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Old 05-21-2013, 07:36 AM
 
5,654 posts, read 5,132,605 times
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In all honesty I don't think your height is what's going to be the deciding factor in getting comfortable behind the wheel of a car.

For my part i'm 6'3" (200lbs) and my eldest is 6'5" (200lbs) and between us we manage to drive pretty much everything with a fair degree of comfort.
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Old 05-21-2013, 08:06 AM
 
Location: The Ranch in Olam Haba
23,709 posts, read 30,573,053 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Baldrick View Post
In all honesty I don't think your height is what's going to be the deciding factor in getting comfortable behind the wheel of a car.

For my part i'm 6'3" (200lbs) and my eldest is 6'5" (200lbs) and between us we manage to drive pretty much everything with a fair degree of comfort.
Cars built for the EU market have different interiors than ones built for the US market. I can easily fit in a Isuzu Dmax (not available in US) but yet find the Chevrolet Colorado uncomfortable even though one is supposed to be a rebadge for the other.
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Old 05-21-2013, 08:38 AM
 
Location: Poway, CA
2,698 posts, read 12,111,912 times
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I'm 6'7" and 300ish lbs, but my inseam is only 34-35", so a lot of my height is in my torso. Although I'll always be a pick-up man at heart, I've driven a few other vehicles that do the job. If you're looking for a ride with decent MPG and lots of headroom, check out the Scion xB. I owned one for 4 years and put over 100K miles on it without incident. Boring car, honestly, but reliable and delivered its advertised 24/28 MPG (actually, getting over 30 on the freeway wasn't an issue so long as I kept it under 75). If MPG is less of a concern but you still don't want a truck, some other vehicles to check out would be the Pontiac G8 and the Ford Flex. Granted, to get in your price range, you'd have to buy used (well, especially for the Pontiac since they don't make 'em anymore), but these are two of the most phenomenal vehicles I've ever driven in terms of legroom and headroom.

There are quite a few cars out there that a tall person can drive, but to say you 'fit' is really relative. Sure, if you put the seat all the way back, I can drive almost anything. Heck, I've driven a FIAT 500 and a Scion iQ with no issues. MY definition of 'fit' (especially for something I'm going to spend a good chunk of money on) is something where I don't look/feel ridiculous doing it, and where the rear seat doesn't become absolutely useless once I have the front comfortably arranged. That's why I'm such a fan of the 3 vehicles I listed. In all 3, I fit comfortably, usually without even needing to put the seat all the way back. In the Flex, there's enough headroom that I can drive a model with a sunroof, something I've never been able to do in any other vehicle. Granted, I did get a lot of ribbing from driving the Scion, but once people sat inside the thing with me, they understood. It's like it magically adds a dimension in there somehow, MUCH roomier than the outside would lead you to believe.

Generically, German vehicles do well for tall people, so there's another avenue. I've also found some models of Subaru to be a good fit, but the cool ones don't and I'm not 'granola' enough for the ones that do.

Mike
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Old 05-21-2013, 10:34 AM
 
Location: Pearland
799 posts, read 2,430,573 times
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Yeah, your limitation isnt the height. Im 6'6" and 235. I drive a 2012 Camry comfortably. When my brother rides with me(6'3" 300lbs) its a completely different animal. Its like he is sitting on a foot of butt. He looks like he is about to pop.

I worry about head and leg room. You need to be worried about hip and shoulder room.
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Old 05-21-2013, 05:38 PM
 
86 posts, read 166,274 times
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Thanks for all the comments. . Just because I am 270 and obese to some does NOT mean my WEIGHT is the issue. My mother has a toyota camry and when I sit in it my HEAD hits the ceiling BUT i am comfortable everywhere else.IF I choose to lose some weight it will NOT CHANGE THIS!! I do not want a car where this is the case, and so that is the basis for this thread.

