First and foremost - welcome to the forum. I hope you find the car you are looking for, and I'm absolutely sure you will get many hours of pleasure from it.
I have a 1999, 2.5 Boxster Tip S, and here's my two penn'orth.
There are 5 major gear ratios which the car is able to detect intelligently from your driving style, so if you race it a lot it will raise the ratios to suit. Therefore, a sedate driver (like me
) will always seem to start from standing in second gear, whereas a racer (not like me
), the car will drop in to first.
The Tip is effectively a semi-automatic box. You can drive in full auto (which I tend to do most times), and you can drive in full manual - no clutch - using the toggle switches on the steering wheel (either side - doesn't matter). I also find dropping in to manual is useful when you want to accelerate away without "kicking down", which can sometimes be too aggressive.
Insofar as changes in Tip mode - the car is a little ropey when cold, but once warmed through (2-3 miles max), is a smooth as my bum
Hope this helps