Cars for tall people

SpannerMonkey

looking for some advice as to some cars that have a good bit of head room . im quite tall with most of my height being from my arse up . so i find i have very little head room in most cars . quite a few cars i cant even sit in without tilting my head to one side .

currently driving a 10 year old bmw 730d but im sick of the high running costs so would like something cheaper to run / any advice on what cars to check out . requirements are that it be automatic ,well specced ,not crazy to tax(not over €800) and give at least 40mpg . for around the 10k mark . im not too bothered by year

Panrich

I don't know if you've sat in a Golf? There must be a very low seat position in them. I notice that there seems to be a lot of headroom in them to the point that I often do a double take to check if the driver is actually old enough to drive as they seem to be barely peeping out above the steering wheel

SpannerMonkey

i should also add that aswell as being tall im also built like andre the giant so small hatchbacks are out
too narrow for my shoulders. i have been in them . head room is good but my shoulder was almost touching the passenger

Lantus

Something made by scania?

SpannerMonkey

Lantus wrote: »

Something made by scania?

maybe a tad excessive :P

greenfield21

What about a convertible?

phelixoflaherty

Tons of headroom on a bicycle​.😀
We have a Renault Modus and it is very roomy up front both are 6' 1"

student7890

Avensis?

SpannerMonkey

phelixoflaherty wrote: »

Tons of headroom on a bicycle​.��
We have a Renault Modus and it is very roomy up front both are 6' 1"

not a fan of renault

student7890 wrote: »

Avensis?

roof way too low . sat in my uncles one , couldnt fit

ansible

Similar dimensions and very happy with the room in a Skoda Superb

murphyebass

How tall are you?!

I'm tallish I suppose at 6'2 and drive a Mazda 6. No problem for me.

I wouldn't say there much difference between that segment, is Avensis, Mondeo etc..

So if you don't fit an Avensis you must be a lot taller than me.

An MPV or 4x4 might suit your height and shoulder needs.

boardsuser1

2 friends of mine can easily fit into the likes of a modern Avensis but are very athletic in build.

They are 6' 7" and 6' 4" respectively and it isn't a bother to them.

A former work colleague is 6' 6" and has a passat which leaves him plenty of room.

I'm 6'1" and have had the shoulders problem in smaller cars only when there are passengers.

My daily driver is a Ford Galaxy and it can easily take people taller than me as well as the family.

cros13

The Nissan Leaf has a lot of headroom. I'm 197cm and have a hand length of space above my head when I drive the Leaf (I had a '10 & '12 Avensis at one point and had trouble with the headroom too).
My BMW i3 is more roomy in the cabin but has less headroom than the Leaf despite being a taller car.
People for some reason seem to think of the Leaf as some kind of small city car but it's pretty much as tall as a quashqai and lower to the road.
Heck, the wheelbase is 70mm longer than the current quashqai.

A good 2014 Leaf can be got for ~€13k. But it's way better equipped than most cars (because we get the UK spec instead of the Irish poverty spec).
And of course 10-12 times cheaper to run on nightsaver electricity than a combustion car.

SpannerMonkey

6ft 6 but that doesnt tell the true story as i said in my opening post all my height is from my arse up i have short legs i take a 32 inch leg in a pants which is what an average height guy takes . its not leg room i need its height .

nearly all 4x4 have low roofs or at least not high roofs . the 7 series i have now has enough head room if i put the seat on the floor but not much extra . a skoda superb has just about enough barely although my hair twould rub off the ceiling in it but it has loads of leg room and a mondeo is one of the best ive come across for head space.
avensis has absolute crap head room for me . passenger seat is fine because you can slouch but the driver cant . must have a look at a passat and mazda 6 , although the much older mazda 6 was wasy too low for me the newer ones after 2008 look a lot bigger

leaf wouldnt suit because of the mileage i do but its good to know it has the room



EDIT: old model mazda 6 2008-2013 doesnt come in automatic so thats out and newer model still out of my budget

cros13

SpannerMonkey wrote: »

leaf wouldnt suit because of the mileage i do but its good to know it has the room

Are you sure? Many of us over in the EV forum do 50,000km+ per annum.
I do Portlaoise to Dublin 5-6 times a week myself, my 151 i3 has 140,000km on her (and has only just had it's first scheduled service, next is in 2019).

Pkiernan

I have a 2m tall friend who drives a Smart For two. Tons of head room

Harry Palmr

I'm 6'4" and the Golf is fine for me, as is the er Nissan Note but I doubt you want one of them! Mid you I'm lanky rather than an Italian so different issues apply I guess.

SpannerMonkey

cros13 wrote: »

Are you sure? Many of us over in the EV forum do 50,000km+ per annum.
I do Portlaoise to Dublin 5-6 times a week myself, my 151 i3 has 140,000km on her (and has only just had it's first scheduled service, next is in 2019).

hmm maybe not so . what will they do on a charge ?

Phoenix Wright

I don't know if this is an accurate reflection of your experiences, but I can't get this image out of my head

SpannerMonkey

Phoenix Wright wrote: »

I don't know if this is an accurate reflection of your experiences, but I can't get this image out of my head

haha close alright but more like these





this one is pretty close to reality

CeilingFly

Bmw 5 series?

