As much as they ooze stodginess, bench seats are quite comfortable and allow their occupants to stretch out much more than today’s bucket seat ever could. And to the dismay of many relaxed road-goers, the era of the bench seat is drawing to a close with the introduction of the all-new Chevrolet Impala. Yes, there will be no more passenger cars in North America that will offer a bench seat going forward.
That is, unless you rent an outgoing Impala from Hertz or something, as the the ninth-generation Impala is expected to continue its role as a fleet queen.
Comments
Drivers won’t really miss it, but passengers may. I always hated driving on a bench seat. The space is comfortable for passengers, but drivers should be centered towards the steering wheel. Also, as for the sixth seat, I never liked driving with a person against my shoulder.
bummer i’ve had a few cars with them and i’ve always liked them my 2012 silverado has one and i really like it
It’s about time to retire this relic. These are an obvious left-over for the horse and buggy days. Bye bye!
Was never a fan of the bench seat. Although my De Ville, Le Sabre and Delta 88 GM barges all had the reclining split bench seats with armrests that were easy to live with. I hope the non-split bench seat is gone forever. The lack of a center airbag helped kill this beast I think.
Love the look of this new Impala! I like the Mercedes CLS side styling (that MBZ stole from the 65- 66 Impala). The design elements give the front a real Chevrolet identity- reminds me of the 1980 Impala, that’s a good thing!
I’m planning on keeping the bench in my truck when i get it done up. With it being a reg cab i need all the passenger room i can get. plus the middle seat will be for my girlfriend
I remember my first car was a 1981 Buick Skylark. It tried to fool you thinking you had bucket seats with a center console, but no, it was actually a bench seat. You still had to ride both seats forward to adjust yours. God help you if there was no passenger!!
Well I’ll be keeping my current car till in rusts into the ground. While the current car doesn’t have a true bench seat it has it’s close brother the 60/40 but that’s close enough. Yes when I was young a console was cool but now I just find it as too much confinment with today’s smaller interior spaced cars. I guess the next vehilce will be a used car, try for a new fleet type, truck ?, or investagate overseas
And obviously with the bench seat goes the column-shifter. I love those things. Seriously. Well…I suppose the ex-police cruiser cars (Ford and Chrysler, from what I can tell) will still have them.
Aw, this is kinda sad but there are a ton of old cars out there that can be brought back to life! We have a ’50 Dodge and I have to say, the bench seat in the front it about my favorite part of the car! It’s kinda like being transported back in time when the guys drove their cars with one arm around their girls. Yeah, nostalgic I know! But it is still kinda novel to me since pretty much none of my cars after the first had bench seats!
Goodnight, sweet prince.
At least you could let the Column shifter but with the console and Bucket seats.. (Like MB’s but with a Buick classic column shifter instead of a fancy stick)
Its really annoying buying a Full size sedan with a central console shifter…. and dont tell me its difficult to do its all Electric now…