February 21, 2015: Traded the Boxster for a 2001 Jaguar XK8 convertible . . .
I had been thinking about replacing my 2000 Porsche Boxster for a while, but had never really been serious about the idea. A beautiful 2001 Jaguar XK8 I saw online piqued my interest. Test driving the car sealed the deal. I took the above picture as I was leaving for the dealership, West Georgia Auto Brokers in Douglasville, GA, to take delivery.
The Boxster has two seats and no space behind the seating for storage. It does have two luggage compartments, a small one behind the engine compartment and a deep one under the hood. This is great for luggage, but no so much for stuff like a coat or small bag that you want to keep with you in the car. None of this is a big deal for one person. Adding a passenger is a whole other matter.
The amount of space in the Boxster as always been a borderline issue with me. By this I mean I've sat in many cars that I knew immediately just weren't going to work. I looked at a 34k original mile 1993 Corvette coupe in 2012. My head immediately hit the trim around the glass roof panel. I couldn't make myself fit no matter what I did with the seat adjustments. It quickly became obvious that this car just wasn't going to happen.
The Boxster was one of these cars where I had plenty of head room regardless. I could move the seat rearward to give myself more leg room. But that meant my head would hit the integrated roll bar behind the seat. In this case, I was able to work with the seat adjustments to find a happy medium. And all was well for three years.The biggest factor in my decision was the significant increase in interior space. I have plenty of room and fit quite comfortably in the Jag. I have enough headroom with the roof up, (not that this will happen often, but you get the idea). And the token back seat will provide some additional storage in the passenger compartment, something not available with the Boxster.
While I was there, I wanted to check out some of the other "specialty," (i.e. "unaffordable"), cars on the lot. West Georgia Auto Brokers specializes in horsepower which is confirmed by their inventory. This is a 2008 Mercedes-Benz CLK AMG Black Series. The 6.2L V-8 under its hood makes 500 hp, enough to rocket this car through the quarter mile in the low-12 second range.
If you're thinking the shift lever on the console looks really small, that's because this car is equipped with the F1 automated manual transmission, which is basically a manual transmission without a clutch. In a nutshell, the stuff the driver does with a conventional manual transmission - push clutch, move lever, release clutch - has been replaced with a series of electronic sensors and servos. Shifts are lightning fast. Maintenance costs can be downright frightening.
For 2003, this car was available in two body styles - Coupe (hardtop), and Spyder (convertible). Each of these was available as a "GT," (equipped with a conventional manual transmission with a clutch pedal), or a "Cambiocorsa," (equipped with the F1 automated manual transmission with steering wheel mounted paddle shifters).