car comfort

September 10, 2009 9:16 PM

Looking for cheapest rental car that will be comfortable for my extremely tall (6 foot 7 inches) boyfriend. He's stocky too. Any larger folks have recommendations?

We're renting in Indiana and driving to Florida and then back so comfort is pretty important, but we also want to spend as little money as possible.

Thanks for your help.

posted by jenfu to travel & transportation (3 comments total)

The new Beetle is surprisingly roomy. It works well for my 6'6 husband.
posted by idiotfactory at 9:50 PM on September 10

6'5"ish stocky guy who's rented a lot of cars here.

The problem with renting a car is that you typically can't reserve a particular car -- unless you're getting something fancy, you usually get to choose from economy, compact, intermediate, standard, full, premium, small SUV, large SUV, or minivan when you reserve.

My experience? Economy and compact are usually no-gos. Intermediate is a gamble. I can usually fit reasonably comfortably in a standard sedan, so that's what I usually reserve. In those cases when I haven't -- and I'm speaking to you, Elantra and Concorde -- I've simply gone back to the desk, apologized for the intrusion, made the international "I'm pretty tall" gesture towards the top of my head, and mentioned that I didn't fit well in the car. In every case, they've swapped the car with something with a bit more headroom at no extra charge, even if that was a full, premium or SUV rate class.

There are two wildcards here you'll want to look into if you don't go the standard sedan route: the Scion xB and the PT Cruiser. If the rental place has them, they might be classified as cheap compact cars, and your bf may well fit. You may want to call in advance to see if those will be available. I agree with idiotfactory that the VW Bug is a good car for tall people, but I've never, ever seen a rental Bug sitting in any of the rental garages.

If you're going to be trading driving positions on the trip, make sure that your boyfriend tries both the driver's seat and the passenger seat while you're still in the garage. I have no problem at all in the driver's seat of my wife's tiny Honda Fit, but when I get in the passenger seat, I'm positioned in such a way that my knees are jammed against the panel. Same thing in the xB.
posted by eschatfische at 10:56 PM on September 10

Look for compact "people carriers" (I apologise for my European-ese) - if they exist in the rental pool - i.e. variants of normal cars that are advertised as being good for 5 adults. They tend to have higher rooflines, and hence are better for taller people.

E.g. the Volkswagen Golf Plus, which is the higher roofline variant of the Golf.

In my experience, some of the smaller cars actually tend to be better (at least in Europe) because they are aimed at older customers and have highish rooflines. E.g. the uber-small Smart car, which has acres of room for tall people (I'm not suggesting you hire this car, even if you could find it, for a trip of the length you're suggesting, BTW).
posted by MuffinMan at 1:32 AM on September 11