I'm 6' 4" and 266 pounds, so I can definitely relate to what you're experiencing. I think that, if you sort of forget about your emotions or whatever else like buyer's remorse clouding your judgement, you are just factoring two things.

1. Driver Experience - do you want the car to make you focus in on the road, like you are in a performance cockpit? Or do you want the freedom of only focusing on the road half the time.

2. Bystander Experience - do you want people to see just the car? or you in the car? I like the coupe for this reason because I don't really want people judging me for my age in this car. I'm a very young Jag owner.

Only thing that really bothers me is that the rear view mirror is right at my eye-line and it blocks a sizable portion of my view. Can't really do anything about that even in the vert.

 

At 6'4", I'm guessing it's the center mirror blocking your view. At 6'1", the driver's door mirror blocks the view pretty badly. No issue with the center mirror.

 

yeah

 

Is their a car in this class that doesn't give a compact feeling? I was in a 911 coupe and can't say it felt radically different. Top down driving in a vert is obviously different.

 

When I'm in my friends Porsche or AMG gullwing the sense of spaciousness feels about the same to me, as my F type coupe...
Personally I don't feel cramped at 6'2" , 208 lbs..

I suppose the solution, if you feel cramped is to just get a car with a larger cabin... problem solved.
Lawrence.

 

Or the same cabin in a vert.

 

I put the top up and closed the windows last night and it really changed the dynamic. Plenty of headroom but everything changed with respect to the driving experience. I think I'm just an open air kind of guy with 2 rag tops and a wranger with removable doors and top.

 

No right or wrong; they are both awesome cars. I do agree that the coupe is even more stunning visually but it was 'vert only for me (in all the cars I was looking at). I think it is preference but also usage as well. My F type is not my daily driver and I'd never drive it in the winter so the convertible top is down 99% of the time I'm in the car....and I wouldn't want it any other way.

As an aside; getting in and out of the F type is easier than our SLK, I've noticed.


Dave

 

This product might solve a few of your problems: LightInSight - Windshield Mounted Traffic Light Lens

 

+1. I have one in both the MINIs and just ordered one for the Jag.

 

Brilliant....worth a shot. why would you buy multiples when they are transferable

 

I agree. With the top up it's very closed in. Like you, my top is almost always down.

 

they're cheap enough. Why fool around with moving them from car to car on a daily basis?

 

Ahh, a true problem solver!

 

Does it really work?

 

Yes, I agree that in the convertible, the top up does give a feeling of being in a tomb... I tried one a couple of years ago after I ordered my coupe and the weather was poor and with the top up it is fairly dark .. I'm not sure why it is all that different to the coupe and never bothered to compare and find out.

The weather around here is often not conducive to a convertible so I don't see that many around.. if the weather was better we would no doubt see a lot more.. which would include my wife as she likes convertibles.. in good weather.

Lawrence

 

yes. Really well. The image of the traffic light is very small, but the color of the light is very visible.

 

The image of the traffic behind me is usually very small, but that's just because I'm so far in front of it.

Separately and perhaps curiously, on the drive home today and temperatures pushing 90 - yes, it sometimes gets that hot up here - and the sun blazing in the sky, late though it was, and in the car, my wife Liz closed the panoramic roof shade and made the interior much more comfortable in this instance, something we rarely do, and not claustrophobic at all. FWIW.

 

Verter here. Top up, you definitely need the Vision Pack, but that's this car, either way. I'm 6'6", and I wouldn't say claustrophobic as much as being in an efficient space capsule. I do get frustrated that I can't see cars at particular angles of intersections, and I absolutely can't see traffic lights, etc. But the top down is sort of amazing, and it's constantly down. My wife taught me that even sub-60 degrees, it can be down at 65mph with the windows up. It's super duper. I can even ruin conference calls by gunning it and letting the pops and crackles annoy everyone. Even the turn signal can annoy them. I do not like calls in my car, is what I am saying.

I keep meaning to recheck this vs how I've got my mirrors set:
How To: Adjust Your Mirrors to Avoid Blind Spots - Feature - Car and Driver

The challenging fact is that convertibles aren't always wise or pragmatic, but neither is this car, and the truth is that there are few places in the world that are better for a vert. =) Definitely test one.

 

Thanks for sharing the article. Makes perfect sense. We don't need to see our own vehicle with the side mirrors. I promise, your own car will not hit you in a blind spot

But I wonder if one of these would look good on my Jag? loloz