S2000 Purchase - advice please

[Bibbs]

I do laugh at the "I'm too tall" comments.

I'm 6'4" and have a roll cage and amp behind my drivers seat (so it's foward about 4&quot and I've no problems driving my S2000 to Germany and back.

But then I'm more height that width (read lanky streak of p*ss) so I do have my knees up VERY close to the dash. But then I do in every car I drive.

[RobM77]

Bibbs said:

I do laugh at the "I'm too tall" comments.

I'm 6'4" and have a roll cage and amp behind my drivers seat (so it's foward about 4&quot and I've no problems driving my S2000 to Germany and back.

But then I'm more height that width (read lanky streak of p*ss) so I do have my knees up VERY close to the dash. But then I do in every car I drive.

It depends on your proportions and what you're willing to put up with. At only 5'9½ I can get very comfortable indeed in some cars, so the S2000 annoys me as it forces me to sit with my legs bent double, knees on the indicator stalks, arms outstretched to the max, and the steering wheel in my lap. A friend of mine is 6'4", so he's just used to being cramped in cars. When I can get really comfy in a Boxster, 350Z and Elise, I'm not willing to put up with the daft driving position in the S2000. I should add that I have unusually long legs for my height and quite short arms.

[MiloD]

havoc said:

MiloD said:

BTW the S2ki website is sensational

They're a good bunch, aren't they?!?

...a few too many cleaning fetishists, maybe, but you can't have it all...

That said they do know their stuff!

[MiloD]

Did the 2004 models onwards change the seating arrangements?

[RobM77]

MiloD said:

Did the 2004 models onwards change the seating arrangements?

Nope. I sat in a new S2000 two weeks ago to find out and I felt like a Daddy long legs trying to sit in a Kinder Egg toy car.

[havoc]

RobM77 said:

At only 5'9½ I can get very comfortable indeed in some cars, so the S2000 annoys me as it forces me to sit with my legs bent double, knees on the indicator stalks, arms outstretched to the max, and the steering wheel in my lap.

I'm exactly the same height, average build, and I find the driving position near spot-on:-
- Left leg just not straight with clutch pedal depressed
- Arms half-bent when holding the wheel at 1/4 to 3
- Heel of hand on top of wheel when arm dead-straight.
- Back rest not vertical but not overly reclined.
- Gearstick perfectly positioned in the cup of my hand when my left arm is resting flat on the tran. tunnel.


No insult intended Rob, but do you have really long legs and really short arms?!? (Think I'm a 31/32" inside-leg)

[RobM77]

havoc said:

RobM77 said:

At only 5'9½ I can get very comfortable indeed in some cars, so the S2000 annoys me as it forces me to sit with my legs bent double, knees on the indicator stalks, arms outstretched to the max, and the steering wheel in my lap.

I'm exactly the same height, average build, and I find the driving position near spot-on:-
- Left leg just not straight with clutch pedal depressed
- Arms half-bent when holding the wheel at 1/4 to 3
- Heel of hand on top of wheel when arm dead-straight.
- Back rest not vertical but not overly reclined.
- Gearstick perfectly positioned in the cup of my hand when my left arm is resting flat on the tran. tunnel.


No insult intended Rob, but do you have really long legs and really short arms?!? (Think I'm a 31/32" inside-leg)

spot on. The other day I was walking along in a line of my friends at Spa Francorchamps, and I walked straight over a traffic bollard that nearly castrated my mate who's 6'2". My legs were long enough to walk over it comfortably with an inch or two's clearance, but my mate couldn't even walk over it! Obviously, to only be 5'9½", this means I have a very short torso with short arms. My 5'2" girlfriend is 'taller' than me when we're sat down. I can get comfortable in the latest BMWs and the latest Golf by extending the steering wheel all the way and dropping the seat right back. More and more cars allow this. Something fixed like an S2000 is undriveable for me (as was my Elise before I fitted a steering wheel extension).

The other amusing thing is that I buy 14½ inch shirts for work, and have 'MC Hammer' arms that come over my hands unless I move the buttons

My test in a car is to put my hand to the top of the wheel. I'm comfortable when I can nestle the wheel where my hand joins my wrist. In an S2000, with the seat as far back as it will go, my legs are too bent and I can't even reach the steering wheel. Same story in a 996 Porsche and a Ferrari 355. The 997 and 360 solve the problem.

Edited by RobM77 on Thursday 6th September 13:55

[Bibbs]

RobM77 said:

arms outstretched to the max, and the steering wheel in my lap.

So your arms at max reach can't reach a wheel in your lap? Are you a T-Rex?




(no offence ment).

Edited by Bibbs on Thursday 6th September 16:26

[ianjoyner]

I'm 6' with 34" legs, so have a fairly long leg, short torso proportion. I find the S2000 the best driving position I've sat in, although I've never driven one , I have got longish arms to go with my longish legs. I have no trouble getting my legs comfortably on the seat.

Driving my girlfriends Fiesta, my legs are bent and all the weight is on my backside, which starts to go numb pretty quickly, doesn't seem to affect my back though.

[MrFlibbles]

RobM77 said:

spot on. The other day I was walking along in a line of my friends at Spa Francorchamps, and I walked straight over a traffic bollard that nearly castrated my mate who's 6'2". My legs were long enough to walk over it comfortably with an inch or two's clearance,

Long legs, short arms and a small wiener?


FWIW I'm a 6'1 streak of piss and I am fine - took some getting used to though, I'd prefer the wheel to be a bit higher.