leather highlights to make the ultimate sports seat. And no we still don’t know what it’s made from.