Interior front headroom and sunroof

[Love that 500]

Managed to visit a Fiat dealer today which had a white 500 (Lounge spec with sliding sunroof) in the showroom that was available for people to sit inside and look around. As expected, I liked it...BUT...there's a problem. My head was brushing the sunroof when I sat in both the driver's and front passenger seats, although the driver's side seat height adjuster (a plastic lever on the left hand side) didn't appear to do anything in this particular car, but the driver's seat height seemed identical to the fixed-height passenger side - I'm not unusually tall either (about 6ft) and I fit inside a Panda without any problem whatsoever.

The couple that was viewing the same car with a salesman when I was there also liked the car but the husband had exactly the same problem as I did with the front headroom; the salesman suggested trying another car but the red one they also had wasn't currently available to sit in.

I hope to try out other 500's for myself which will be easier to do after the official launch date, but does anyone know roughly what difference in front headroom there is between 500's with no sunroof, the fixed glass roof and the sliding sunroof as fitted to some of the dealer demonstrators?

[easy]

I'm just over 6' and had no prob with headroom in the 1.4 sport I drove, its only the back end of the seat that goes down on the drivers side so maybe you did'nt notice it move.

Peter

[Mark Elvin]

Have to say that in the Sport I looked at I didn't notice the roof being close at all, although I am not that tall I thought that the headroom was plenty sufficient.

[Suasexed]

Not sure about the differene in head room between the solid/glass/skydome rooves as I've only sat in a Sport which had the metal roof, but I had plenty of head room. I'm not massively tall, just under 6 ft, but I have long legs and a smaller up half. I thought leg room may have been a problem in the 500 as it is a tad in the Panda, but it was fine.

[Scrogg]

I haven't even sat in our 500 Lounge yet but even at 6' I find the Sport has plenty of headroom.

Traditionally, cars fitted with a 'proper' sunroof (one that actually opens) will have less headroom than one with a glass roof, such as the standard Lounge roof, where the glass is a fixed substitute for the metal roof of the car.

If you struggled with the Lounge in your dealer's showroom then any 500 fitted with a 'proper' sunroof is going to be no good

[tonywalk]

Didn't notice any issues with headroom when I sat in Caledonia Salford's 1.4 Sport.

I'm 6'2" and even gladder I went for the Sport. . See other posts re anti sunroof reasons.

Regards,
Tony.

[James]

i sat in the lounge at the MPH show and i did notice the lack of head room but that was because of the sun roof, my head was phycisally touching the roof and quite uncomfortably as well! I'm 6ft 2 and i have to say that the headroom is much better in the sport you get an extra couple of inches because of the lack of sunroof! You might find the sport more comfortable, unless you want a sunroof....!!!

[Love that 500]

Thanks for the responses - the comments have been very encouraging so all I have to do is to wait for more 500's to become available in showrooms to sit inside without a salesman staring at you (not Scrogg - he's too nice for that sort of thing!) as you play with the seat adjusters

One thing I've noticed with the 500 is that you can add some desirable options to the cheapest Pop model and still save money over the Lounge/Sport models, whereas with the MINI you quickly discover that the Pepper or Chili packs are more or less essential if you want to add lots of options. I don't mind going without a sunroof (most of my cars never had them) and if the fixed glass roof is no better for headroom compared with the Skydome option, it's likely that 500's without a sunroof won't really be disadvantaged at resale time as tall(ish) potential owners/passengers will cherish them for their additional headroom.

[zakkala]

Have sat in a Lounge and test driven a Sport - nearly pooped myself when we sat in the Lounge in the showroom as OH didn't fit even with the seat all the way down! His head was against the roof / sunroof (he's 6' 2"). Fortunately, the sportier seats in the Sport are set lower and there was no problem at all. Thank heavens!