MANGUSTA SEATING POSITION
The Mangusta is a very tight car vertically. The shoulder room is generous in contrast to that and the cowl, bottom of windshield, is fairly high. There is more room on the drivers side as the tunnel is not positioned in the center of the car. The front wheel tubs intrude on the driver and passenger space, the seats and pedals therefore are angled toward the center of the car. These are some of the reasons why the Mangusta looks so different from other cars. What is interesting about the seating position is how strange it is when first experiencing it, and how we quickly adapt to it. You get completely used to it, only noticing it if you have been away from the car for a long while.
The top of the windshield is very far back in relation to the hip point. That is why your head is close to it. If you have a long torso you can lower the seat, (floor).
You can also space the pedals and steering wheel back, that will allow you to drive with the seat all the way back, improving your heads relationship to the top of the windshield.
If you have a short torso and long legs you can only drive with the seat all the way back, lowering the floor will not make much of an improvement for you, unless you are very tall.
If you have a short torso and short legs then spacing the pedals and steering wheel back will allow you to drive with the seat all the way back, away from the top of the windshield.
This is a seating position that we all find more normal, that is, like most other cars on the road today.
The global seating trend is to add more vertical space to driver and passenger seating, and to move the top of the windshield forward and up for safety reasons. This contrasts dramatically with the Mangusta seating arrangement.
It is a tight car, the seating compromises have contributed much to the wonderful appearance of the Mangusta. Everything being equal, Giugiaro made the most of the seating compromises by creating a stunning body shape that he enhanced with his outstanding aesthetic capability.
What you get back from all the seating compromises is a very small and low car, that after over thirty-five years is still great fun to look at and a little tight in the driving experience.
DICK RUZZIN / 05-17-2006
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