It's not easy being green. It's not easy being black and blue. It's not easy being short, or fat, or thin, and it's especially not easy being tall. Sure, you might get a sweet gig playing for the NBA if you've got the right skills. Mostly, it just makes owning a sports car a very difficult proposition. This is the dilemma facing the tallest man in America, and our own Macfarlane.A can relate.
hat's not an easy question. I hate to say it, but Matt's probably wrong about the International CXT. Most heavy duty vehicles (Ford F-250 and larger, etc) have pretty limited legroom in the cab, which is a total deal breaker for a tall guy.
How do I know? I'm 6'9". And while that's almost a whole foot shorter than Mr. Vovkovinskiy, I'm probably one of the taller Jalops. So I can tell you, the world's not easy on a tall lover of cars.
You might think SUVs would be a good fit, but you're wrong. If you've got really long legs, the seats are almost always too short, leaving you with your knees higher than your hips and with your ankles bearing weight. This is downright tiring and uncomfortable as a passenger, and can actually make it difficult to use the steering wheel as a driver. Besides, if you love cars you're not going to want anything like that. You want the lowest, fastest, lightest bit of metal you can cram yourself into.
Based on my experience, sedans are almost always the best choice for the very tall driver. The low seating position lets you stretch those longs legs forward and put your arms out toward the wheel. Provided, of course, that the seat goes back far enough.
Unfortauntely, most modern sports cars and GTs don't cut it for someone my size. Once behind the wheel of the 370z I have the choice of either working the pedals or the steering wheel, but not both. I fit perfectly into the Genesis Coupe once it's been given a Gurney Bubble. I can drive an RX-8 for about two wonderful hours before both feet fall asleep and things start getting interesting. I can't even get my knee out of the way to turn the ignition of a Boxter. I walked into a Lotus dealership and the sales manager stepped up to me and said, "Sir, if you can get behind the wheel of one of these cars I will give it to you for free."
So what do I drive? My daily driver is an Infiniti G35x. It took a long time to find a car that was the right combination of power, handling and fit. I ended up buying the only G35 in the region that didn't have a sunroof (an absolute must for the very tall). The dealer was thrilled the be rid of the car, since it was the black sheep on his lot. I had to hide my excitement at finding exactly what I wanted. My wife has a VW Passat (which has more legroom than my G35). And then there's the '99 Crown Vic P71 and '92 LS400 that are pulling 2904 and LeMons duty, respectively. Oh, and until very recently I rode a Triumph Speed Triple.
It's not going to be easy for this guy to find a good ride, but I hope he sticks it out and finds exactly what he wants. It took me months to find the right car, and I suspect it will take him even longer. And if he can't find exactly the right car, he can always make nice with a local welder and get those seat brackets moved back! That's how my dad (he was 6'8") fit into his 1970 Alfa Romeo Spyder!
I'll never feel bad about being 6' and 1.75" again.