No matter how much incapable of doing this I am, or how not-at-all I want to do anything like this, I simply want to salute people like you, who do those hard jobs and post about it, ho help others. Thank you on behalf of everyone else. Keep up the spirit, include photos as you can and know we are grateful.

 

"Wildfire": Just add me to the list of those joining "L'Orange" in that well-deserved salute!

While I am "only" a 'leggy' 6'2", my bum knees required that I have substantial leg (knee) room in whatever vehicle I bought. Two of the many reasons I purchased a 2015 Crosstrek were the very generous 43.5" of driver legroom and the telescopic steering wheel. To me at least, the combo of those two utilitarian features are worth much more than many "bells and whistles" offered by the "cozier" competition!

 

You must have a lot of height in your legs. I'm 6'6" and one of the main reasons I bought the xtrek is because of how much leg and head room it has. I fit fine without any modifications.

 

Same. I'm 6'5", and I've never had an issue; I sit with my seat 2 stops forward from all the way back. I'm not crammed against the wheel either.

However, I definitely feel your pain; sometimes things just don't fit us tall people very well.

 

Cars? Shoes? Pants? Suits? Doorways? Desks in school? Desks at work? Tables at restaurants? Airplanes? Buses? Trains? Other people's cars?

Yep. You really never get away from it. It ain't easy bein' big.

To bring things back around to the XV - I've always wanted a Subaru. I was a big fan of the BRAT when I was a kid, then the Baja when I was in college. My "dream" car when I was younger was a WRX. But all the way up until the 2015 WRX I could never comfortably fit in / drive any of those the cars. The reason wasn't necessarily the leg room or the head room or how far back the seat would slide - it was the lack of a telescopic steering wheel. That, for me, is the modern car invention that magically made smaller cars driveable. I can't fit my giant legs in a car with a non-telescoping wheel. My knees end up rubbing right on the sides of the wheel (I straddle it like I'm suzanne somers with a thighmaster...). But then they started putting telescopic wheels in cars and it was revolutionary - I could now slide the wheel toward me so that my knees were comfortably behind it and I was good to go! The current Impreza/XV was the first of the impreza based cars to have that feature. Maybe Subaru put it in the outback or forester some time sooner, but not as of the last time I tried to drive them back in the mid-2000s.

Remember the old "Real Men of Genius" bud light radio spots? Well, every time I get in a car and flip the wheel lock lever down and ease that column back toward my chest, I say quietly to myself: "Here's to YOU, inventor of the telescopic car steering column."

 

Think i am the "Guinea Pig" your referring to. Glad to see thread is still helping people . I never intended to have seats go further back just was a by-product of having to mount seats . The holes were already there so it worked out . It is great having ton of leg room and if i have BRZ seats all way down i have tons of headroom. Looks like i am the guinea pig again doing the 2.5l/6spd swap.

 

I think you are! Appreciate you documenting your mod. Really helped me out knowing someone had already plowed the ground.

Now, get back to that 2.5l swap...

 

Funny. I'm only 5'8" but with a long torso. I feel the "ergonomic" seat back is trying to make me shorter. The hollow thoracic area of the seat seems to be about 2" too low...compacts my spine. 10,000 miles in I'm seriously considering going for more test drives. OTOH it seems to fit my 5'8" (long-legged) wife like, well, like people tell me gloves ought to fit.


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Anyone here try a driver seat mod that addresses tilt angle of the bucket and not rail-length for tall people? I have a medical issue that is helped by having support along the full length of my thighs and tilting the front edge of the seat up a couple inches would help.