You know when you see a car test on the TV and the tester is getting it all sideways and things on an airfield ? Well they all seem to adopt the "racing driver" seating position of bent arms and bent legs which allegedly improves car control. Having been a lifelong straight arm / straight leg man, I thought I'd give it a try today in the closer up to the wheel position.
Have to say, I found it more difficult to drive like that and now will have to go for a swim to unlock my back !
How does everyone else prefer to sit ?
a) Straight arm / Straight Leg
b) Bent arm / Bent leg
c) Straight arm / Bent Leg
d) Bent arm / Straight Leg
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(B)
MD
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Bent leg, straight arm. but not from choice, mine seems to be more suitable for a gibbon :(
Edited by oilrag on 24/11/2007 at 19:11
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Hi Oilrag - Only time I had to sit like that was when I stupidly chose a Renault Espace. Two years of motoring purgatory ! Terrible seating position but at least I used to get respite when it made its regular return trips to the dealer to be fixed ......... again !
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Verticle lower legs, straight upright back and straight arms or else my back gives me jip.Bit like a large van or bus driving position.
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rustbucket (the original)
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B (both bent)
I'm not short (5' 9") but when I go to pick the car up after a service or repair the seat has been moved so far back I struggle to reach the pedals and steering wheel.
Chris
Edited by Chris White on 24/11/2007 at 19:32
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I move my seat back as far as it will go for maximum safety in a crash. And I keep both hands on the wheel.
I have noticed a fashion with some young male drivers. They are almost horizontal, and leaning over to the door side, with one arm draped loosely over the top of the wheel. I think it is an attempt to appear 'cool'.
And sometimes when I am tailgated, the driver behind leans forward, and folds his arms over the top of the steering wheel. I think it is an indication of impatience at me obeying the speed limit.
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b,....but only slightly
with my legs in particular, i like to reserve the right to either bury the throttle into the carpet or stand on the brake should I declare it needed.....and straight legs doesn't give me that confidence that i have necessarily got my adjustments quite right
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Likewise Westpig. And that is correct for normal give-and-take conditions.
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I also like the seat high and the wheel low. 'You should be on top of it,' I tell learner drivers earnestly.
Edited by Lud on 24/11/2007 at 22:08
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Well........swim completed and back re-aligned ! Had to return seat to favoured position tho'. Having read responses to this I am now concerned that I may be dangerously close to favouring the "chav slump" driving position. Perhaps I should embrace it and invest in a baseball cap ?! Could anyone give me some pointers as to the protocol please ? EG square on head, reversed or perhaps a jaunty angle ???? :-) Or maybe I should make some "modernist ironic " statement by digging out the old faithful flat cap ? :-)
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I am now concerned that I may be dangerously close to favouring the "chav slump" driving position. Perhaps I should embrace it and invest in a baseball cap ?! Could anyone give me some pointers as to the protocol please ? Or maybe I should make some "modernist ironic " statement by digging out the old faithful flat cap ? :-)
one should invest in a straw boater or similar and it should be placed firmly on the head, not at an angle. When not in the car, it should be left on the parcel shelf.
I rashly bought a leather thing (Australian) last year and much to my wife's horror insist on wearing it...(she thinks i'm having a crisis).........i quite like the reaction i get from kids in particular, who tend to stare.
I see myself as some sort of sophisticated well travelled type, whereas i suspect everyone else sees me as the large bloke in a strange hat
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Having seen a driver with the steering column stuck in his chest after a collision (admittedly before seat belts were introduced) I prefer to be as far away from the steering wheel as possible.
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L\'escargot.
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To follow on from L'escargot's post - consider the airbag when you're thinking of settling close to the steering wheel.
My preference is closest to B - with the proviso that reach is adjusted so I'm just about straight arm to the top of the wheel: as far away as possible but with full control.
The other factor which varies with seat position is the view from the driver's door mirror - if it's a smallish flat mirror ( KA style) visibility can be a problem as featured in BB's post, if you are a long way from it.
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Having said all the above I remember being advised many years ago " never trust the driving skills of anyone of any age or gender who insists on driving in a hat " And you know what..... by and large it seems to be true !!! Typical hat wearers seem to include the young and impetuous and the old and detached :-)
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Is this one of yours?
Nothing to be proud of but in my young sales rep days being able to demonstrate the "skillset" of nipping round the busy roundabout while eating a sandwich, removing the top of your Thermos, making a 'phone call and tucking back in at your chosen exit was pretty much required at the interview stage of the job !
What kind of hat did you wear, cowboy or clown?
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Guity as charged m'lud ! Promise I don't do it anymore !
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....... " never trust the driving skills of anyone of any age or gender who insists on driving in a hat "
No self-respecting chauffeur would dream of not wearing a hat, and in any case their employer would probably demand that they wore the one provided.
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L\'escargot.
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I used to deride those who wear hats.
Now I am balding (NOT Bald!) and it's cold, I wear a hat. So seat position and car head height is critical. I like the seat high... and to be able to wear a hat. And have a sunroof. And drive a small car..
Kind of narrows them down.
High seat, arms slightly bent, legs at 70 degrees from vertical... hat does not touch sunroof - about 5 cm clearance. Wonderful.
(I hit my head getting in/out of a Ford Puma without wearing a hat.. put me right off.)
madf
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Buy a Roomster, height adjustable seats and enough headroom to wear a top-hat ! Not that I will ever wear any sort of hat in a car - ever.
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"Buy a Roomster, height adjustable seats and enough headroom to wear a top-hat ! Not that I will ever wear any sort of hat in a car - ever."
Not even a top hat covered in round mirrors?
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Were you sitting in on a recent meeting I was in ???
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I was watching Noddy Holder on the Gadget show yesterday and wondering why it never caught on
Thanks you've reminded me - see IHAQ !
Edited by Pugugly {P} on 25/11/2007 at 12:09
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Does this mean that ALL police drivers (in hats) are pink fluffy dice, then? Shorely shome mishtake...
Recently hired a Punto Grande and found it had that classic "Italian" driving position, which I remember from road tests (and personal experience) of 1970s and 1980s Fiats. I had to sit with legs stretched and arms akimbo as the car was made for long armed, short legged southern Mediterranean types. All goes back to a Greek/Roman gene mixture several thousand years ago, apparently.
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>>classic "Italian" driving position whichI remember from road tests (and personal experience) of 1970s and 1980s Fiats. I had to sit with legs stretched and arms akimbo as the car was made for long armed short legged southern Mediterranean types.
Surely it's arms full stretch and/or legs akimbo(!) for Northern European build people in Italian cars :-)
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Had to wait until I was driving this morning to respond to this thread....... slightly bent.
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The RF style is
Seat high, slightly bent legs (at full clutch depression) and arms bent ( sufficiently to adopt the elbow on door "chaqv style" as metioned above.
IN summer at low speed, I quite like the "hold the roof on with your hand through the window" approach
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< Ulla>
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I am with AE on this although I hold the roof rail not the roof.
Sometimes slump a bit to the left if I want to put my left arm on the armrest as it is very low down in the Seat (OK its not strictly an armrest, more a storage compartment).
I hate seeing the boy racers with their seats almost fully reclined so that their head is in line with the door frame. Visibility must be awful, mind you they probably can't see out the black tinted windows anyway!
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2007 Seat Altea XL 2.0 TDI (140) Stylance
2005 Skoda Fabia vrS
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A.
And because of that I shuffle the wheel, which I gather is sneered at these days.
Of course I don't have to worry about pushing down a clutch every few seconds...
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shuffle the wheel? when you are "roof holding" its a well practised "palm pivot" required. with you r left hand to boot!
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< Ulla>
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