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Interestingly (perhaps?) we got a Leaf a few months ago and the biggest thing that surprised me is that it is massive inside. I guess because the battery is st

Interestingly (perhaps?) we got a Leaf a few months ago and the biggest thing that surprised me is that it is massive inside. I guess because the battery is stored under the floor. Although I have relatively short arms for someone my height (5' 10"), I still think it's instructive to say that when I'm sitting in the passenger seat, I can't touch the dash without leaning forward. And, again, I have slightly shorter legs, but with the seat all the way forward, I can still stretch out my legs without bending them and not touch the front. I have a long body (if it weren't for my short legs, I would be well over 6') and I can wear a straw hat in the car and still have a couple of inches of clearance. Not so sure about width... I'm probably "average sized" for a North American (fat for a Japanese person -- my wife likes to remind me...) and the width is perfectly comfortable. My supposition is that electric vehicles are just a lot more efficient on space. The leaf isn't a huge car externally (although it's not exactly small either), but it's the biggest interior I've ridden in for a long time (probably not since my Grandfather's Buick). As for the 2 car issue, I actually don't use a car much at all. The only reason we have one is because my wife insists that she needs it. Getting things delivered is both more convenient and cheaper from my perspective. The trade off is that I need to plan ahead a day or so, but I don't actually have to lift big heavy stuff. If I need to haul something bigger, I just rent the appropriate vehicle. I usually end up renting once or twice a year. It saves massive amounts of money. It is a lifestyle change, but it's got upsides as well as downsides.

madengr 8y ago
Ditto on the Leaf. I’m 6’5” and still have 2” headroom, and most importantly, clear line of sight (not looking into visor). I can also put the seat all the way back and still fit someone behind me. It has much more passenger room than my Toyota truck. Very happy with it.
zaroth 8y ago
Do you own a house? Do you do work on it yourself? Do you maintain a lawn? How about sporting activities? Own a boat? A snowmobile? A few kayaks maybe? Dirt bike? I assume you have a trash pickup at your place. You know a lot of towns don’t, and you have to haul your own trash to the town dump? Perhaps there are a million reasons why it’s great in your life to not own or even feel like you need a car. Perhaps there are a million other reasons people want and need a truck to drive. Personally, once I started maintaining a house and an acre of land, the way I wanted to maintain it, it gets very difficult having to wait hours for someone to return with the Home Depot truck because I need to get xyz thing home. I mooch off my brother a lot to move heavier equipment around, because he has a truck and a trailer, but there are a lot of projects I can’t get done for lack of a proper work vehicle. I order a lot of stuff off Amazon. But every time I’ve tried ordering groceries I’ve regretted it. Mostly because they insist on delivering from a store 13 miles away when there’s a perfectly good Whole Foods 3.5 miles down the road, and it just seems so asinine.
StillBored 8y ago
Sounds like the Prius is styled more European than most sedans. Makes sense it has more head/leg room given how boxy it tends to be. Anyway, I looked it up, and for comparison a tundra: headroom: 39.4 vs 39.7 legroom: 42.3 vs 42.5 (so fairly similar on the head/leg, what about big in the other direction) shoulder: 55.0 vs 65.7 hip: 53.4 vs 62.6 Hmmm not so similar. Also, the tundra has the least headroom of any full size pickup. The GM/chevy's have 4" more, which for tall people is literally a life/death choice if they get into certain accidents where their head impacts the ceiling.
awful 8y ago
Tesla same; drove one a few weeks ago, had 6 adults in it, and room for more I think. More than enough room.
- bluedino 8y ago
  What about suitcases for those 6 people?
- StillBored 8y ago
  Tesla at least in the case of the model S, has quite respectable specifications, but I physically could not drive one a couple years back. IIRC, Like the newer mustangs the seat angle drives my knees into the dash at an angle which doesn't provide enough clearance to get my feet into position. ALSO IIRC, I had to lean the seat way back to keep my head off the ceiling. If I had one handy I would go measure why it doesn't work and compare it with their official head/legroom numbers.

madengr 8y ago

Ditto on the Leaf. I’m 6’5” and still have 2” headroom, and most importantly, clear line of sight (not looking into visor). I can also put the seat all the way back and still fit someone behind me. It has much more passenger room than my Toyota truck. Very happy with it.

zaroth 8y ago

Do you own a house? Do you do work on it yourself? Do you maintain a lawn? How about sporting activities? Own a boat? A snowmobile? A few kayaks maybe? Dirt bike? I assume you have a trash pickup at your place. You know a lot of towns don’t, and you have to haul your own trash to the town dump? Perhaps there are a million reasons why it’s great in your life to not own or even feel like you need a car. Perhaps there are a million other reasons people want and need a truck to drive. Personally, once I started maintaining a house and an acre of land, the way I wanted to maintain it, it gets very difficult having to wait hours for someone to return with the Home Depot truck because I need to get xyz thing home. I mooch off my brother a lot to move heavier equipment around, because he has a truck and a trailer, but there are a lot of projects I can’t get done for lack of a proper work vehicle. I order a lot of stuff off Amazon. But every time I’ve tried ordering groceries I’ve regretted it. Mostly because they insist on delivering from a store 13 miles away when there’s a perfectly good Whole Foods 3.5 miles down the road, and it just seems so asinine.

StillBored 8y ago

Sounds like the Prius is styled more European than most sedans. Makes sense it has more head/leg room given how boxy it tends to be. Anyway, I looked it up, and for comparison a tundra: headroom: 39.4 vs 39.7 legroom: 42.3 vs 42.5 (so fairly similar on the head/leg, what about big in the other direction) shoulder: 55.0 vs 65.7 hip: 53.4 vs 62.6 Hmmm not so similar. Also, the tundra has the least headroom of any full size pickup. The GM/chevy's have 4" more, which for tall people is literally a life/death choice if they get into certain accidents where their head impacts the ceiling.

awful 8y ago

Tesla same; drove one a few weeks ago, had 6 adults in it, and room for more I think. More than enough room.

bluedino 8y ago
What about suitcases for those 6 people?
StillBored 8y ago
Tesla at least in the case of the model S, has quite respectable specifications, but I physically could not drive one a couple years back. IIRC, Like the newer mustangs the seat angle drives my knees into the dash at an angle which doesn't provide enough clearance to get my feet into position. ALSO IIRC, I had to lean the seat way back to keep my head off the ceiling. If I had one handy I would go measure why it doesn't work and compare it with their official head/legroom numbers.