Cars for tall people?

My old 2005 Focus ZX3 was plenty big enough for my 6'-3" self. Pick just about anything without a sunroof and look for higher roof lines that started in around 2000 and it'll probably be a decent starting place.

Porsche 944 I think is good for the long leg option. The seats can go way back. 

HEre you go.  Commer Imp Van, you could wear a top hat while driving one.  The tallest man in Britton used to have one becuase of the headroom.  

Suburban.  Mine is super roomy.

But honestly the NC is far more spacious than previous generations, and convertible means infinite headroom .

My B6 Passat is certainly fine for anyone under 6'9".

There, I have three in my fleet that would be acceptable to most humans.

I did feel bad for a friend who tried to autocross his sunroof equipped RX-8.  He's 6'5" and.......hefty.  Helmet on he couldn't hold his head upright 

Subaru Impreza the older ones , wrx all let me sit with a helmet on. 6'3" 33-34 inseam

Friends husband is 6'7" and loves his new bettle. 

Older Porsche 911s.

Miata with the seat foamectomy.

So I'm 6'1". All legs and arms with a 34" inseam. 

SW20 and the 3rd gen Mr2 are super comfortable. Most comfortable 2 seater I've driven. 

NA and NC miatas work with tweaks. NA: Smaller steering wheel NC: Barefoot Shoes. 

911 (2005+) is to most comfortable 2+2 I've ever driven. It just worked great. They had to pry the keys out of my hand. 

Mustangs and Camaro work ok just just feel off by a little bit. 

The BRZ/FT86 twins just didn't work at all. 

For vanilla cars, German cars seem to fit the best overall. Seems like lately, most of the Japanese cars are just off. Like too short of seats, Can't get the right adjustments, etc. Not huge misses but just an inch here or there. 

Tk8398 said:

I should try BMWs, I have only ever driven an E30 and E28.  Finding an E46 that isn't trashed would be pretty hard now though.  AW11s are extinct here, but I remember them being too small for me back when they were common in the junkyard and sat in one to see if I fit.

E9x is probably similar, although likely out of your $5K budget.  I've never driven one, though.

SW20s are quite a bit bigger inside than AW11s.

I have relatives that range from 6'3" to 6'8", their family car was a first gen new beetle. Probably not what you were thinking but they apparently fit into it pretty well. I mean, a turbo beetle is pretty much a mkr 4 GTi right?

I'm 6'3" all in the legs and drive a no sunroof legacy wagon and a slick top E28, I fit in both with a helmet no problem.

Adam

I'm 6' tall and have plenty of headroom in my GTI (with sunroof). Also had plenty of room in my 2009 WRX (with sunroof). 

Funny, like ojannon, I find that the overhead on my (former) 4Runner and (current) Sequioa is pretty limited. I feel l'm way closer than I should be. 

irish44j said:

I'm 6' tall and have plenty of headroom in my GTI (with sunroof). Also had plenty of room in my 2009 WRX (with sunroof). 

Funny, like ojannon, I find that the overhead on my (former) 4Runner and (current) Sequioa is pretty limited. I feel l'm way closer than I should be. 

A lot of SUVs and pickups are surprisingly cramped.  They sit the seats up like a high-chair, and sometimes you get into the problem long-legged people get with old Mercedes and VW with the huge knee bolsters, where you find that you can't reach the pedals because the bolster is in the way.

The first thing I did with my Golf was remove the knee bolster and install a lap belt.  (VW had a theory in the 80s that if you had a good enough knee bolster, you only needed a shoulder belt.  Maybe if you have a 30" inseam and have hooves for feet.)   After that, the Golf was huge inside, and had one of the best driving positions ever with respect to steering wheel/pedals/seat/shifter location.

It should be noted that every time I drive an R50 Mini, it reminds me so much of driving my Golf that I try to push the shifter down and go left-forward to find Reverse.  They are better Golfs than VW has put out since 1992.

Funny how opinions about what fits tend to vary...it's almost like all tall people are a bit different! 

