Tall guy in a Boxster?
 

After a 40 year love affair with Porsches from afar, my wife has given me a green light to get a used Boxster. I’m in no rush and will take the next year or so until I find the right one. (looking for 03-04 S)
My question is if I’ll fit in the Boxster. I’m 6’3”, but skinny (170 lbs) Last year while on a business trip I was given a Pontiac Solstice as a rental car. I discovered that if I pushed the seat all the way back, then I couldn’t tilt the seat back. This is how I fit in my Honda. If I moved the seat forward, then I could tilt the seat, but my legs did not fit. After a 4 hour drive from Ventura to San Diego, my back was sore for 2 days.
I understand the Boxster has the same “feature”. With the seat pushed all the way back, you can’t tilt it back. While I’ve sat in a Boxster, I’ve never driven one. My back didn’t start hurting in the Solstices until after a few hours. I’d hate to buy one, and then not be able to drive more than a few miles.
So, what is the experience you tall guys have had with the Boxster? Would the Cayman have the same problem with the seat, or is there more room because there is no coverable top?

I'm 6'1" (150lbs.. i know lightweight!) and I fit perfectly between the bolsters. I have to put the seat all the way back to fit comfortably, but the tilt is just fine. I have realllly long legs so this was the only way to go... It's like a 914, that runs!

6'2", 182lbs, no problem, just right!

6'2" at 205 pounds.

Fit is great.

You will have more leg room in a 987 (2005 and newer) vs the 986.

I'm not quite 6 ft. While I fit quite nicely onto the seat with pretty good driving position, I find that with the top down, even with the wind deflectors installed, I find that there is still quite alot of wind turbulence over the top of my head... would be perfect if I was afew inches shorter.

It's a minor nit... and some might even enjoy it... Just that it looks like I'm having a bad hair day after each run... ha ha..

Oh, this is on a 986.

I'm 6'0", 225lbs (unlike these skinny guys on here) and fit comfortably. My seat is all the way back minus .5" for a little tilt. I would assume comfort in the 986 depends on your measurements from your feet to your butt and your butt to your head. I swear my father-in-law's legs are one and a half feet long and his body is three feet long, a real circus side show, I digress.

You are correct in your assumption that with the seat all the way back in a Cayman that the seat will also tilt back. Sounds like a couple of test drives are in your future...sounds like a great excuse for me also. :cheers:

The seats do lack lumbar support so you might need a small pillow or something for your back. You have to get comfortable in the upright position because of the fairly straight firewall.

I don't think I can sit in it for more than 2 hours tops. I'm 6'2" 190lbs.

I met a 6'8" fellow at a PCA fun run. He can't fit in the box but he has a 996 with the seats tilted quite far back.

I'm 6'3" and 172lbs and I find the Boxster a little cramped for head and leg room but I can make it work. The issue with the seat is just like you said, if you move it back far enough the backrest angle is too upright. It helps to raise the seat, which lets you get more angle but eventually you'll hit your head. Of course that's not much problem with the top off except you begin to lose the windshield sight line. I'm looking through the top 2" of the windshield.

It's better than a Miata but I doubt I could use the Boxster on long trips or as my daily driver. My car does not have lumbar adjustment and maybe if it did some of the issues with the seat back angle could be improved. The small of my back is kind of contorted forward if I move the seat back to where I really want it.

Plus one more thing. If I move the seat back to where it touches the carpeted panel covering the forward firewall the seat starts to make crackling popping sounds from the seatback.

The car still works for me since I prefer driving with the top open and that gives me more options for the seat. I can move it higher and tilt the back a little more.

I love my Boxster, but it's murder on my back. My seats have no lumbar support, so I've tried a couple things to get better support - a small pillow and an inflateable bag. I tried the bag both tucked behind the seat facing and in front of the seat - in both cases it doesn't seem to get low enough. The pillow doesn't work for more than a couple of hours. Long drives are a pain, literally, and it progresses from my back to a bad pain in my leg. I'm 53, so I'm sure age has a lot to do with it. :rolleyes:

Depends on your inseam
 

I've got two tall kids. 6'4" plus. One backs into me on a basketball court and his butt hits my chest. I'm 6' but he is all legs. No way he can even get his legs into the passenger foot well let alone drive. Other is NFL lineman size but his legs are only 2 inches longer than mine.

There is no substitute for experimentation.

I find 250 miles at a chunk in the 986 Boxster quite comfortable at 6' but long torso. My sample of the 987 was even more comfort.

The 987 (Boxster current generation and Cayman) are bigger in the cockpit than the '97-'04 986 Boxster. Note where the roll bar is relative to your head. Also note there is a option called the "console delete" where you remove the lower section of the center console and relocate the radio and HVAC controls upward so your legs can splay wider. This is a retrofit to any existing 986 and the parts are available from a dealer.

