Lack of Footrest....experiences please!

[stu0710]

I have a D3 manual and therefore no footrest. I regularly drive to Scotland from the midlands and in the summer made a 1900 mile one week round trip to France. I do not notice a problem not having a footrest, but I only have short legs. I can't even remember if my previous manual SAAB 9-5 had one or not. The only issue I've noticed is that all the floormats seem designed for geartronic cars with a footrest. Someone on here did actually have a manual which had mistakenly been fitted with a footrest in production which made it almost impossible to drive. They had to have it removed and the carpets retrimmed!

The manual is a great car and I'm getting a long term average of 41mpg (actual) and regularly get 45-47 mpg on a long run. The new stop-start version should be even better economy than mine.

[Pesky]

My current Octavia vRS with DSG 'box has a footrest.
I had a manual gearbox XC60 over the weekend on demo, did a long motorway run in it, didn't really miss the footrest.

Would not stop me buying one TBH, vRS is being replaced next year and I am 99% sure of getting a XC60 - the remaining 1% is trying to prise myself out of the estate cars ( mainly Octavias ) that I have always had.

[jimbg]

Originally Posted by Pesky

My current Octavia vRS with DSG 'box has a footrest.
I had a manual gearbox XC60 over the weekend on demo, did a long motorway run in it, didn't really miss the footrest.

Would not stop me buying one TBH, vRS is being replaced next year and I am 99% sure of getting a XC60 - the remaining 1% is trying to prise myself out of the estate cars ( mainly Octavias ) that I have always had.

I know what you mean, however I am really impressed with the ease of dropping the back seats in the XC60 and creating a huge absolutely flat load area.

[scw]

There's no footrest in the manual car because there's not enough space between the transmission tunnel and the clutch pedal.

How do I know this? Some chump in the factory fitted the carpet/footrest for the auto into my manual XC60 and, somehow, it got through quality control that way.

It took about a month and several photos of the footwell for Volvo to agree that it had to be changed.

As it was, the footrest meant that I had to wear trainers when driving - anything else and there simply wasn't space between the brake pedal and footrest to fit the width of my foot to depress the clutch.

I don't miss the footrest one iota.

[stu0710]

Originally Posted by Pesky

My current Octavia vRS with DSG 'box has a footrest.
I had a manual gearbox XC60 over the weekend on demo, did a long motorway run in it, didn't really miss the footrest.

Would not stop me buying one TBH, vRS is being replaced next year and I am 99% sure of getting a XC60 - the remaining 1% is trying to prise myself out of the estate cars ( mainly Octavias ) that I have always had.

I moved from a large estate (SAAB 9-5) and have to say that I don't miss it. The XC60 is a much cleverer (and more modern) car than either the SAAB or Octavia estates - it is 8" shorter than the SAAB with more front & rear legroom and 20% more luggage capacity. The seats fold down flat with no hassle and the ride is greatly improved over the SAAB which was a bit wallowy in the back. My brother-in-law has had 3 Octavia estates which have been reliable strong cars. I was so impressed with his experiences that I went out to buy a Skoda Yeti and was completely underwhelmed by the lack of space and the seemingly small price difference between a well specced Yeti and the XC60. For just under £4K more i bought a much bigger and better quality car. My local Skoda dealer's salesman was also straight out of the 'Swiss Toni' mould, he even put his feet up on the desk whilst talking to me and then proceeded to polish the front of his shoes on the back of his trouser legs!

[r-designbob]

Originally Posted by stu0710

I moved from a large estate (SAAB 9-5) and have to say that I don't miss it. The XC60 is a much cleverer (and more modern) car than either the SAAB or Octavia estates - it is 8" shorter than the SAAB with more front & rear legroom and 20% more luggage capacity. The seats fold down flat with no hassle and the ride is greatly improved over the SAAB which was a bit wallowy in the back. My brother-in-law has had 3 Octavia estates which have been reliable strong cars. I was so impressed with his experiences that I went out to buy a Skoda Yeti and was completely underwhelmed by the lack of space and the seemingly small price difference between a well specced Yeti and the XC60. For just under £4K more i bought a much bigger and better quality car. My local Skoda dealer's salesman was also straight out of the 'Swiss Toni' mould, he even put his feet up on the desk whilst talking to me and then proceeded to polish the front of his shoes on the back of his trouser legs!

Lol, that Swiss Tony certainly was a character.

[stranex]

Thanks for the welcome guys and for the multitude of responses, especially those who have first hand experience.

In answer to some posts;

As much as I love the car, I'm NOT prepared to spend 30k on something that I can't enjoy driving because of an uncomfortable foot position. Whether or not that is the case is obviously down to the individual.....I spend a lot of time on the motorway and use my current extensively. Resting my foot elsewhere with my (working) boots on is uncomfortable at best and painful at worst.

I COULD use CC but that doesn't suit my style of driving.....I've used it extensively in the states but in the uk, on the roads I drive at least, I find I'm constantly having to intervene. Again, I'm not willing to compromise when paying that amount for a car.

After having read the various comments here, checking my driving "style" today on the m'way and having looked at a Q5 today, the XC60 is still my car of choice. In going to ask the dealer if I can have an extended test drive so I can drive up the m'way and back to see if I can get comfortable. Failing that, I may even consider an auto but need to look at consumption figures in detail and work out the additional costs

Thanks again for you (mainly!) constructure feedback.....much appreciated!

[Pesky]

you need to try the adaptive cruise control, it was fitted to the demo car I drove. Just set your max speed and the time/distance, brilliant. I had it set in the middle setting and the car would follow at about the 2 second rule.
My vRS has normal cruise control but I never use it as UK motorways never flow at a constant speed.

[Ransman]

Originally Posted by stranex

Thanks for the welcome guys and for the multitude of responses, especially those who have first hand experience.

In answer to some posts;

As much as I love the car, I'm NOT prepared to spend 30k on something that I can't enjoy driving because of an uncomfortable foot position. Whether or not that is the case is obviously down to the individual.....I spend a lot of time on the motorway and use my current extensively. Resting my foot elsewhere with my (working) boots on is uncomfortable at best and painful at worst.

I COULD use CC but that doesn't suit my style of driving.....I've used it extensively in the states but in the uk, on the roads I drive at least, I find I'm constantly having to intervene. Again, I'm not willing to compromise when paying that amount for a car.

After having read the various comments here, checking my driving "style" today on the m'way and having looked at a Q5 today, the XC60 is still my car of choice. In going to ask the dealer if I can have an extended test drive so I can drive up the m'way and back to see if I can get comfortable. Failing that, I may even consider an auto but need to look at consumption figures in detail and work out the additional costs

Thanks again for you (mainly!) constructure feedback.....much appreciated!

Here's my latest consumption data on my D3 Geartronic. Now covered 8,300 miles.

[stranex]

Thanks Ransman, that almost confirms the quoted figures for average consumption. What kind of driving do you do? I'm mostly dual carriageway/motorway with some "urban" thrown in but hardly ever any start/stop (joy of working shifts!!)