Would have similar room to seven series. The 2011+ model is very efficient at about 50mpg real world driving. Car tax is low and you'll pick one up for about 15k

SpannerMonkey

CeilingFly wrote: »

Bmw 5 series?

Would have similar room to seven series. The 2011+ model is very efficient at about 50mpg real world driving. Car tax is low and you'll pick one up for about 15k

ya that would be the ideal alright but absolute most i have is 10k and there is a lot of engine issues with the older model , timing chains swirl flaps etc

cros13

SpannerMonkey wrote: »

hmm maybe not so . what will they do on a charge ?

Depends on what kind of roads you are driving on. EVs are a bit unlike combustion cars in that they are way more efficient in traffic and energy consumption scales with speed. So a worst case scenario is motorway driving.

The ownership model is a bit different from the combustion car where you need to go to a special place to fill a tank every week.
You plug in when you get home, the car charges (usually on timer to get the cheap leccy) and you have a full charge every morning.
On days where you'd exceed the single charge range of the car you'd stop at a rapid charger which will give you an 80% charge in ~20 minutes (usually people will do this when it's convenient anyway, say when stopping for lunch, by the time you've paid for your coffee the car is usually charged).

So... range would generally only have to allow for your driving 5-6 days a week with the odd long range trip being taken care of by rapid charging at some point.

When it comes to range your target price is the barrier because it limits you to a Leaf with the smaller 24kWh battery. EPA cycle range (which is very predictive of range for Irish drivers) for the 24kWh Leaf is 135km (meanwhile the european NEDC cycle is away with the fairies and says 200km). Later Leafs have higher capacity packs... with the new Leaf having twice the range of a 24kWh (launched two weeks ago, demo cars in dealers in December) and next years Leaf tripling the 24kWh range.

It may not suit but it's worth running all the numbers for your typical daily driving and full running costs against used & new EVs... because while it might cost more to change initially the running costs for an EV are literally an order of magnitude cheaper than diesel.

Generally the day a suitable EV comes into your price range, that can do your daily mileage 5/6 days of the week on 80% of it's EPA rated range, that's the day to switch.
That may not be the case for you yet... but it's worth bearing in mind, because next time around it may suit.

Dr Turk Turkelton

greenfield21 wrote: »

What about a convertible?

The post needs more love.

SpannerMonkey

greenfield21 wrote: »

What about a convertible?

Dr Turk Turkelton wrote: »

The post needs more love.

ya and this would be me after getting to work in the morning

DaveyDave

I'm 6'4 and my mam's fiancé is 6'6, we have the same length leg so he's more torso like yourself. He drives an i40. I don't know if the spec would match up what you had though but he drives it all day for work and doesn't have any issues.

I wouldn't rule out hatchbacks though unless you specifically don't want a hatchback. The Golf is a large car inside. I need the seat all the way back in my mam's i30 but don't need it all the way back in the Golf. In terms of height the i30 leaves me with plenty of headroom and no issues with the shoulders, I'm a large guy. Don't know exactly how much headroom the Golf has as I don't have mine yet but I imagine it has plenty and there's not a huge difference in the size of the cars so it really depends on the model.

Both are hatchbacks but there's obviously more room in the Golf, there's almost no room in the back of the i30 with me driving and a lot of tall people in the Golf have enough room to sit behind themselves.

I'm sure there's other tall people on here but it's probably worth not ruling out certain models. Go check some out, make a day of visiting some dealers

TheBigEvil

has to be the pope-mobile

corks finest

Panrich wrote: »

I don't know if you've sat in a Golf? There must be a very low seat position in them. I notice that there seems to be a lot of headroom in them to the point that I often do a double take to check if the driver is actually old enough to drive as they seem to be barely peeping out above the steering wheel

Flintstones

walus

I know your pain OP. I'm tall guy myself (6'4) but most of it is from my arse down. I always struggle to find a car that gives enough room for my legs and allows enough adjustments of the steering wheel. I think the new generation of Subaru Forester has a class leading headroom space.

9935452

SpannerMonkey wrote: »

6ft 6 but that doesnt tell the true story as i said in my opening post all my height is from my arse up i have short legs i take a 32 inch leg in a pants which is what an average height guy takes . its not leg room i need its height .

nearly all 4x4 have low roofs or at least not high roofs . the 7 series i have now has enough head room if i put the seat on the floor but not much extra . a skoda superb has just about enough barely although my hair twould rub off the ceiling in it but it has loads of leg room and a mondeo is one of the best ive come across for head space.
avensis has absolute crap head room for me . passenger seat is fine because you can slouch but the driver cant . must have a look at a passat and mazda 6 , although the much older mazda 6 was wasy too low for me the newer ones after 2008 look a lot bigger

leaf wouldnt suit because of the mileage i do but its good to know it has the room



EDIT: old model mazda 6 2008-2013 doesnt come in automatic so thats out and newer model still out of my budget

Im 6ft 7, also a 32 inch leg .
I drive an A4. Loads of head space and seat not all the way back