wiltshire_boy

I thought i had my "ultimate" driving position sorted out until i let a friend drive my Scooby last weekend and now i am not so sure.

He got me thinking about my whole seat "uprightness", distance from the pedals, height of steering wheel thing.

It is very possible that i have gotten used to a rubbish driving position, is there any definitive way of working out your "maximum control" driving position?

Any rules or guidelines gratefully recieved.

Roy.

Freak

so you can hold both hands on the wheel with the elbows slightly bent is ideal. Gives you good control of it.
Better than the stereotypical almost horizontal boy racer pose with one hand on top of the wheel

scoobystityper

your wrists should rest on top of the steering wheel to have the perfect distance from the body, this enables maximum control of the vehicle. the wheel should be held at the 10'3 position as when u corner you should not have to move your hands of the wheel and your thumbs rest on the inside of the wheel.
your should use the pedals with the ball of your feet and not your toes as most people do which is lazy and you can not get the best feel from the car using toes.
your left leg should be bent slightly at the knee when the clutch is engaged and not straight.

wacky.banana

Wiltshire,

The rules for this are simple. You set your drivimg position to one where you feel the most comfortable, and most importantly, to the position where you feel and you ARE absolutely in control of the car.

That means you can reach the most important controls comfortably, see where you are going easily, and can drive in that position for some time without feeling strained.

We all have different body shapes. You have to get this right for you and nobody else.

I have seen a lot of criticism of woman drivers, with the general viewpoint being that they sit too close to the steering wheel. While that may be true (sitting too close, that is) most women are shorter/have shorter legs than men and are simply putting themselves in the most comfortable and safe driving position for them.

We need our car designers to get off their butts and recognise the fact that there is a huge diversity of shapes and sizes using their products. In an ideal world I would like to see:

- Electric adjustable seats with movement in all directions coupled to memory, so once you have found your ideal you can store it.
- Adjustable steering wheels, in & out as well as up & down.

- Electric pedal set/movable pedal box, so you can bring the pedals out & move yourself back, rather than move yourself in on the seat to reach the pedals and risk serious injury when an airbag goes off.

- More thought given to overall cockpit design to accommodate women.

- Seat belt redesign. Mot women complain about this but even as a bloke (honest, I checked this morning while I was in the bath) I find these a pain in the arsenal.

Will we ever see any of this? Ummm, what's your view?

Cheers

WB