What kind of car do I want to daily drive?

I need to buy a new vehicle sometime in the near future, because the one I have is leaking gear oil all over the cat, which may or may not be possible to repair, but even in the best case it will take long enough I will need another vehicle to drive to work. 

It shouldn't be that hard to find something that will work, but I am really tall and most vehicles are quite uncomfortable except for some older ones of very questionable reliability, or a few new vehicles that cost over half my yearly income.  I can work on older vehicles myself, but I can't really do anything newer than mid 90s vehicles.  I have tried early 2000s vehicles a few times, they were all terrible vehicles (beater German cars lol), but I did not enjoy the experience at all.

I am mainly curious if any other tall people who have driven or sat in a lot of vehicles had any suggestions.  As far as old vehicles, the best I have found were P2 platform Volvos, 955 Porsche Cayenne, W140 (92-99) Mercedes S Class, W210 (96-02) Mercedes E-Class (I actually used to have one), and 2nd generation S-10 Blazers.  80s-90s Ford trucks are also not bad.  But, for obvious reasons none of these vehicles are very good for getting anywhere important. 

For newer vehicles, the Buick Regal TourX, current generation Subaru Outback, Land Rover Defender and Audi RS-5 were the only ones out of walking around the whole LA and SF auto shows that weren't uncomfortable even just to sit in for a few minutes. 

I must be getting old to be shopping for a new vehicle based mostly on comfort, but I honestly wouldn't be too picky otherwise.  0-60 in under 8 seconds would be nice, 20+ mpg and above average brakes would also be nice, along with decent enough handling/low center of gravity to drive in heavy 90 mph traffic safely.

I do know w140's work for tall people. Get a 96-99 though lol. 

What about e39 and e38 BMW's?

I can't even remember the last time I have seen either an E38 or E39 on the road honestly, I should try them though.  The problems I usually run into are the car doesn't have enough head room, so I have to lay the seat farther back so my head doesn't hit the roof, then the steering wheel is too far away, so I have to move the base of the seat forward, then my legs don't fit under the steering wheel and it's miserable to drive for any long distance.  The other problem is I wear size 14 shoes so there sometimes isn't room above the pedals, like the current Camaro, I sat in one at the LA auto show and the toe of my shoe catches on the wires coming out of the fuse box lol.

Out of curiosity, how tall are you?  Is it legroom or headroom that is typically a challenge for you, or both?  I'm only 5'8" so I don't have that challenge.  Just curious were you're facing the biggest challenge.  

A friend who's 6'10" drove an outback for a few years. He fit great in it, but it's a subaru so was back at the dealer often in his 50,000 miles of ownership.

In that era I'll second the E38 / E39 BMWs.  They're a bit on the complicated side, but they're not particularly hard to work on.  And as long as they're maintained well, they're reliable.  Not sure about the E39, but the E38 has some of the best A/C I've ever seen in a car too. 

My friend's been dailying an E39 for years. It's got a few weird quirks but has been super easy to work on and parts are incredibly available. Just don't expect functional cup holders.

I would love an e38 740 to daily. Do they take only premium? Lol that matters now. 

Don't buy a beater german car.  I've said this a bunch of times but on an old german car you're buying the seller more than the car.  You want to buy one from someone who's maintained it obsessively and has the service records to prove it.  Otherwise you're going to get buried in bills on it.  At this point I can't recommend a 955 Cayenne, they're just too old and can cost a ton of money to keep going.

Oddly enough MINIs are surprisingly good for tall people. 

docwyte said:

Don't buy a beater german car.  I've said this a bunch of times but on an old german car you're buying the seller more than the car.  You want to buy one from someone who's maintained it obsessively and has the service records to prove it.  Otherwise you're going to get buried in bills on it.  At this point I can't recommend a 955 Cayenne, they're just too old and can cost a ton of money to keep going.

Yeah, you want a one-owner car.  Someone who paid $80K for a car and has owned it since new has likely taken better care of it than someone who paid $20K with 100K miles already on it, even if the total miles on the two cars are the same.

"Really tall" should point you in the direction of a C5 or C6 Corvette, both of which will accomodate a 6'7" driver stock and nearly 6'10" with an aftermarket seat.

yupididit said:

I would love an e38 740 to daily. Do they take only premium? Lol that matters now. 

Pre facelift they need 89 or better.  Post-facelift cars with VANOS will run on 87, but 91 is recommended.  And mine does get slightly better mpg on premium, which offsets some (but not all) of the extra cost.  

I am 6'4" and have had a few that were quite comfortable.  E53 BMW X5,  currently have 2 2014 Acura TLs 1 is a6 speed manual and.  I have had a couple Saab 9-5 that fit will.  9-3 fit well but no room behind me in it.

