First, I want to thank all of you for putting up with my myriad questions ... Your input has been, and will continue to be , much appreciated .

I am very close to closing a deal!

I want one more test drive to concentrate on the sight lines . I must crank the seat to the lowest point to keep the top of my head at the lowest point. I still might be slightly over the top of the windshield , and, looking forward, my straight sight line is the upper third of glass, close to top.... with this configuration I don't see front of car; must elevate seat a bit....
I'm sure I will find my comfort zone. Presently, with my BMW, my straight eye line is in mid- window with lots of glass up and down ... The roadster is different...

Do any of you have my body type and experience this? Am I making sense?
Best,
JoNack

 

What you are experiencing is seemingly common to most roadsters. I had the same issue with my S2000 and now the Roadster S. I am often having to lean down at stoplights to see the stoplights. Not ideal but you get use to it.

Good luck.

 

I'm 6' and wear pants with 32" leg. I don't know if that qualifies as the type you're looking for. Whatever car I am in I always put the seat down as low as it will go. I just prefer that position, it's a car not an SUV or an armchair. The Roadster is no exception.

If I'm in traffic with the top up I do quite a bit of head bobbing to look for people who hang around in the blind spots when changing lanes. The mirrors do OK, but an extra check doesn't hurt.

[As an aside, it seems to be compulsory around here to sit just where the car you are next to can't see you at all! I just got back from 10 days in Europe (Germany) and the difference in driving is remarkable. People keep right, pull out to pass then pull back in. Zero passing on the right. Despite higher speeds on the autobahns (most of which are only two lanes in each direction) I felt much safer than I do on 95 South going home from work each day.]

Top down is no problem, as you can imagine.

I am completely willing to take the extra care, it's more than compensated for by the rest of the experience!

 

Hey Spiney,
Were you near Hanover? Father + German grandparents from there...
I'm 6'... 30 inch inseam , so I am more challenging...

Question: what does a good set of tires cost? With wheels?
Also, is the top durable ? Easy to clean?

 

I am 6'1" with a 30" inseam and I wear my pants with my beltline just below my belly button, not below a beer belly like a lot of people so I might be more your body type than Spiney. I had some troubles at first but kept changing the seat height, front to back adjustment, and seat back recline until I got it right. One of the problems I had at first was when I got my line of sight where I wanted it, the steering wheel was blocking part of the tach display. I then changed my steering wheel adjustments to compensate. It took a bit but I finally got it right. Like Spiney says, with top up, I do a lot of neck craning to see blind spots and lean down to see traffic lights when I am first in line at the stop. My only complaint is that the sun visors will not raise above the windshield header to help block the sun when the top is down. I don't know but maybe they designed it that way because of wind flow issues.

 

Sounds like you need one of these. It's the best value mod you can find, and I've had one in all three of my MINIs.

 

Munich for 5 days, Dresden for 4, Nuremberg visited on the way between them.
My Enkei 17x7.5s were $150 each. With the Blizzaks and TPMS inc. free mounting and balancing it was around $1700. Can't comment on other options, but Tire Rack has some nice tools for just playing around, you can even show them on your car.
For now I've been just cleaning mine with plain water before I start on the rest of the car. Lots of people have recommended Raggtop products, and I plan to use those to get the winter off in a couple of months (hopefully). There are no marks on it now, but I don't park under trees if I can help it, and it's garaged at night and in an open lot at work.

 

 

I hate that about the visors too. The old MGs and Triumphs could do that, I'm sure BMW could have figured it out. Opportunity for an aftermarket product?

I wear regular MINI ball caps in the summer, and I found a great woolly hat with a small ball cap style peak for winter to keep the sun out of my eyes.

 

Agree completely! The LightInSight lens is great for showing the traffic lights without any neck craning. It's a translucent, plastic, Fresnel lens that you stick to the top of the windshield. Easy to peel off if you miss the neck craning.

 

I'm 6"4 with 34" inseam, so I've probably got as much leg and torso lol

I've bottomed the seat out, and then added one crank just to lift me a bit, so that I can adjust the auto-dim mirror in a way that allows the sensor to "see" over the rear spoiler. I haven't found any combo of adjustments that allows me to see 100% of the tach, the 4k is about half covered, but to make it visible makes the steering wheel feel too high.

I did discover yesterday that I had about 2-3 more inches of unused telescoping adjustment on the steering column and was able to pull it closer to me - THAT made my day, I thought I had adjusted it all the way out... Might need to interrogate the wife

Really need to grab one of those LightInSights... *any* convertible with a raked windshield as steep as ours is going to make us tall folk feel cramped a bit, but I can vouch that it's more of a trick of your mind than really that cramped.

 

Thanks TheZlog,

I was starting to think that only guys with long bodies and short legs liked roadsters...

I'm 5' 10 1/2" and have 30" legs...

My head was a little high in the Miata but just right in the Mini


Helix13mini....... that sure is mini!!!

 

Yep, honestly I think the Mini is a great fit. I have more room in it than I did with my Mazda 3. Before the Mazda I had a Scion XB which was about as good as it got for height-accommodation