Most comfortable seat cushion for a long drive...we needs it.

April 11, 2015 9:18 AM

We're taking my 2013 Jetta on a 2000 mile drive this spring and while it's a blast to drive and great on gas mileage, the seats are not butt friendly at all.

After about an hour the seats literally become a literal PITA. Can you recommend a fave gel or other pad or seat liner of some sort? Is gel best? Or is memory foam? Or something else? Willing to spend $100 a pad, we need two. Online is best but brick and mortar's good too, most big chain stores are only a mile or two away here.

The seats are bucket seat style, "pleather" and black. We're driving in the spring so these seats do not have to have magical heating, nor cooling. Just bottom friendly ahhhhh seats that won't have us shifting and groaning every 10 minutes. Our butts thank you!

posted by the webmistress to Grab Bag (5 answers total)

This is one I use for an office chair that has no padding, it is so very comfortable. I am fat (250lbs+) and this thing has stood up to daily use for over a year and comes in a variety of sizes. I used to get bursitis/tailbone pain even from sitting for an hour, with this I can sit all day in comfort.

Depending on where you get sore you may want to look at a cushion with a cut out for your tailbone, car seats tend to lean you back and put pressure on that area. My doctor suggested I look at wheelchair cushions as they are designed for long term sitting, tend to be better made and tend to be more reasonably priced than anything marketed for travel/office use.

I found memory foam tended to compress down after only a few hours and became pretty useless, but again that could be due to my weight, if you are lighter that may be less of an issue for you. A memory foam topper on a gel cushion might be a good compromise.
posted by wwax at 9:55 AM on April 11, 2015

The leader in seat cushions in the motorcycle industry is Airhawk. They are multichambered inflatable cushions that were originally designed for medical applications, to prevent bedsores. I think the Large Pillion pad would be the best bet for car use. They aren't cheap; the Large Pillion pad retails at $189, but they are very worth the price.

If you do buy an Airhawk, use less air than you think you need. Most people who are unhappy with Airhawks are using too much air in them.
posted by workerant at 11:04 AM on April 11, 2015

Those airhawk-style seats are made for wheelchairs, and seem to be cheaper in that application(and more correctly shaped) than the motorcycle variety.

They look to be right around $100 in general too.
posted by emptythought at 3:51 PM on April 11, 2015

So great. Will explore all of these and look for reviews. Thank you all!
posted by the webmistress at 7:17 PM on April 11, 2015

FYI, we got the Aylio cushions and they're fantastic!
posted by the webmistress at 2:05 PM on April 23, 2015