General Legroom?

[Drake-o]

Hi guys...

Ive just bought my first car... a 94 ie start.

The issue i have with it is that im 6ft4 with pretty long legs... and its damn uncomfy to sit in! im only 17 aswell so im not sure if ive got a last growth surge in me or not... i guess theres everychance it could happen.

Im wondering if theres anything i can do to move the seat back further? its kind of bugging me a bit now... especially the way my knees keep knocking the indicator.

Other wise its pretty mint i think i got a bit of a steal with it? i paid £100 for it its got 27k on the clock quite a lot of service history and i got a family friend who used to be a fiat mechanic to look it over and he said it was in excellent condish. Its only done 98miles in the last 5years lol.

Started to tcut the whole thing today but the rain started to hack me off a bit... Ive also got this mankey great rust spot just above the drivers side (on the roof) right in the front corner... What can i do about this? i was going to pick the paint off and have a look but my 2 concerns were that its pissing it down outside... and i dont want to put a hole in the roof!

Cheers,

James

 

[Uno driver]

I'm also 6ft4 but I don't have any problems, maybe my seats are different

My left knee is resting on door panel (I only had change position of window crank, when window is closed)

My seat is not even fully back, but is leaned (look at picture of my car in link below)

 

[Drake-o]

Ahh... Ive not thought of leaning it more...

It may be because mines a 3door RHD? (not that the drive side would make a difference i imagine)

Cheers,

James

 

[Uno driver]

If yours is RHD than I can understand why you have problems with repeater switch, as it's at left side, like mine, but you have less legroom there. Check if it would be possible to bend lever (with heat) so it would be higher

 

[Drake-o]

Hmmm i will try it... What you reckon on the heating though? i dont want to burn it lol... I have a small steam gun?

 

[Uno driver]

You heat plastic of the lever, so you can bend it. If you don't heat it before bending it will break.

My english is not very good, sorry

 

[Drake-o]

Ah.

What i meant was... How do i heat it? i dont want to burn it... I have a steam gun if that will do but i am not certain it will be hot enough?

 

[Uno driver]

I'm not sure if it's hot enough but I would try. Alternatives are hot air gun or lighter, but you have to be very careful

 

[Ucof]

Hairdryer? (Dunno if it would get hot enough....)
Wrap it in tin foil and take a lighter to it like a dirty skag head - you don't need a spoon though

 

[ralphnz]

Can you get your head through the sunroof?

 

[beany_bot]

Can you get your head through the sunroof?

 

[Chas Uno]

Can you get your head through the sunroof?

Like this?

 

[alexGS]

Ive just bought my first car... a 94 ie start.

The issue i have with it is that im 6ft4 with pretty long legs... and its damn uncomfy to sit in! im only 17 aswell so im not sure if ive got a last growth surge in me or not... i guess theres everychance it could happen.

Im wondering if theres anything i can do to move the seat back further? its kind of bugging me a bit now... especially the way my knees keep knocking the indicator.

Hello - this is quite a novel problem, usually there's loads of space in the Uno. I can only just drive with the seat all the way back (I usually have it forward a couple of notches) but then I suppose I'm just the average 6ft.

Do you find that the seat is too high? There are several different Uno seats and some of the older ones (e.g. in the Mk1 SX model) have springs under the foam padding. The later seats, and probably the seats in your Start version, have just a steel 'pan' with the foam on top. What I'm thinking is that the older seats will have you sitting a bit lower (tend to sink into them more) which may help the legroom a little.

Do you find the centre console or door hardware to be intrusive? As uno driver said, sometimes you can reposition the window winder or modify the door armrest. In my Turbo I've wrapped foam tape around the armrest handle which saves the side of my knee from a bruising at race events

Sometimes it's possible to reduce the size of the centre console (i.e. remove it or swap it for the smaller item of another Uno version). But it sounds as though perhaps the problems are caused by where you rest your left foot. Have you tried removing the footrest (fitted to Mk2 models) as perhaps that will reduce the knee interference with the indicator lever?

Also take the column covers off and check that nobody has added spacers to lower the steering wheel (easy to do).

Finally you might derive a very small amount of extra seat movement if you knock in the tabs inside the seat rails (something that you do to remove the seats) which will allow the seat to move as far back as the crossmember allows, though the seat might not latch correctly (it may be possible to make an extra notch in the rail so that it will, however.)

The FIAT Tipo is the bigger cousin to the Uno (it's in the 'medium hatchback' size), so it might be worth searching out one of those and giving it a go. Ditto the Bravo and Stilo which are bigger than the Punto.

I know what it's like to drive a car that doesn't fit - I was never comfortable in the 128 Coupe that my father liked very much, I just found that everything (instruments, gear lever, pedals) was in the wrong place Also, the X1/9 was *just* big enough for me but undriveable for one of my friends, who was the same height but had longer legs. It doesn't take much difference to go from comfortable to uncomfortable...

-Alex