Taller Driver into an NC?

[MattyD803]

Hi All,

Looking at potentially picking up a 2.0 Sport 'NC' model in the coming weeks, primarily for my wife to use but I'd also like to use it on occasion. (3rd car, so just the occasional blast for me really).

However, I am 6'3" with a 33" inseam.....just wondering if this is a viable option, without needing to have the roof open for all drives and/or staring at the top of the windscreen frame? If so, does it matter much between the pre and post 2009 cars in terms of seat adjustment? Again, any differences between Soft or folding Hard top for headroom?

Lastly - if anyone with an NC lives vaguely near Berkshire and has one I could try for size, that would be magic!

Thanks in advance for any thoughts on this...

[MattyD803]

Hi Nick - that is very kind of you. I am just near Wokingham, so that would be great if you don’t mind. I will drop you a private message.

[MattyD803]

Athlon said:

I have a 56 plate 2.0 NC PRHT. I am 6'3 with a 34" leg and it is fine, sight line is way below the header rail. The footwell is a bit challenging but I took the left hand foot rest out and it transformed it for me.

Excellent to know, thanks

[MattyD803]

Thanks Carlos. I am indeed going to take up Nick's offer in due course.

Do you know if the seat lowering kits fit both pre and post facelift cars? And/or should I aim to go for a pre/post facelift car for this reason?

[MattyD803]

Thanks for the input - I've seen a 2007 2.0 non-leather soft top, which looks excellent condition with the BBR (Koni) suspension kit already fitted....sounds like this could well be the way forward for me.

Interesting about the Jass lowering brackets though - could you tell me more?

[MattyD803]

BigMon said:

I'm 6ft 6 and long in the body and when I went to sit in a new (at the time) 2009 MX5 it was so comical (I had to fold myself up like a deckchair) that even the salesman said my wife couldn't buy the car. With the roof down I looked like Noddy.

I would absolutely love one as well, but I would need more than 1.5 inches of headroom I think (unless the new cars have much improved seat height adjustment).

As I understand from the bits of reading and research I have been doing, the later (ND) cars have even less room for taller drivers...the later NC models (2009 on) seem to be the sweet spot.

[MattyD803]

Galveston said:

Bear in mind that the Jass brackets are different for the various types of seat. My experience only relates to the 1.5” drop for the height adjustable seats. However…

1) What you gain in headroom, you lose in legroom. The brackets drop the seat rail in front of the floor mounts which the seat previously slid over. To get anything near the original legroom you have to chop the inner seat rails, which causes its own problems. Even with the maximum possible chopped off the inner rails, I lost about an inch of legroom.

2) Because the runners are cut short they no longer have end stops and thr sliders spit out their ball bearings.

3) The side airbags are in a non-standard position, tucked further behind the B-pillar. Probably not very clever.

4) The seat belt guides on the seats no longer align with their slots on the bulkhead. The belts don’t retract properly and the misalignment probably isn’t great in an accident.

I’ve replaced my subframe with a standard one and dropped the seat base using what the forums call the GordyM mod…

https://forum.miata.net/vb/showpost.php?p=5597022&...

After a bit of fiddling I’ve got the seat base 5-10mm lower than the Jass brackets gave, with all the standard legroom, and none of the disadvantages.

Edited by Galveston on Monday 22 April 20:48

Many thanks for the info, good to know there might be a work around. It's legroom I need, not so much the headroom.