First drive w/ Boxster (Mt. Lemmon, Tucson AZ)

[Wintermute]

Well today I took a drive with my friend Chris and his RX-8 up Mt. Lemmon, just north of Tucson, AZ. It's a beautiful drive that takes you over 6000 vertical feet from the desert below into cool pine trees and aspens. There's even a ski area at the top (yes in Tucson)! It's so much fun because the road is well-maintained, twisty, and offers some specatcular views of the city and the Catalina Mountains. Anyway, thought you guys would like to see some pics that aren't from the dealer :P. We washed and waxed both cars the day before, and this trip was really to get some good pics. You can see my Flickr slideshow for more pics. So anyway, here you go:

Here's the first pic of the day, showing off both cars.


Now one from the side...


Ooo...sexy.


This was at the top of the mountain, 9000 feet. I had to put the top up because while it was 90 degrees in town, it was 58 up there!


Here's a good shot showing both cars and the road. Isn't that a sweet stretch of pavement?


Shot from the other side. Good view of the mountains.



I like this shot. Low and agressive, just like the Boxster!

[ScottT]

Great pics! Az looks like a great place to drive your box...What kind of wax are you using?

[Wintermute]

Thanks! AZ is a great place for convertibles and motorcycles, except during the summer.

This was actually a quick wax job really since I don't have any of the good sealants and paint glazes yet. But I used 2 waxes: First I used Meguiar's Cleaner Wax, then followed up with Meguiar's Deep Crystal Caranuba Wax. The cleaner wax is slightly abrassive, so it removes some light swirls and scratches, but it's pretty weak so I really need to use something stronger like a real swirl remover. But it came out pretty nice I think. My friend's RX-8 just used Meguiar's Gold Class Paste wax.

[Marc Gelefsky]

Wow, I love the Blue!
I wanted to find a blue one but after taking care of a black car for the past 2 years I wanted somthing a little easier to care for.
Plus it's so hard to find blue with a black interior and I really like the black interior.
(More dog friendly)

[Jeph]

I like the 3rd picture best. The rocky background matches your interior.
And desire to de-amber that bad boy?

RX-8? Nice cars, I don't think they'll age well. That is, I don't think it will take too long before those things look dated. Oh I miss the RX-7s.

[98Boxster98]

Originally Posted by Jeph

I like the 3rd picture best. The rocky background matches your interior.
And desire to de-amber that bad boy?

RX-8? Nice cars, I don't think they'll age well. That is, I don't think it will take too long before those things look dated. Oh I miss the RX-7s.

The RX-7 twin turbo is a beautiful car. Don't care too much for the look of the RX-8.

[Wintermute]

Jeph - I'll probably get rid of the amber someday. I don't really mind it to be honest.

The RX-8 is OK, but I agree that it will have a pretty dated look in a few years. Few cars can pull off looking stylish for a long time. The old Nissan Zs still look good, and I still rubberneck anytime I see a later model Toyota Supra. Those are cool cars

[Y2BOX]

Nic pics....I take it you guys in the US dont have to have front plates?

[Jeph]

Originally Posted by Y2BOX

Nic pics....I take it you guys in the US dont have to have front plates?

It just depends on what state you live in over here.

[Perfectlap]

I have two words for that...


NICE!!!

[Wintermute]

Originally Posted by Perfectlap

I have two words for that...


NICE!!!

And the second word would be...?

[Rail26]

Glad to see Mt. Lemmon is making a comeback after that devestating forest fire a few years ago. I was living in Sierra Vista, AZ and could see the glow from the fire 100 miles away.

[Wintermute]

Originally Posted by Rail26

Glad to see Mt. Lemmon is making a comeback after that devestating forest fire a few years ago. I was living in Sierra Vista, AZ and could see the glow from the fire 100 miles away.

Yeah it's recovering nicely. There are still alot of burnt trees, but many of them survived and are putting out new growth. Also Summerhaven is still being rebuilt, but it's looking good so far. Fortunatly Ski Valley was untouched so once you get up there it's really beautiful.

I remember the fire well (I was attending UofA at the time) and it was pretty scary, even being pretty far away on campus. Even my family in Prescott had a brush with fire as their neighborhood was evacuated when the fire started getting too close to people's homes. Forest fires suck.