Winter sports

1999 Porsche Boxster

GLEN WADDINGTON

YEARS AGO I ran a Mazda MX-5, a black one with pop-up headlamps It appeared once or twice in these pages and, thanks to its snug hood, furnace-like heater and excellent headlamps, it was as much fun in winter as it was in summer – especially on those cold, crisp, blue-sky days when I’d fish my battered old leather coat from the boot and drop the hood I even had some slightly creepy driving gloves

I still have the coat and gloves, and now I have a sports car even more satisfying to drive Although I got it last February, there wasn’t actually a lot of winter weather to contend with Until now Cue a blast up north Quite a long way north, to the North Pennines, the wilds of County Durham and even a bit of Northumberland. A good couple of hundred miles away and a work gig, so no hanging around, which meant M1 and A1. I noticed somewhere in North Yorkshire that the odometer had passed 94,719, which means I’ve done 4000 miles in nine months, much of it journeys of some distance, all

Stopping for fuel in Boroughbridge, I worked out we were doing 35mpg, which is pretty good And then the mist started to close in, patchy at first, but thick enough in places that foglights were needed Amazing how many drivers weren’t using them; even worse, many were blindly pressing on with DRLs and no rear lights at all I prefer to see and, just as importantly, be seen On the country lanes just after Scotch Corner, Northants seemed a balmy memory: full-scale frost lined the verges, lit only thanks to the Boxster’s brilliant front foglamps.

I was there as a guest of Porsche, celebrating 20 years of the Cayenne, and you can see the results on pages 108 to 116. With the job done, it was time to trek back home. The freezing fog in

I ve ever experienced, and those first few miles towards the A1 had me feeling my way along in the pitch black at little more than 20mph Yet the Boxster was warm and cosy, the lights picking out just enough for safety’s sake, and more than ever I was thankful for the deftness of its controls and the feedback they deliver. You really can’t help but feel confident driving this car.

Things were easier along the A1, and I settled into a cruise with Classic FM and Radio 4. I got that feeling I used to have with the MX-5: unless you routinely carry more than one passenger, could you ever really need another car?

As I write this it’s a freezing Friday evening outside, but sunshine is promised for the morning. I’ll be donning the leather jacket and creepy gloves.