27 April 2010

Driving lessons for a big person?

| Tiger
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My (just turned) 17 year ols son is 6′ 7″ tall and amply built. He doesn’t fit safely in the driver’s seat of the family Falcon so we’ve had to reluctantly cease his driving lessons with us.

Although he’s a big-fella he’s far from alone these days so we can’t be the first to have had this dilemma.

Can anybody out there advise us of a quality driving school that might use a car big enough, or adjustable enough, to accommodate him? He shouldn’t have this important opportunity denied him just because he’s a bigger person than most of his age peers.

If anyone can help us here we’d be extremely grateful.

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I am a large guy myself and I did my driving lessons with Panache Driver training in thier Mini cooper belive it or not that had so much more room in it that my dad large car, the doors are very large and the seat can move right back and down very low (no one could sit in the back when i was in the car lol but i had more room than i needed).
and the guys at Panache tought me so much more than I ever thought I could of learnt even gave some tips to my Dad that he uses now.
hope this helps
opps almost forgot http://www.panachedrivertraining.com

a motorcycle – der…

I’m surprised no one’s suggested a … Range Rover.

That’s fine if you get one of the three that were built properly.

I’m surprised no one’s suggested a Landcruiser or Range Rover. Both have a great deal more height than a road-dwelling vehicle.

And the other likely alternative is one of the taller people movers. We had a Mazda MPV, and it had even more room between the floor and the hood than my father’s Landcruiser.

I found the 1980’s Tarago’s to be of ample vertical and gut-room, fwiw.

My mate is of similar build (by the sounds of your description). He had a engineering modification made to his Hilux to add a 2″ plate to the seat rails, so the seat sits back an additional 2″. It required an additional compliance plate listing the modification, but he is very happy now he can drive comfortably.

Just take the driver’s seat out of your Falcon and have him drive from the back seat. Heaps of room then.

Rawhide Kid No 2 said :

Helen said :

Thoroughly Smashed said :

Problem solved

One of those passed me on the highway on the weekend, the top of the bonnet was higher than the roof of my (stock) Lancer and the roof of the cab seemed to be miles away. It was huuuuuuuge.

Comes with a Huuuuuuuuuge fuel consumption as well I suppose. Not practical for a 17 year old starting out.

This bloke would have had really bad fuel economy – not only was it a huge ute, he was also towing a massive caravan, and I would estimate he was doing 120+km/h when he passed me. Ahh gotta love highway driving on wet public holiday weekends…

/diversion

Devil_n_Disquiz4:41 pm 27 Apr 10

I’m 6ft10 and have no problems in a Falcon, but I guess it all depends on where the height is pronounced. My own car is a Proton Satria 🙂

A Holden Statesman would work well. Forget a BMW. Mate of mine has a 5 series and its pathetic for driving room.

As a general rule. Any Commodore will have more driving room than a Falcon IMO. But def look around and try various makes and models. As has been alluded to, some small cars have more driving room than their bigger counterparts.

Good luck

I was once “intimately acquainted” with a young gentleman who was 6’9″. He couldn’t fit in a Commodore or Falcon, but could fit in a Lancer, a 2 door Nissan Pulsar and most ironically, a Mini Minor. Just something about the seating arrangement. So I would see if he fits in those before you start doing other more expensive things!

Why don’t you have the seating of your car altered? I had a friend who had a similar problem who was able to have the seat rails altered so the drivers seat could be pushed all the way back against the rear seat, that was a commodore. Some driving schools will let you drive your own car, that would be a good option after that is done

Of course, there’s always the Police Academy solution.

Rawhide Kid No 23:03 pm 27 Apr 10

Helen said :

Thoroughly Smashed said :

Problem solved

One of those passed me on the highway on the weekend, the top of the bonnet was higher than the roof of my (stock) Lancer and the roof of the cab seemed to be miles away. It was huuuuuuuge.

Comes with a Huuuuuuuuuge fuel consumption as well I suppose. Not practical for a 17 year old starting out.

get him to play basketball, get a gig in the USA, get driven around in anything he wants

Thoroughly Smashed said :

Problem solved

One of those passed me on the highway on the weekend, the top of the bonnet was higher than the roof of my (stock) Lancer and the roof of the cab seemed to be miles away. It was huuuuuuuge.

screaming banshee2:46 pm 27 Apr 10

How about one of these

Monster of the Deep11:47 am 27 Apr 10

Buy him a bicycle instead?

Also, at 17 he is old enough to be buying himself a car anyway. Let him do the rounds and choose something that will work for him.

Interesting. I drive a 5 year old commodore, and am well over six feet and 100kgs, and fit comfortably (and don’t even have the drivers seat all the way back).

Perhaps spend some more time fiddling with seat positions, or even tell the boy to harden up a bit.

Rawhide Kid No 211:19 am 27 Apr 10

You could use a second hand Fairlane (they have a longer wheel base)and have the drivers seat placed further back in the vehicle. I’ve seen it done before. On the other hand if the hight of the young boy while sitting down is the problem then you could have a vehicle modified with a raised roof. A bit like those Troopie campers you see around from time to time. Some of those new VW’s and Mercedes vanes might be worth a look at. Hope it works out for your Son. Nothing worse than being without wheels at that age.

If a tall person crashes in a convertible their head comes down at the top of the windscreen and it slices their head open. But if you do have the resources to obtain an appropriate car, then plenty of driving schools are happy to take you for lessons in your own car. BMWs tend to have extremely adjustable seats and the lower spec older models aren’t prohibitively expensive for a family car. Or google “cars for tall people” for more ideas from people who care about cars.

Kombi.

If he doesn’t “fit safely” in the drivers seat of a falcondoor, then I’m not use what he will fit in. I wonder if there is a list somewhere of the acceptable driver size of all available vehicles? A question for google I imagine.

I expect that your only option will be to obtain a vehicle (beg, borrow, or steal) which he does fit in, then find a teacher who is happy to use your vehicle. Good luck!

I’d imagine at that height, he’d be struggling for head room in just about every normal car. He’s probably got a bit more growing to do, too.

Buy him a convertible – problem solved.

Gungahlin Al10:38 am 27 Apr 10

If he doesn’t fit in the front of a Falcon, then you’ve got some problems indeed. Truck licence?

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