Don't forget the w124 chassis, the coupe especially looks good and they are still bulletproof.

25 year old Euro cars seem like an awful choice for a DD.  Nothing is more stressful than a DD that regularly breaks and you can't get where you need to go.   This seems like a time to temper your heart and get something that just works, then get something you find interesting as a second car to play with that can be broken and your life goes on. 

Used Toyota Avalon? Honda Element?

It's not super exciting, but my partner's 2016 Subaru Forester has great sightlines, I'm 6'1" and have more than enough room. Later model 911s also have lots of legroom (991), but $$$.

SKJSS (formerly Klayfish) said:

Out of curiosity, how tall are you?  Is it legroom or headroom that is typically a challenge for you, or both?  I'm only 5'8" so I don't have that challenge.  Just curious were you're facing the biggest challenge.  

6'4 and size 14 feet.  It depends on the car honestly, but usually they either don't have enough head room for me to be able to reach the steering wheel without my head touching the roof, or they have stuff next to the steering column and dash area that hits my knees.

Im gonna be the outlier and suggest a new or newer F150 with the 3.5 Ecoboost.

Get either 2WD or 4WD flavor, lower it a bit, you have a vehicle that checks every single box you are asking for.  

• Tall-friendly?  Yep its a truck.  Without a sunroof they are yuuuuuuuuuge
• 0-60 under 8?  How about under 6?
• 20+MPG all day long on regular in mixed driving
• Nice brakes?  Again - its a truck.  It'll haul you down pretty fast since it was made to run down the road with a trailer or a bed full of gravel
• Does 90 safely?  Yeppers!  

Sonic said:

25 year old Euro cars seem like an awful choice for a DD.  Nothing is more stressful than a DD that regularly breaks and you can't get where you need to go.   This seems like a time to temper your heart and get something that just works, then get something you find interesting as a second car to play with that can be broken and your life goes on. 

I completely agree, late 90s-2000s euro cars are awful, I have a 2000 Boxster if I need to be reminded of that.  I have sat in tons of cars and the only ones that I actually fit comfortably are all terrible cars or way too expensive.  It's hard to decide between paying 60% of my yearly income for a brand new Subaru Outback, buying a used car that I can't drive comfortably, or a worn out and unreliable car that I would hate working on but would at least be comfortable when it ran lol.  

I see people daily driving late w220 s430 and s500's around here all the time. Its actually kind of weird to see lol. Volvos too.

I feel like cars after 2003 or so are far more reliable and easier to keep on the road than cars that are just 5 years older. 

I'm 5'-17" so I know your pain.

Recently leased a new Outback Limited and even with sunroof it's fantastic for tall. Has extended seat bottom thigh supports too. Wife's car primarily though. I also fit in my 2nd Gen highlander with lots of room to spare but that's a boring vanilla suv. 

...my new fascination is with a Porsche Macan. Apparently they are great for tall. Too bad they cost 2-3x my personal max price.

codrus (Forum Supporter) said:

docwyte said:

Don't buy a beater german car.  I've said this a bunch of times but on an old german car you're buying the seller more than the car.  You want to buy one from someone who's maintained it obsessively and has the service records to prove it.  Otherwise you're going to get buried in bills on it.  At this point I can't recommend a 955 Cayenne, they're just too old and can cost a ton of money to keep going.

Yeah, you want a one-owner car.  Someone who paid $80K for a car and has owned it since new has likely taken better care of it than someone who paid $20K with 100K miles already on it, even if the total miles on the two cars are the same.

 

Eh.  My P2R's first owner was a leasing company, apparently it was a company car for execs at some place in Michigan (smells like Ford, Ford owned Volvo at the time) and I am the fourth owner.  It is quite reliable.  I used to work in a very Euro-friendly shop and I noted that the P2s never rusted or never needed any more than maintenance and PCV system rebuilds.

...okay, I have been putting off replacing the leaky rack for a few months.  But I have been doing roughly 4000-4500 miles a month and I just feed it fuel and oil changes.  And CHF11S.  At 287k miles I will cut it a little slack.

Don't forget the BRZ/FR-S/GT86. I'm 6'2" with size 12 feet and find mine to be reasonably spacious with some tiny caveats: I have a steering wheel spacer which moved it back 2", the back "seat" is a storage shelf, and I bent the shoulder bolsters on the stock seats out because they are too low/narrow for me. Legroom is awesome, foot room adequate, and I have head room even with a helmet!

Acceleration is fine for any real-world situation if you aren't scared of revving it. City mileage is 23mpg if I cane the poor thing, 27-32mpg in the highway depending on speed/aggressiveness (requires premium.) Brakes are great with a pad swap and fluid replacement, and it has low CoG nailed. See if you can find one to sit in if sporty coupes as a daily crank your scooter.