Readdoma: A Guide To Car Interiors Layouts

2023 Author: Natalie MacDonald | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-11-26 13:59

It would seem, well, what original can you think of with such a banal thing as the number of seats and their location in the car? Five seats are an ordinary car, seven are large, two are sports. In fact, everything is much more complicated. Here's why

We collect all materials from this cycle under the tag read houses

A little clarification: in this guide we decided to restrict ourselves to the layouts of only more or less serial and relatively fresh cars, which are allowed to be driven with category “B” rights. Some of the models shown are no longer available, but you can buy them without any problems, including on Avto.ru.

Single

An extremely rare layout for serial road cars. One-seaters are much more often racing cars or exclusive projects of a tuning studio. But they still exist: small British companies produce cars designed for one person more often than others. It seems that the island knows better than others what "personal space" is.

Double: two in a row

Twice as many chairs - twice as much room for creativity! However, the classic option is to install two seats next to each other. The salons of almost all coupes and roadsters are arranged according to this principle, regardless of the location of the engine, and some city minicars. And, yes, let's fix it: a convertible with two seats is a roadster, with four is a convertible.

Double: 1 + 1

And now about the fantasy. Much less often, but still there are cars where two chairs are installed not side by side, but one after the other. This scheme is used both by the creators of hardcore sports cars, for example, the Spanish Tramontana, and mass brands like Renault with their Twizzy electric car.

Sudden bonus

This is the Caparo T1. The one that constantly broke down under Jeremy Clarkson. Formally, it is also a two-seater, but it cannot be attributed to any of the previous categories. Because the passenger seat is installed in the T1 to the side and slightly behind the driver's seat. Why is there a passenger seat at all? ¯ / _ (ツ) _ / ¯

Triple rooms: 1 + 2

The layout is almost as rare as the one-seater, but not only that, the three seats are most often found in sports and supercars. The first model that comes to mind when mentioning three-seaters is likely to be the legendary McLaren F1 hypercar. However, a similar scheme with three seats in the cabin and a driver's seat in the middle was used both before the British and after.

Triple: three in a row

Another option for a three-seater layout is three seats in a row. As a rule, these are light trucks like "GAZelles" and pickups with a single cab. But in automotive history, there are also serial cars with one row of seats for three people. Speech, for example, about MatrBagheer (scroll through the gallery).

Quadruple: 2 and 2

In most cases, four seats are the prerogative of expensive executive sedans or large Gran Turismo coupes. That is, cars designed for long and comfortable trips. And now we are talking about exactly two armchairs standing at the back separately from each other, and not a sofa, separated by a large folding armrest. However, a car doesn't have to be fabulously expensive to be a four-seater. An example is MazdRX-8.

Quadruple: 2 + 2

There are also formally four-seater cars with two full-fledged seats in front and a modest gallery behind them - like a Porsche 911. It is believed that children can sit there in case of great need, but most often bags go there. And then there are a couple more amazing examples: the Lotus Evor and the BMW i8. Both models are mid-engined and, as a rule, it is not easy to cram two additional seats, albeit very conventional ones, into such cars. But the British and the Germans did it all the same. At the same time, only the i8 coupe will have four seats: instead of the rear seats, the roadster has a roof folding mechanism.

Five-seater: 2 + 3

The most widespread, popular and demanded layout. Hatchbacks, sedans, crossovers - the entire mass market is five-seater. But if you are still in the bunker, then here are some examples.

Six-seater: 2 + 2 + 2

As a rule, crossovers and minivans become six-seater, the buyers of which, for some reason, abandoned the sofa in the second row in favor of two separate chairs. They say that it is more convenient for children to make their way to the third row … Let's take our word for it.

Six-seater: 3 + 3

But a much more exotic type of six-seat layout: with two rows of three chairs. Such cars are not very popular in Russia, but in Europe and Asia there are enough cars with six seats - three in each row. See our examples.

Bonus

Another variant of the six-seater cabin layout can be found in very expensive executive sedans. For example, the long Mercedes-Maybach S600 Pullman has four seats in the rear, two opposite each other. Similarly, the salon is organized by ateliers specializing in the creation of business vans and mobile offices based on large SUVs.

Seven-seater: 2 + 3 + 2, 2 + 2 + 3 and others

Typical layout of large crossovers, SUVs and minivans. In the former, the folding mechanism of the third row seats is more often different. In crossovers, they are usually retracted into the floor, while in frame SUVs, the seats are often folded and attached to the side walls. For seven-seater vans, the first two rows consist of four separate chairs (two rows of two chairs each), and the third row is a solid sofa. Such a scheme is used, for example, by VW Multivan and ToyotAlpahrd.

Eight-seater

Everything is very similar to the previous point: large crossovers and minivans. The difference is that instead of separate seats in the second or third rows in these cars, the second and third rows are sofas. But on the second row, the sofa consists of two or three parts and can be moved forward, freeing the passage to the third row.

Nine-seater

With so many seats, cars are usually offered that are rarely bought for personal use. Like a long version of the Volkswagen Caravelle. However, nine seats can be, for example, in a completely civilian KiCarnival of the last generation. In a Korean van, the first three rows consist of two separate armchairs, and the third one consists of a small, formally three-seater sofa.