Timlank said:
Thanks for all the input! We are still shopping. Looked a couple Jeep Cherokees XJ (which I had one back in early 2000’s) and a newer model. Both were too small - my son is 6’8”.
Also - we live in northern Indiana - so icy and snowy winters. RWD pickups and similar are not the best especially for a new driver.
Will let you know how things unfold.
So this changes my advice entirely. No way does anyone 6'8" comfortably fit in a Miata, and it isn't the car for the weather he'll need to drive it. One sort of "oddball" suggestion is a Suzuki SX4. We picked one up for my son. We were able, thanks to some help from another GRMer, to get him into a reasonably new, AWD, 5 Speed manual car for a pretty reasonable price. There is a TON of elbow and head room in that car in a reasonably sized package. SO FAR, the "it's dead brand, you won't be able to find parts" concerns some will voice haven't proven to be a problem. We've been able to get pretty much everything we've needed from Amazon and other sources . . . again, so far. An AWD Vibe/Matrix would tick a lot of the same boxes with maybe a little better parts availability.
This is my son's car: 
I bought a mg midget for my son so we could restore it. ex-wife veto a car without airbags, antilock brakes, no crash protection whatsoever. she was right. So I bought him a $1000 2001 Prius, he helped me swap out the transaxle on it. He loved it, so fck off you azzholes prius haters.
My step son I bought him a $400 85 Ranger, he helped me swap transmission in it. Trucks are not recommeded for new drivers. He did not like it, but can't complain, and we got to use the truckness of it when needed.
My suggestion given the weather is a first-generation Rav4, 2 door, 4wd, the coolest car ever made, a convertible if you can find one even better.
If not a normal common not-cool 4-door.
So, thinking about 6'8", I made some Pontiac Vibe measurements.
Personally, I am 6"1" with a 32" inseam.
- Fore/Aft: I the seat forward 3 clicks from all-the-way back
- Height: I have the height adjust seat all the way down I have quite a bit of headroom. I added on this goofy hat that gives me a total height of 6' 4" and I then touch the roof with the hat.
So, the the question is how your son carries his 6'8"? With that hat I was just 4" shorter than your son. If he carries the 4" in his inseam then he very well may fit since I had 3 notches that I could still move back the seat.
If he is this height at age 15, he's likely to still grow!!!! Is he a true Hoosier Ball-player?
In reply to STM317 :
Having been 'that guy' with a truck let me say that 'friends' is a kind of elastic word here.
In reply to purplepeopleeater :
I found the work around. Have a truck that blows up often so they always assume it isn't running.
frenchyd said:
ClemSparks said:
New drivers don't need AWD or something that's "good in the snow."
Not to say they can't have it...but when the weather is too bad for school busses to get around...nobody NEEDS to go anywhere (as a teenager). Just keep that in mind.
When it snows/ices here, the teenager car gets parked.
If you think a RWD trick isn't good you might consider saving the BMW until he's crashed his first car and/or becomes a confident winter driver.
(I'm sure a rear-drive truck is worse in low-friction environments than a rear-drive BMW but I still think until they learn and feel confident in the snow...they don't "need" to get anywhere that bad.)
I drive school bus and those 40 foot long monsters are pretty darn good in snow and ice. Last year the rear tires were approaching minimums and I still never got stuck. Hard stops like at the bottom of steep hills do require skill technique and judgement but are doable.
We do have “snow” days when children stay home but that’s because traffic gets so congested that we can run more than an hour late. Children standing on street corners for up to an hour is not safe or smart. The trouble is on snow days parents take kids to school which adds to congestion.
That’s why I take great pride running on time and on schedule, so I don’t inadvertently add to traffic congestion.
My statement had nothing to do with the actual technical capabilities of School Busses in low friction environments nor the talent of their drivers (which, I'll say, runs the full range).
I'm saying if school is canceled, it's an indicator that conditions are questionable enough to make that call. What would be the FIRST group of people to choose or get told not to drive in that situation? Inexperienced drivers. (Besides...the only place they need to go is to school...which is canceled.)
As a teenager, I chose to drive my parents' FWD car one new year's eve when it was snowing rather than my clunker RWD vehicle. I got into a wreck that night. I learned that if I don't think I can get their in my RWD vehicle due to weather conditions I need to question my need (or desire) to actually go there.
These days, I go out and drive in the snow for fun in my AWD subarubeater because I want to. I Suppose if there were an emergency, I could get somewhere (a hospital) because I "needed" to as well...but I hope not to have that need.
If nothing else, I plan ahead. Our son is 14 tomorrow. He is just over 6 feet. He has three yeas of karting under his belt and two more years to go before he drives my then current car at events.
We live in the mountains, snow and messy roads are a given. He will learn the art off shifting, because race car has one. But his first road warrior will be a front wheel drive tank. I have a line on a mid 2000's Buick. That already has Snow tires on it. It will always have snow tires on it. The dirt roads around here are going to be a great training ground, once we get the KYB's on the car.
It's going to not last very long, why not enjoy it.
6'8" narrows your car choices down to two:
EG Civic hatch
C5 Corvette
Very few other cars fit a driver of that height. Some M-B models will have the seat go back far enough, some trucks may have adequate headroom and a high enough bottom-of-dash to at least let him fit.
6'8"?!
berkeley a Miata. I think he's gonna be longer than the car by the time he's 18.
Vibe GT/Matrix XRS. Not as fun, but 6-speed 2ZZ, plenty of space, and easy to maintain.
I think it's good to choose a car that your offspring will take an interest in, as opposed to some plain vanilla appliance.
Also, I think it more constructive to emphasize safety on the road. Provide an outlet like drag racing or autocross to allow the release of endorphins OFF the public roadways. I'm appalled at the number of people here who just figure their kid will stuff their first car. Sure it could happen, but I'm not going to put my kid in a beater and invite him to wreck it. The potential costs are too high. My kid knows what the car is worth, and how much the insurance costs. He knows if he screws up he'll be without a car for a while. Maybe a pretty long while.
My first car lasted five years. When I sold it for near what I paid for it, it was a little worse off than when I got it, but not much.
nimblemotorsports said:
I bought a mg midget for my son so we could restore it. ex-wife veto a car without airbags, antilock brakes, no crash protection whatsoever. she was right. So I bought him a $1000 2001 Prius, he helped me swap out the transaxle on it. He loved it, so fck off you azzholes prius haters.
My step son I bought him a $400 85 Ranger, he helped me swap transmission in it. Trucks are not recommeded for new drivers. He did not like it, but can't complain, and we got to use the truckness of it when needed.
My suggestion given the weather is a first-generation Rav4, 2 door, 4wd, the coolest car ever made, a convertible if you can find one even better.
If not a normal common not-cool 4-door.
I just want to comment that these are remarkably hard to find. Not that I look for them fairly regularly or anything.
In reply to mazdeuce - Seth :
I agree Seth. I would love one with a swap to play around in the hills but nothing to be found.
6'8" is going to rule out a huge number of cars - I'm nowhere near that tall, and still have had to rule out a lot of cars that didn't accommodate my height. Some other possible cars that are good for taller drivers - Ford Focus has a ton of head room, and one that might be a huge surprise - the second generation Toyota MR2 is the ONLY car I've ever found that I can't reach the pedals with the factory seat all the way back.