For those of you who gave me suggestions on cars. Thank you for your input I will look into the suggestions.
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Old 05-21-2013, 06:18 PM
 
4,690 posts, read 10,337,858 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by saxon75 View Post
My mother has a toyota camry and when I sit in it my HEAD hits the ceiling BUT i am comfortable everywhere else.
So let the seat back lean back a notch? If I didn't do this in my truck, my head would be hitting the roof and I'd have maybe 20' view of the road... just infront of the hood (and looking through that top tint strip). I'm not doing the "gansta lean" or anything, just talking getting the seat back into a comfortable position. I'd be driving with my elbows if I didn't get my shoulders further from the steering wheel as well.

But I haven't been in a camry in awhile, maybe they've changed.
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Old 05-21-2013, 06:27 PM
 
86 posts, read 166,274 times
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Brian

That is a good idea, I just thought a roomier car would give me the availability to adjust the seat without getting in the lap of my daughter or whomever is sitting behind the driver seat. Some smaller cars like Camry's seem to be almost like an airplane where the seats are so close together that if you adjust it you are in the lap of the person behind you.

Thanks for the suggestion.
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Old 05-21-2013, 06:46 PM
 
Location: Pittsburgh area
9,912 posts, read 24,527,214 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by saxon75 View Post
Thanks for all the comments. . Just because I am 270 and obese to some does NOT mean my WEIGHT is the issue. My mother has a toyota camry and when I sit in it my HEAD hits the ceiling BUT i am comfortable everywhere else.IF I choose to lose some weight it will NOT CHANGE THIS!! I do not want a car where this is the case, and so that is the basis for this thread.

For those of you who gave me suggestions on cars. Thank you for your input I will look into the suggestions.
Heh, I was going to say. I mean, I peaked at about 265 several years ago, and I'm only 5'9". And I never felt uncomfortable in my Integra which I had the whole time. So it's not all about the weight I can tell you that. Might have worn out the seat pretty well by now. (215k on that car, all me)

Sounds like you are tall in the torso. Which means you want to look not so much for leg room but for headroom and ability to adjust the height of the seat. The headroom will come into play because there's only so low you can put the seat before that might be uncomfortable. Make sure you avoid sunroofs! That eats a few inches of headroom.

I don't care for the "lean the seat back" option. I'm very picky about getting the seat back angle exactly where I want it, so if I had to lean it back that would bug the hell out of me. Of course, if your arms are that long it may in fact be useful. Although it's possible in your mother's Camry you just need to adjust the seat downward. If that's not comfortable for you to do then yeah perhaps that is not a good option for a car.

So look for something taller. I dunno, if you really want better MPG a car would be best, and I think you can find one, but it's best to try them out directly by sitting in them. The small crossovers generally don't have a lot of legroom or just footwell-room in general, but I found the previous gen RAV4 pretty comfy when I drove it on a few hundred mile trip. I drove a current generation VW Jetta on a 2000 mile trip and found it to be extraordinarily comfy compared to several other rentals I've taken on 1500 mile trips (mostly Camrys and Corollas recently, all adequate but not as comfy). Don't know what of these will work for you though. I don't feel like 4 inches difference of height even if all torso would make a difference in these cars, but it may.
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Old 05-21-2013, 06:53 PM
 
Location: Huntersville/Charlotte, NC and Washington, DC
26,678 posts, read 41,509,172 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by saxon75 View Post
I am looking for a new car, and even though I would like a truck I know in this economy with gas so high a truck is a bad choice. However for me finding a comfortable car is not an easy thing to find either. Due to the fact that I am 6'1 and 270 lbs. When I own a vehicle I keep it for at least nine years or longer so I want something that I can trust to pass onto my daughter who at six years of age is already taller than four feet.

If you want a budget then say under $25,000 and no older than 2007.

Thanks
I'm 6'5 weigh as much as a NFL lineman and drive a 2008 Honda Accord. I fit in it just fine.
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Old 05-21-2013, 08:17 PM
 
427 posts, read 941,794 times
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Originally Posted by Archguy View Post
Oh, this is monumentally sad. Frankly the exercise sounds like a good idea.

Merkins are so fat that they have to get industrial vehicles to waddle in and out of
He said he wanted comfort, not exercise.
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