A bloke at work is thinking of getting an Impreza so I let him have a sit in my MY98,trouble is he is 5'1" tall and could only just see over the steering wheel and found all round visability a problem.

Has anybody with petite wives/girlfriends or those of a compact nature themselves ever come across this problem ,and how did you solve it?

The seats do seem to be set low dowm,I'm 5'10" and have loads of headroom,the bloke at work had about 1ft.Has anybody managed to raise the seat as the early cars don't seem to have adjustment? .

 

Just guessing here, but are the seats better for the "vertically challenged" in imports? as the Japanese tend to be shorter than the European average.

[This message has been edited by Paul Wilson (edited 14 September 2000).]

 

My other half is about the same height and was able to drive it fine with the height adjustment at maximum. Some of the earlier cars don't have this adjustment and theat partyl why I bought a new MY00 rather than a 97-98 model


AllanB

 

I have an Sti 94 and at 5'7" don't have any problems.
My wife is 5'2"....but actually she won't drive the car....the turbo and dump valve scares her!
ppppppttttttt.....tttschhh!
yey!

 

the wife also drives our car, she is 5-1
only trouble with reversing but to be
honest so do I, blind spots and all.
we have a WRX with no height adjustments

 

My fiancee at 5'3" struggles with reversing and also finds the bonnet disappears ahead of her. We don't have seat adjusters and it's a MY98 5dr. Saying that, she seems to go fast enough...

 

My 5.1 and 3/4s Japanese girlfriend has no problem with my STi but then I don't let her drive it very much and she hasn't had to parallel park it yet.

 

AndyMc,

What are you calling earlier cars? I drive a MY95 and this has quite a large range of height adjustment on the seats.

If seating is his only problem I am sure someone would be more than willing to swap their earlier adjustable seats for some more up to date non adjustable ones.

 

Just be careful with the airbag as some of them are dangerous if used with people under a certain height. You may need to disable to bag if the driver is below whatever height is the minimum for the airbag in question.

A friend of mine had to do that on his car before his 5' wife could drive it.

 

My mum is 5ft exactly and she can't reverse at all. When she gets home she has to get my dad to do it for her. She trully is an awful driver. She has had a few scrapes in it - although she denies all knowledge.

 

Can honeslty say wife is a brilliant driver and only 5ft 2" and has no problem driving the car MY00.

Having said that she can't stand driving it.
She normally ferries the three kids in her Mitsubishi Space Wagon and finds it far to powerfull.

However

She finds that every time a young boy racer pulls up next to her she has to let them know whos boss if you know what I mean.


Grant

 

I'll probably get a blast from all the other female scoooby drivers (oh and the husband) for posting this, but even being 5ft 8in I can't reverse my scooby either. (actually I can't reverse anything)

Forwards on the roads and sideways on my gravel drive, no problem, but reverse, forget it Parallel parking - no chance

Any advice or free tuition welcome !

 

Is my wife at 4'11'' the smallest on the bbs.

She has no problems driving, as the seat seems to move forward more than other cars we have owned. This includes her Saxo, which for some reason I seem to be left with when she leaves the house before me. (She's probably rushing down to buy her monthly fix of high octane, car tweaking plop .... known better as Max Power)...

As they say....smaller ones r more juicy!:

 

Carolyn,

A technique I have been using for years on parallel parking - to get close to the kerb, use the passenger wing mirror. However, to assist in this I tend to have it pointing downwards most of the time, so that I can see the edge of the rear wheel. It means if I want to use it for the purpose it was designed, I have to move me head a bit, which can be a bit dodgy when hammering down the motorway.

The trick with parallel parking I've found is to turn the steering wheel to opposite lock sooner than you would expect. Oh, and practice, again and again and again. After a while it becomes (relatively) easy.

Was that any use?

A

 

Aksan

Thanks for the tip, I guess I'd better get out there and practice.

 

I'm ashamed to say that 2 PINK!! FRILLY!! cushions have found there way into my Scooby. My missus is only 5'2" and sits on when she's driving. (Complains that she can't see over "that silly bump" on the bonnet)

I wouldn't mind so much but I don't half get it in the neck when I pick up my mates and they find them on the back seat.

I.

 

I got all excited then.... a thread entitled 'petite women/girlfriends'... I guess I should have known their wouldn't be any piccies

SimonM



[This message has been edited by SimonM (edited 18 September 2000).]