I'm 6'2" with a 35" inseam, so I look many people right in the eye when seated, and at the top of the same person's head when standing. For years I developed a driving position with my arms too outstretched, knees up behind the wheel, and heels together in the center of the footwell, toes splayed outward to the gas and dead pedal. Then one day I decided to get serious about customizing my fit, sold my sunroof AE86 Toyota, put an extended steering hub and dished steering wheel on my non-sunroof AE86, and bent the gas pedal and moved the dead pedal to my liking....WOW! What a difference! 
Ever since then, I've been more open minded about spending a few bucks on custom parts as needed, provided the headroom and footwell depth are okay. This was a shift from my previous mindset of either dealing with it or selling the car and buying another. I'm  not sure if this helps anyone else or not, but I figure it is worth considering an alternative to chasing the elusive car with good ergonomics for your specific tall/big self right out of the box.

FWIW, I've been fine with my FR-S with extended steering hub. I also have found the SW20 MR2 and Toyota Matrix/Pontiac Vibe to be great for fitting me. No surprise, but I'm sad to report that I've had to turn down some tempting drives due to not being able to fit into original Lotus Sevens. I also found out the hard way that I can't fit in the passenger seat of a Lancia Stratos with helmet on and the door closed. The mid-80's Civic hatchback is the worst daily-driver type car I've suffered through.

5'18" (36" inseem)

I have enjoyed:
1979-85 RX7
2000 Contour SVT
2002 Focus ZTS
2006 Jetta
2007 Mazda6s
2011 Elantra Touring
2014 Accord
2017 Elantra Sport

I'm 6'2" - here are some cars that have worked well for me. First - avoid sunroofs; they seem to cut into headroom way too much.

Currently, I'm driving a '98 Buick Regal. The GM W bodies are pretty roomy, and the supercharged models have more sporting pretensions than you might expect.

The Ford Focus is a good one - the high roof line makes for a lot of head room.

Surprise example - second generation MR2. It's the only car I've ever sat in where I could put the seat back so far that I couldn't reach the pedals. Another surprisingly roomy two seater choice would be a C4 Corvette. If the targa top counts as a sunroof, the C4 is one of the few ways to get a sunroof that's tall driver friendly.

I’m 6’5” and a lot of that is neck and torso so fitting in a car is usually a compromise between headroom and seating position.

One of the better cars has been our 2012 Focus (no sunroof.) The manual adjusting seat has a wonderful up/down adjustment.

I also really liked the driving position in the BMW 318ti I had for a bit. However the E36 sedan with a sunroof was no good.

I'm 6' 1" and mostly legs. First off, a few cars that don't fit as well as I would like... '03 Subaru Legacy, Honda Clarity, Honda S2000. All of these lack sufficient leg room.

The ones that fit (but are not necessarily within your budget)... the first two have plenty of head and legroom:

Vintage - BMW 2002

Modern - BMW i3

Weekend toy - Lotus Elise (more legroom than the S2000)

In reply to SPG123 :

The old 90's Impala SS were pretty good too.

With your price range, first gen MINI Cooper S. Get one without the sunroof.

I'm a slender 6'2-6'3, 34" inseam.

My FR-S is probably the best fitting sports car I've driven to date, everything just fits like a well-worn favorite pair of jeans. Headroom is fine even with a helmet on. 

My 6'9 friend has a TC that he says fits him fine, although I have yet to ride in that car with him or drive it myself. 

My FC RX7, on the other hand, required quite a bit of floor surgery to get the Kirkeys into a position where I can keep my head fully upright with a helmet on, and even still I'm not as upright as I'd like to be and it's a tight fit. Totally worth the effort though, and I think I legit picked up quite a bit of time on the auto x course just due to fixing the seating position. 

4th gen Camaro was pretty good too, TONS of legroom and infinite headroom with the T tops off, but the ergonomics are goofy as hell. 

My E36 with a sunroof had zero headroom, even without a helmet. 

I've driven an SW20 and remember that working really well, although IIRC there's a weird offset between the pedals/seat/steering wheel.

Miatae do not work for me at all, the upper 2/3 of my field of vision in an NA is taken up by the windshield header. 

Regarding the comments on Toyota trucks, my mom's 4Runner does not work for me at all, nor has any generation of Taco I've driven. I feel like they all close in from the side against my head. On the other hand, Tundras fit me fine, even the non-Tonka sized first gens.