OK, I'm looking at a new car now, and have a minor problem. I would like a moon roof, but I have a very tall torso. This means that where I have plenty of clearance in a car without a moonie, my head nearly touches the moon roof in pretty much every make of car I have tried (Outback, Forrester, VW Passat, etc., etc.)

 

My wife had an odd idea which I immediately discounted, but which I can't get out of my head: why not buy a car, then have a body shop lower the seat? (I am certainly not confident enough in my skills to attempt such a thing myself, particularly since messing it up could be fatal. I keep picturing the seat coming loose in a collision and flying toward the dash as the airbag deploys. Not a pretty picture.)

 

So I ask all of you retrofit/body shop gurus out there: is it possible or advisable to physically lower a seat in a car? I'm not as much concerned with whether it can go up and down (although it would be nice for my wife to be able to drive my car) but I would like at least limited back and forth mobility.

 

What say you?

 

Thanks!

Charles

Probably a dumb question from me, but I'll ask it anyway... did you check to make sure that the cars you tested did in fact have the vertical seat adjustment all the way down? I'm 6'4" and have quite a lot of head room in my OB, less in the TS, but those don't have moonroofs and as you pointed out the torso length is more important than one's height for headroom issues. FWIW I've always been impressed that Subarus seem to have better headroom than most domestic cars I've been in.

 

Some people have swapped seats from Subaru to Subaru without having to modify things much, for example WRX seats into Legacies, but IIRC they actually sit higher, not what you want.

 

In my experience the Foresters have the most usable headroom among newer Subies, in fact the '05 Legacies I've sat in seemed to have a little less than my '97 OB.

 

Sorry I probably didn't offer you any help here, just rambling. There's probably a good solution out there.

 

Steve

I'm 6'3" and most of my height is in the torso. I have to keep the seat back reclined more than I like, to give myself head room in our MY01 OB LTD wagon with the dual sunroof. I have more head room in our MY95 Legacy L and my mother-in-law's MY98 OB wagon, both of which do not have a sunroof. I blame to electric seat for a lack of adjusment. The motor and other electronics under the seat do not allow the seats to drop down as much as a manual seat, they seem to have less of the clearance underneath. I think that a manual seat installed to replace a power seat could possibly offer more headroom. Since my wife drives the LTD wagon more that I do I have not really looked closely into changing out the seat. I would bet that the sock unpowered seat bolts directly to the frame at the same points that the power seat does.

I'm 6'10" and have to drive with my head out the sun roof!

You lucky shorty's!!

Probably a dumb question from me, but I'll ask it anyway... did you check to make sure that the cars you tested did in fact have the vertical seat adjustment all the way down?

Yeah, I actually did check that. That's actually the first thing I do before getting into any car.

 

Anyway, I think I am just going to get an Outback XT sans moon roof. The only issue with it is that it has an electric seat adjuster, which gives it about 1/2" less headroom than my '99 Legacy Outback, but I can live with that.

 

Thanks for the comments, guys!

 

- Charles