For those who don’t know, I stand at a 99.9th percentile height of 6’8” tall. For a pair of long pants to fit me properly, they need a 40-inch inseam, so I’m all legs with more of an average sized torso. Cars aren’t designed to comfortably fit people of my height. I just can’t fold my legs into a reasonable driving position behind the wheel of a Mazda Miata, but at least I’m not missing out on the purest driving experience of any modern car or anything. Oh wait, yes I am.
I did my research on good cars for tall people before buying my own car, but since every human is differently proportioned with some requiring more head room than leg room and others requiring more leg room than head room, there’s no universal answer. Consumer Reports uses actual data to provide unbiased info for car buyers, and I recently came across its list of the Best Cars and SUVs for Tall People, which was chosen by compiling measurements with input from real tall people and Consumer Reports Recommended models
When measuring a car’s front leg room, Consumer Reports measures the maximum distance from the heel of the tester’s accelerator foot to the base of the seatback. When measuring head room, Consumer Reports measures the clearance above a 5’9” tester’s head. When measuring shoulder room, CR measures from door panel to door panel across the front passenger’s seating position.
Personally, I tend to encounter challenges when squeezing behind the wheel of cars that don’t have adequate knee room to allow my stretched shins and yard-long femurs to find a happy resting place between the wheel and center console. This is the problem I encounter in Miatas; my right knee is wedged between the steering wheel and the transmission tunnel, inhibiting me from safely steering. Consumer Reports claims the ND Miata has 41 inches of front leg room, which is hardly less than the measurement for my Mini, and yet I fit great into my car and I don’t fit in a Miata.
For any other giants out there looking for a capacious car that accommodates your freakish frame (you’re not actually freakish, you’re perfect just the way you are), make sure you test drive a car before you commit to it since data doesn’t always translate into reality. But before then take a read through this list of Consumer Reports’ recommendations — I also included a few vehicles that have personally impressed me with their commodious interiors.
