How important is an armrest to you
Discussion
How important is an arm rest to you in your vehicle?
il go - ive had several cars with arm -rest , and to be honest as i get older I do not think id ever want a car without an arm rest.
Really provides good comfort with one. I love the arm-rests in VW cars which are adjustable in height, but also allows you to "pull" forward.
il go - ive had several cars with arm -rest , and to be honest as i get older I do not think id ever want a car without an arm rest.
Really provides good comfort with one. I love the arm-rests in VW cars which are adjustable in height, but also allows you to "pull" forward.
Centre armrests just get in my way driving manual cars. Both my current cars have them. The Citroen armrest flips up out of the way, so it stays up.
In 40+ years of driving, I've never owned a car with an armrest that allows easy use of the handbrake and gear lever, while keeping my elbow on the rest and being able to hold the wheel with my left hand. Driver's door armrests are always too low too.
Having a wide enough door card top to rest my right elbow is far more important to me
In 40+ years of driving, I've never owned a car with an armrest that allows easy use of the handbrake and gear lever, while keeping my elbow on the rest and being able to hold the wheel with my left hand. Driver's door armrests are always too low too.
Having a wide enough door card top to rest my right elbow is far more important to me
Given the size and position of armrests in modern cars, these are more elbow rests than armrests.
I can't say with certainty whether an armrest a deal breaker. I'm leaning towards saying it isn't.
I drive an automatic car abroad, mostly for motorway driving, which doesn't have an armrest but I tend not to notice. Between the seats there are cup holders, plus a USB port, aux port and small open storage facing the rear passengers.
I believe there are aftermarket armrests with storage that simply slide in, but looking at it properly, I don't think an armrest and central storage cupboards are really that much of a thing and I could easily live without either.
Not having one also helps remind me to try and keep my hands at 10 o'clock and 2 o'clock.
Whereas in the UK I drive a manual and that does have a single central armrest set back, covering a small storage hole and aux port, which slides out but will obstruct the handbrake. The car tends to be used for urban driving so I'm constantly changing gears, so there's no advantage to me other than it being something nice to prop your elbow on top of from when doing that!
From my experience, there's a further consideration to be had: whether it's one central armrest that has to be shared by driver and passenger, or whether the driver and passenger seats have their own armrests. It makes a massive difference IMO.
I've owned a couple of mk1 Citroen C5s and the armrests in those were the benchmark others ought to adopt IMO. The driver and passenger each had their own.
They were chunky, angle-adjustable, and fixed to the seats, so no space/stretching issues. Open storage and power socket between the seats.
Coupled with the gas suspension, it was sheer comfort. One passenger marvelled it was like riding around in a giant armchair.
I don't think I've recently come across any other 'ordinary' cars since the C5 (maybe the full-sized Range Rover if my memory serves me correctly, but that's premium), that has individual armrests. As I said, it makes a massive difference.
I can't say with certainty whether an armrest a deal breaker. I'm leaning towards saying it isn't.
I drive an automatic car abroad, mostly for motorway driving, which doesn't have an armrest but I tend not to notice. Between the seats there are cup holders, plus a USB port, aux port and small open storage facing the rear passengers.
I believe there are aftermarket armrests with storage that simply slide in, but looking at it properly, I don't think an armrest and central storage cupboards are really that much of a thing and I could easily live without either.
Not having one also helps remind me to try and keep my hands at 10 o'clock and 2 o'clock.
Whereas in the UK I drive a manual and that does have a single central armrest set back, covering a small storage hole and aux port, which slides out but will obstruct the handbrake. The car tends to be used for urban driving so I'm constantly changing gears, so there's no advantage to me other than it being something nice to prop your elbow on top of from when doing that!
From my experience, there's a further consideration to be had: whether it's one central armrest that has to be shared by driver and passenger, or whether the driver and passenger seats have their own armrests. It makes a massive difference IMO.
I've owned a couple of mk1 Citroen C5s and the armrests in those were the benchmark others ought to adopt IMO. The driver and passenger each had their own.
They were chunky, angle-adjustable, and fixed to the seats, so no space/stretching issues. Open storage and power socket between the seats.
Coupled with the gas suspension, it was sheer comfort. One passenger marvelled it was like riding around in a giant armchair.
I don't think I've recently come across any other 'ordinary' cars since the C5 (maybe the full-sized Range Rover if my memory serves me correctly, but that's premium), that has individual armrests. As I said, it makes a massive difference.
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