6'3" and 170 lbs here. No problem whatsoever if you're not taking it to the track. That said, the back of my head will hit the roll bar if I'm rear-ended. I have an aftermarket seat in the car that lowers me a couple inches and things are perfect. PM if you want to talk.

I'm 5'8'' 165lb and fit great :D ...actually I find if I don't recline the seat it pushes hard on my lats, as consumers reports said back in 2005 when they reviewed the car, drivers will either find the seats very comfortable or not at all.

I am 6'1 180lbs, mostly legs. I can't fit in a 986 comfortably without the full poser seats. My head will also hit the rollbar in the event of a collision. In a 987 I can't even have the seat all the back. That is why I am looking for a 987.

Tall Guys Beware of 986
 

I am 6'-4" and 200 lbs, 34" inseam. I owned a 99 Boxster and had no problems fitting in it or driving it. HOWEVER, there was a major problem. After I bought the car, I discovered that if I tipped my head back, my head made direct contact with the roll bar. In a rear-end collision, it was going to be a direct hit, not even a glancing blow. I think this is a major safety issue; I wrote Porsche to ask about it and naturally received no response at all.

My seating position had the seat at the very bottom of its travel. IMHO the seat itself simply isn't tall enough in the 986 even though the headroom is adequate. The only ways I could think of to solve this would be swapping out the seats from a 987 or installing different seat brackets. The former would be cost-prohibitive and I could never get a clear indication from Brey-Krause which bracket would actually lower the seat or how much.

At the time (2008) I had a great deal of concern that a 99 Boxster with 15,000 miles was a fairly high risk of IMS failure and cost-prohibitive to repair if it did happen, but that is another topic. Anyway, that is how I ended up trading for the 08 Cayman, which has huge headroom, tall seats, no rollbar to hit one's head on, and a warranty. All I'm really saying here is to check that your head won't hit the rollbar if you want to buy a 986 because that can kill you.

While only 6'1," 215 lb, 32" inseam, my head would contact the rollbar in my 986. I installed padding on the rollbar, which would have helped in a rear-end collision, but I never liked the situation. I test-sat a 987 Boxster, and found my head touched the seat's headrest properly. Since you are interested in 03 and 04 Boxster Ss, why not consider 05 base models, which are pretty close in HP (240 for 05 base vs. 258 for the 03 S)? Like Johnsimion, I bought a Cayman and no longer have this issue; I have about 4" between my head and the roof. I no longer have to lean forward to see the traffic light! :D

Thanks for all the feedback. Good thoughts on the rollbar/head interface issue. Looks like I’ll need to start dropping hints to the wife that I may need another $10k or so to get a Cayman :) I’ll try both the Boxster and Cayman, and do some driving before I buy.

I'm 6'4", 35/36" inseam, 210 pounds. I fit in the 986 Boxster pretty well. I did do the GT3 console delete kit to give me more leg room. It was fine while driving day-to-day, but on the track my hand was hitting my leg. The console delete fixed that. Mine is a '99 so it doesn't have the headliner in the conv. top. I have enough room. With the hardtop on, which does have a headliner, my hair brushes the headliner which is very annoying. I've put in a racing seat for track use to give me extra clearance with my helmet on. That's lowered my seat about an inch and a half. I've lost about 2.5" of leg room, but I'm still comfortable in the car.

BTW, the other reason I put the racing seat in the car is because the stock seat killed my back. It had nothing to do with room, but everything to do with lack of lumbar support.

Although your head will be above the top of the stock seat in the car, it will not hit the rollbar in an accident. It will hit the rollbar "padding", which is actually hard plastic. I'm guessing that it is designed to absorb energy so that your head will not hit the rollbar hard. It will still hurt though. My racing seat has a back that is high enough that my head will hit the seat rather than the rollbar.

When I got the car, my wife was "okay" with me getting it. After I let her drive it a couple of times with the top down, she now loves the car.

If you decide to go with an aftermarket seat to get more head room, send me a PM and I can tell you exactly what you need to do. You can also read about my experience in the thread titled "The truth about GT3 seats for tall drivers".

Oh yeah. AFAIK, the 987s all have the same amount of head room, regardless if they are a Boxster or a Cayman. That is slightly more than the 986. I've never sat in one where I could play with the seat position though, so I can't tell you how much difference it makes.

No one seems to be mentioming this - I'm 6'2 and my knees are butted up against the knee pad, but my arms are 180 degrees at the elbows reaching for the wheel. It gets tiring reaching like that. I must have t-rex arms. Do any of the boxsters have telescoping wheels? Or, can one space out the wheel somehow?

6'4'' no problem...

...uuummm, ALL Boxsters have telescoping wheels.