# Do dating couples still sit close together in the car? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 28, 2011, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-dating-couples-still-sit-close-together-in-the-car/587155 "2011-06-28T17:02:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-dating-couples-still-sit-close-together-in-the-car/587155/21 "2011-06-29T12:00:45Z")
I picked “No”, since most cars have bucket seats. Even my pickup truck has a console in the middle now. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-dating-couples-still-sit-close-together-in-the-car/587155/22 "2011-06-29T12:26:32Z")
> [@Jaledin](#): > > Sure. But I’m not 12 years old, so I don’t go on dates. If I were on some outing with someone I liked, yeah, she could sit close. In fact, I’d like it. Twelve? :eek: You didn’t mean to write like…sixteen, did you? ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-dating-couples-still-sit-close-together-in-the-car/587155/23 "2011-06-29T12:34:17Z")
It is a loss to the Great American Car Culture, but considering that many people want to do the cuddling (and things beyond mere cuddling) _while in motion_, it has probably saved some of those people’s lives. I don’t think any current-model sedan sold in the USA has a proper bench seat anymore – meaning one in which someone could properly sit at the center station, as opposed to there just being a minimal “bridge” of a cushion between right and left with a foldable armrest for a seatback and the center console requiring any potential middle rider to sidesaddle it. Even the last generation Crown Vic/Grand Marquis/Town Car’s bench was not really usable for riding in the middle. Besides, don’t the regulations now require a headrest and shoulder harness and if in front, an individual airbag, for every seating station? ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-dating-couples-still-sit-close-together-in-the-car/587155/24 "2011-06-29T16:39:58Z")
Just yesterday I saw a full-sized pickup truck with the gal passenger sitting right up against the guy driver. And it struck me as really funny-looking. I tried to remember the last time I’d seen that and couldn’t; it had to have been years ago. As others have said, the practice was all but universal when I was dating age in the '60s & '70s. ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-dating-couples-still-sit-close-together-in-the-car/587155/25 "2011-06-29T17:08:36Z")
> [@Jaledin](#): > > Sure. But I’m not 12 years old, so I don’t go on dates. You peaked at 12? That sucks bro. ---
**Author:** ![Candyman74](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Candyman74](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Candyman74)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-dating-couples-still-sit-close-together-in-the-car/587155/26 "2011-06-29T17:10:39Z")
I’ve never seen a bench seat in a car in my life. I’ve seen two-seater seats next to the driver seat in vans, though. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-dating-couples-still-sit-close-together-in-the-car/587155/27 "2011-06-29T17:51:18Z")
It certainly has a lot to do with the cars now but we didn’t sit close to each other when I was young and cars were bench seats in front. ---
**Author:** ![Jaledin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Jaledin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaledin)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-dating-couples-still-sit-close-together-in-the-car/587155/28 "2011-06-29T21:04:43Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > Twelve? :eek: You didn’t mean to write like…sixteen, did you? Good call. Obviously I was thinking of an Alfalfa+What’sHerName ride through a carnival, not piloting a car at 12. No, that was not the height of “romance,” but that and its later transformations = date to me. Fucking after hooking up at a party or a bar and then, a few weeks later, going to eat something (comestible) would be a date. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-dating-couples-still-sit-close-together-in-the-car/587155/29 "2011-06-29T21:19:48Z")
> [@Vihaga](#): > > \*I need you here with me, not way over in a bucket seat! \* https://www.youtube.com/embed/J3i7EFYk-_c?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque ---
**Author:** ![ryan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a8b319/32.png) [@ryan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ryan)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2011, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-dating-couples-still-sit-close-together-in-the-car/587155/30 "2011-06-30T01:48:03Z")
I did like it, but the lack of bench-style front seats has made it yet another fond memory of the past. Much like dating itself. ---
**Author:** ![MacGyverInSeattle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/958977/32.png) [@MacGyverInSeattle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacGyverInSeattle)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2011, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-dating-couples-still-sit-close-together-in-the-car/587155/31 "2011-06-30T16:21:28Z")
I own a smart car and my wife sits next to me all the time, if she wasn’t she wouldn’t be in the car. Other than that all our cars have widely separated buckets and we can’t sit next to each other. Would if we could. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-dating-couples-still-sit-close-together-in-the-car/587155.md?page=1)