A2 Pedals & Big Feet

Ebenezer

Member
I've long fancied owning an A2 and yesterday I went to view one. Obviously I'd done a lot of homework on the subject in advance, but as a man of 6'5" with very long legs who wears size 12-13 shoes, everything hinged on whether or not I actually fitted in the car, heightwise, widthwise and footwise.

I discovered that the driving position was fine both widthwise and heightwise and that the pedals were well-spaced enough for my long feet, but there was nevertheless a problem. If I took my left foot off the clutch pedal and let it rest in the gap to the left, the upper part of my foot found itself resting on the strut which carries the clutch pedal. Folks for whom this isn't an issue may not even be aware of of it - but instead of the strut sticking straight downwards out of the bulkhead to connect with the pedal itself, it comes in diagonally from the left. That's to say, it comes out of the bulkhead from a point to the northwest of the clutch pedal itself and extends diagonally to the southeast to the pedal.

Confronted with such an unanticipated quirk, I was unable to make a decision about buying the car, so I went away scratching my head.

Two questions, then:

(1) Does every single A2 ever made have precisely this pedal set-up?

(2) Are there any other long-footed drivers on this forum who somehow manage to live with the problem, without it impairing their enjoyment of the car? I mean, at first glance it appears an insurmountable problem: you wouldn't drive around with your left foot actually resting on the clutch pedal perpetually, so how could you drive around with your toes resting on the clutch pedal strut? And even if you tried to let your left foot simply rest against the side of the footwell when not in use, it'd eventually just lower itself down onto the clutch pedal strut, wouldn't it?

If I hadn't eaten my greens when I was a kid, I wouldn't be this tall, I wouldn't have such long feet and this wouldn't be a problem.

(NB: Please don't advise me to buy an automatic instead. I hate automatics. They're no fun and they go wrong.)

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Welcome to the forum; good choice of prospective car.

I believe I am correct in saying that the pedal set-up is the same across the range for all manual variants. The rare 1.2 TDI auto would naturally offer a different variation and may provide additional room, but a) they are rare in the UK and b) an auto isn't for you as you have indicated. It would also significantly narrow down your search too.

As for solution, I think I am correct in saying that the plastic foot rest to the left of the clutch pedal can be removed (fairly easily). With this taken out, it would free up a large amount of space between the clutch pedal and the remaining footwell area in which to rest your foot.

It isn't something I have ever struggled with. My tutor encouraged me to sit with the clutch leg bent, so it doesn't 'hover' over the pedals in my case. I accept this won't be for everyone and would be a wrench to change driving style if driving for many years, but an option nonetheless.

Good luck and I hope it works out for you.
 
Morning and welcome to the club.

I have size 12 feet and don't find there to be an issue.

The footrest next to the clutch can be removed quite easily to give extra space if needed!
 
The piece of trim next to the accelerator comes off too. Much more comfortable on long journeys especially when using cruise control so I would wager this would also be helpful to folk with larger feet.

It leaves 3 holes in the upstand of the cill trim but of that bothers you a replacement trim from a left hand drive car works perfectly and doesn't have the clip holes in it. A question I asked when this was recommended to me was whether there was carpet under the trim. Answer is yes. And the result is much more space for your right foot.
 
Okay, now I'm really confused. There was definitely no left-foot foot-rest on the car I looked at, just a space next to the clutch pedal.

I don't suppose some hero could post a photo of the alleged foot-rest in situ, just so I can understand what I should be looking for?

Many thanks for your help, ladies and gents. Hopefully I'm not being too irritating.
 
Not irritating at all; perfectly reasonable.

The area referred to is shown in the picture below with the silver Storm cover over the top. The cover is a retrofit, but the footrest below is standard plastic with a tread pattern on the upper surface. It might simply be that you didn't notice it or that it had already been removed. I would guess the former, as hopefully a removed footrest would have given you enough room for comfort.

Cheers.

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Many thanks for posting the photo, Darren. I must say it makes space for the left foot look very challenging indeed (by my standards). I should stress that I drive in plimsolls to make my feet as narrow as possible, but obviously that doesn't make my feet any less long, so I guess I would always have the problem of my toes resting on the clutch strut. Short of buying an A2 and then taking a hacksaw to the strut to render it less intrusive, I don't really see what I can do, unless I try fitting something under the foot-rest to raise it up a bit, away from the strut.... as long as it doesn't compromise my ability to swivel my foot onto and off the clutch pedal. Frankly I'm amazed that Steve doesn't share my problem.

(Like, I can't even drive a late-model Fiesta because if I let my foot drop down onto the foot-rest and then try bringing it back up onto the clutch pedal, the right-hand edge of my shoe gets caught underneath the left-hand edge of the pedal strut. Whose idea were non-straight pedal struts anyway? I despair. Not that I'm a frustrated Fiesta owner, but we all need to hire a car now and then.)
 
No problem. Hopefully you can find a work-around which works for you. The A2 is a great little car which is as endearing to own, pamper and share affinity, as it is to drive. A shame if you have to miss out. You could always try bending your knee vice keeping the clutch foot at the ready; you never know if it gets you into an A2 it might be worth the compromise...

Good luck with whatever you decide.
 
Is there any way that you could fit a very slim strip (metal / wood) a couple of inches closer to you than the clutch pedal.

Just wide enough to get theb left side of your sole on it?

That would be something to stop your foot constantly finding its way back on to the clutch pedal and yet it would not get in the way of the operation of the pedal.

It could be done tidily enough?

I hope you can see what I mean?

Steve B
 
Hmmmm.... Are we talking about a long wedge-shaped piece of wood/metal/plastic, Super-glued directly onto the foot-rest, with the thicker end of the wedge being at the top so as to raise my foot backwards away from the clutch strut, but designed to taper away to nothing at the bottom so my heel would still be located in the same place as previously, allowing smooth movement of the foot between the pedal and the rest? It's definitely an idea, though obviously there'd have to be a cutaway section at the top end of the wedge so as not to obstruct the strut.

Trouble is, I'd still need to test-drive an unmodified A2 before buying it, I wouldn't know whether the wedge thing'd work until after I'd bought the A2 and anyway I'm not much of a manufacturer of wedges (or of anything else, come to that). I ask myself whether I'm too cowardly to proceed with my fingers crossed....
 
Hi I am 6' 2" size 11 I do over 100 miles a day in my 1.4 tdi and I wear steel toe cap boots driving mine

If you can drive your car with those clod hoppers and without impedement I think Ebenezer needs to consider surgery. Let's not allow physiology get in the way of enjoying an A2 :eek:
 
Okay, so, ummm, how exactly is the foot-rest removed? Is much grovelling around involved, locating tiny screws? Or does one just use mindless violence and a pickaxe? Or what?
 
It's been a couple of months since I've removed one but I think if you remove the side panel by pulling it off, the mounting bolts for the footrest are then visible. Alternatively it's a case of pulling the plastic footrest cover off and the bolts are underneath. Sorry I can't be more specific but as I say its been months since I removed the last one.
 
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