Driver Height? 1997 Esprit

[JCFILM]

I'm beginning to consider picking up a Esprit.

A 1997 turned up just a few hours away but I had a question-

Is driver height a problem in a 1997 Esprit if you are 6'4"
I have comfortable leg room in my 2002 Corvette. Just wondering how I would fit in the Esprit before I travel to look at it.

Thanks.

[Lotus_cz]

Im 192 cm (6'3") and no chance, only way is smaller steering wheel, than no problem next, pedals r very close, so special slim driving shoes come useful.

[Simba]

I'm 6'4 and I fit fine. Ample leg room, decent head room. It sort of depends how you're built.

Going to a smaller steering wheel will help most people, and if you're tall it's a good idea to dump the air bag anyway.

[escondidoron]

JCFILM wrote:

Is driver height a problem in a 1997 Esprit if you are 6'4"

I'm 6'5". I've found both head and leg room to be problematic for me in the G-cars and not so much in the S-cars. I'd recommend that you try one on for size and see what you think. When you try it on check the head room and the clearance of your right knee relative to the steering wheel.

If you like the car and find that it is a close fit there are a couple of very easy mods that you can make that might make the difference for you:

1) If you don't mind giving up on the excellent heal/toe placement of the gas pedal relative to the brake pedal there are about 2" of leg room to be gained for your right foot. This is a very simple mod. You simply remove the gas pedal stop pad from behind the gas pedal and then re-adjust the throttle cable so that full gas pedal travel is stopped by the forward bulkhead in the footwell and not by the (now removed) gas pedal stop pad.

2) On the S4 and later interiors there is a removable pad in the bottom of the driver's seat. Removal of this pad (if it hasn't already been removed) will gain about 1" of head room.

These are very simple mods that are quite effective for taller drivers. No cutting or damage to the car required. Total time involved is less than 1 hour with simple hand tools.

For my G-cars (they have a slightly shorter distance between the forward footwell bulkhead and the firewall than the later S-cars) I have installed seats from an Elise. This netted me an additional 2" of both head and leg room. I've also repositioned the gas pedal as previously described.


However I have found that the additional interior room in the S4 and later cars is adequate for me w/o any mods (beyond the two described above).

In my case, I've found that driving w/o shoes is the most comfortable on long drives.

Good luck.

Regards,
Ron

[Alphonse]

Ron,

How did you mount the Elise seats in your Esprit? I have an 89 esprit and a set of Elise seats from my wife's 05 Elise. What did you use for mounting rails?

I lowered the Esprit seats by removing the 1/2" shims from under the stock rails and the carpewting directly under the seat. I'm 6'-2" and this worked great for me. The Elise seat might buy me a bit more.

Al B.

[TrapperJohn]

6'3", I fit okay in my 90 SE. Getting in and out takes a bit of thought as it sits so low.

It's remarkably comfy on the inside, and the ride is surprisingly smooth, considering what it can do.

[JCFILM]

Thanks for the responses - very helpful and appreciated.

[escondidoron]

Alphonse wrote:

How did you mount the Elise seats in your Esprit? I have an 89 esprit and a set of Elise seats from my wife's 05 Elise. What did you use for mounting rails?

I used the OEM seat rails from the donor Elise. I had to drillo 2 new holes in the floor pan to accomodate the Elise rails. I made some shims from plywood to go under the front rail mount screws. The shims got the back rest angle to about 37 degrees.



Regards,
Ron

[Huskerbill]

6'2" 230 here and no issues in my 1997 Esprit.