pjinca

HAHAHA yeah I've done that before in my 5er, my mom and I in the front seats, my wife between my boys car seats in the back. She actually said she was comfortable (but again - she's 5' and maybe 115)

wolfgang0524

My wife and I are 5'7" and 5'6". We have two kids, 6 & 8, in booster seats. My 8 year old will ask me to move the seat up when one of my 6' friends has been in the front seat. Before finding out that the way I was sitting was causing my spine to straighten out, I used to have the seatback very reclined and I had more issues with footprints on the back of my seat.

I think the 5 series has pretty reasonable space. There is a period of time as kids get older where their legs are long, but not long enough to bend properly on the edge of the seat and this causes there to be less space than when an adult sits in the back.

I really wouldn't want to 5 to get any bigger. We thought the 3 was too small for a family sedan. The 5 is bigger than I would like for a performance car, but the best balance that I could find. While the 7 handles surprisingly well for the size, it is still a boat.

tuffluck

i am 6'6" and no one can sit behind me, or at least if they did they would be really cramped. i was a little surprised by this actually.

btw wolfgang, holy crap that had to be a dangerous pic to take at nearly 150mph!

wolfgang0524

That picture was taken by my wife when we were on the autobahn just outside of Frankfurt. Believe me, both of my hands were firmly on the steering wheel and all my attention was on driving.

The picture was either right before I hit 150mph or right after I took my foot off the gas and right before I slammed on the brake as some "Rent-a-car" pulled into the fast lane doing no more than 80mph. We came within feet of the car. The car is rock solid at those speeds on a good road and the brakes work very well. Most of the drivers in Europe are very good, but you still have to watch out for the stupid Americans that don't understand the rules of the road.

tuffluck

a lot of americans would give you shit about that comment, but that would just imply they were the idiots you were referring to

most american drivers are terrible. you should see how drivers in dallas react to precipitation. even if it rains everyone acts like they are driving drunk. they let their dogs drive when it ices over.

pjinca

+1000 If you think drivers suck in Dallas, try driving in SoCal - where I swear there's a gumball machine somewhere that gives out licenses to drive. These people are completely inept, can't drive when it's dry, but when even the slightest bit damp? Carnage ensues. It's like there's a doofus button in their cars, soon as they get behind the wheel their IQ drops 40 points. Ridiculous :thumbsdown:

buddy

I think the problem is not that it does not have enough back seat space for kids or short people I think it is that a tall person's feet will be on the floor vs a kidd in a car seat or a shorter person being at the back of the seat, beacuse we tend to not only push the seat back as far as possible but we also tilt it. When my child was in the car seat I placed it in the middle and my other two kids sat on the end a all was great except for them touching each other.

Brent P

Funny coincidence, but last night I actually sat in the back seat of my e60 for the first time just to see what it was like. I was surprised by how roomy it was, and I had zero issue with leg space and wasn't close to touching the back of the driver's seat. I'm 6'1" with 34" inseam. That been said, I think the real issue when it comes to kids in the back seat isn't so much the seating and leg room as it is the accessibility for the parent to easily lean in and make sure everything's in its place and buckled up. That's where a van or SUV has its place.

For room, nothing I've ever driven compares to the old Range Rover County LWB (long wheel base) I used to have. It was like having a limo and I could stretch my legs out completely and not touch the seat in front of me. Passengers could sit comfortably in the back with a full duffel bag in front of their feet and have room to spare.

leadfoot

I saw one of these in CHINA ! I thought i was losing my mind ! LOL

bighersh

Well, I've driven in the USA, Germany, France, Saudi Arabia, and South Korea- and without a doubt, South Korea has the worse drivers.

You think Dallas and Southern Cali is bad? No- try driving down a 3 lane road in Seoul, South Korea (Worse drivers on earth). Major MSR's in/near Seoul may be 3 lanes wide, but will routinely have 6 lanes of traffic on it. They will actually turn a 3-lane into a 6 lane, by straddling lines, and stupid stuff like that. They do dumb crap like, make right turns from the far left lane, or make left turns from the right lane. And, I can't tell you how many times I've sat in traffic, listening to the siren blaring on an ambulance or fire truck, and no one- absolutely no one in the path of the emergency vehicle, even tried to get over so the vehicle could get by.

2nd: Saudi Arabia. Driving between Dhahran and Riyadh, is about 210 miles of desert. A few hills, but relatively flat. Further, hardly any rain once you get past that December - February window. And, it's like everyone over there has V8's (Corvettes, Mustangs, Camaro's, if it's got a V8, they have it), then again, I guess so with gas being $0.11 a gallon over there. Nevertheless, I've never seen more over turned cars on one stretch of highway, than I have there. Now, what I didn't see was cops/highway patrol. So, my guess is, they either didn't have, or don't observe the speed limits (which frankly, I don't recall seeing either)- and end up losing control of their cars and wiping out. Believe me when I tell you- Their roads, though a lot like Interstates and Autobahns, are not nearly as well-traveled. Meaning, if you wipe out, chances are- no one will see you, and you will be ass-out if you are hurt. Better hope you have Onstar, or a cell phone (if you can get a signal). I guess once you pick a city to live in, in Saudi Arabia, you just freaking stay there. I loved it there though.

Germany: OK, just because there are no speed limits (once you leave the cities) on Germany's autobahns, doesn't make them great drivers. Driving fast doesn't either. However, I must say- for a country that can still have pea-soup thick fog at 12 noon, not to mention lots of rain, lots of drizzle, no real summer, and black ice- I saw a remarkably low number of wrecks in Germany. However, the ones I did see, I'm pretty sure there wasn't much left to bury/cremate. The cars looked like a stomped on soda can. (That was on the autobahn). In the city, I learned aggressive driving in Germany. Those are some rude bastards, and if you don't take it, you won't get it via courtesy.

I was timid at first, growing up and learning how to drive in the country- with hardly any traffic. But, after a few frustrating drives around Wurzburg, I got just as nasty/rude as they were. I quickly learned to blend aggressive driving with precision. Plus, I was driving a Hummer (H1) and they were in an Opel Kadett, so I employed what I call the "art of Bogart"- to get where I was going. Also, in Germany- when someone flashes their headlights at you- get your arse out of the left lane! I was there in 1989 when the wall came down- and the autobahn got real dangerous, when those little East German cars got on the roads, with tailights the size of quarters. We could smoke them in Hummers and Chevy trucks.

Dallas- You are right. As soon as it rains, it's like 75% of the drivers on the roads become inept. As soon as we get ice, 80% of the drivers stay home (smart), but I'd say 90% of the 20% that's out there, drive as if it's no ice on the roads. I had one idiot in a Mustang GT pass me on the Dallas North Tollway near Frankfurt Rd., driving between the ruts in the ice, at what had to be 100 MPH. He was driving a car that can get squirrely on dry land (with all that power, and no weight over the rear wheels), the same way on ice. A statistic waiting to happen.

LA: Well, other than insane amounts of traffic on the 5, and 101 Freeways- and the need to wear a bulletproof vest- you just give up when you drive there. There's 5-6 lanes heading in the same direction, yet you're moving along at maybe 3 MPH. There's no way you can be a bad driver in LA. Not unless it's on a side street. Then again, within 5 minutes of being in Northern Cali (Oakland), I had already flipped the bird to a truck driver (Something I had never done before, or since). I guess I was getting into the Cali spirit.