Why are standard consumer cars always made with a passenger seat? Seems a waste. 95% of my driving is done with just me in the car. Right now I am owned by a 15 years young Honda Accord. There is so much I don’t need or really want. For example 3 of 4 doors, windows, seat belts and seats, part of the dash, 2nd cup holder, 2nd air vents and a foot or more of car width. The trunk door can stay.
Being a voluptuous woman of size, I really don’t want the smaller seats that come with the current even smaller cars. In fact I’d like a roomier one. And with the passenger seat gone, why can’t I have a first class seat arrangement? Now I know that there are all sorts of engineering changes needed here, but are any reliable car companies working on this option?
The McLaren F1 had a central driver seat, with 2 passenger seats behind and to either side. It was a million bucks new, and fetches roughly that used.
Mercedes at one point was working on a minivan with a central driver seat, but it never came to fruition.
The roomiest seats out there are to be found in conversion vans, but if you don’t like the wasted room in your Accord, you’ll be really annoyed at the van.
One person I know who is “voluptuous/of size” quite likes her CRV from a seating perspective.
My aunt is a large lady and is very happy with her Ford Flex, but I don’t think that is exactly what you are looking for.
If you take your logic too far, EVERY car on the road is a huge waste of time, space, energy, etc.
You could remove all of the unnecessary parts from the interior (as in a rally car) and save weight and increase gas mileage, but the difference might be 1 or 2 mpg.
Why not remove the passenger seat, and replace it with a humidor, or a chiller for your champagne, or a small refrigerator to hold your Grey Poupon? Find the nicest Lincoln Continental or Town Car you can find, and have the passenger seat replaced with something you like better. Then get a mini-bar installed in the back seat. You never know when company will stop by.
Cars are made with seating for passengers because automobiles are designed not for you, but for everyone else on the planet.
Even the vast majority of motorcycles have seating for two, with only a select few bikes that are only designed for the rider, and those are typically full on track weapons.
If you really want to be a frugal as you say you are, then you should buy a motorcycle, and not waste all that extra metal that was used to build a car. Saves gas, saves money, and makes you feel all giddy inside when you ride around, having a fantastic day.
I’m sure there is a car audio shop that would be happy to replace ALL your seats with subwoofers. Otherwise, Kubota and Deere make excellent single seaters. Of course that other 5% you do have someone with you, you’re sunk.
Somehow, the desire to eliminate passenger seating seems…misanthropic.
Even if someone rarely has passengers in his/her car, to assume that you would never have a need to carry a passenger is just…strange, IMHO.
“Somehow, the desire to eliminate passenger seating seems…misanthropic.”
Oh great VDC; I can’t even respond to a comment without asking my English teacher wife what you said. Please have a little more compassion for some of we(us) math dead heads and use words with three syllables or fewer or more common usage. My wife had to correct the “we” for me too. :=)
Sorry for being somewhat obscure!
A misanthrope is someone who dislikes people and/or wishes to avoid contact with other people. Trying to eliminate passenger seating just seems…misanthropic, shortsighted, and…strange…to me.
A “volupsuous woman of size” is like a man saying he’s “husky”. I prefer to think the very best and leave it at that. If you want to go there, you’re on your own.
