I test drove both cars and ended up with the S2k for several reasons. Primary reason, for such a expensive car, Porsche nickel and dimes you with options that have no business being options on a 50k+ car. See for example, wind deflector, HID headlights, etc. This made me resent Porsche a little bit. You add the mere basic options to the Porsche and you have a car well north of 50k. That said, that car is the best in the class, no exceptions. The drive and feel were unmatched. Nonetheless, the S was almost as fun to drive and 20k less. 20k is a crap load of money, not just a load, a crap load. Plus, if you are into modding, the S presents a clear advantage. if I had a dime for everytime someone told me: "You don't touch the Porsche", i would be a rich man.
The S also presented less maintenance issues and a MUCH better track record than the Boxster. Although, the new boxster seeemed to be catching up, especially with oil changes advertised at every 20k miles. My last point was styling, the boxster exterior is very nice, especially the new body style after MY05, but the S just seemed better looking, might have been the 20k less sticker .
That said, buying a sports car is like picking a wife. I hate to use the cliche, but different strokes for different folks. My best suggestion to anyone curious is to test drive the car and go from there. The same applies to wives too.

 

I sat in a boxster, cayman, and 911 for the first time today. All really nice cars.

As far as the boxster, my impression was that it was SO MUCH more of a refined car. Top locks and unlocks by itself. The stereo's nice. The wheel, seats, and a bunch of other things are adjustable. Lots of nice things about it.

But as other people have mentioned, the car's $20k more. For that price, I'd buy a new and a used S2k.

 

Believe it or not ... that's one of the things I'm glad that the S doesn't have. When I see too many adjustable parts, then I start having issues with finding the optimal seating position.

Anyhow, but ya, Porsches are definitely top quality cars. Everything about their cars, including the craftmanship of the interior, is top notch.

I wouldn't buy one myself, but certainly give them a lot of respect

 

I totally agree. That's why I love my S so much. Simple. Perfect. But not for everyone.

First thing I thought when I sat in the boxster was, "Oh man there's too much going on here. How do I even turn on the AC?"

 

Well, yesterday i went to the Miami international auto show and (although i did before in most of them) sat on:

Z4=very nice interior, very BMW (too much buttons)
NissanZ=also nice interior (not my taste) but you need the touring which is 40K
Boxter=very nice, nice ammenities, P-car factor
Miata=some ammenities, too much plastic, but amazingly bigger than the S on the inside
Solstice=nice interior but too much bling + plastic
Sky=Pure Bling + plastic
... then i saw some Elises, WOW what a pure race inspired car, the interior is brute, small, crappy ....AWESOME!! but wow .. that's a basic single purpose car, so i realized how the S looks like a GT on the interior compared with the hardcore Elise but also realized how is also pure business compared with the other fancy interiors in all those other cars.

Conclusion: The S2000 is a authentic roadster that can be driven everyday by people that can care less for fancy shinny buttons -drivers-

OScar

 

As a long time (and current) PCA member, Ive heard some things from Porsche mechanics at tech sessions that kept me from even thinking about them. According to the techs a lot of the earlier models that had the worst rear main seal issues were actually a sign of a bigger problem. Porsche was swapping out a lot of engines and it wasnt because the seal leaked it was becasue the seal was the beginning stage of the crank walking around in the case halves. The casting method on the early water cooled flat 6 models was a weaker method than the air cooled models used because the water cooling should have allowed less strength be built into the case because less stress was put on the case halves. As time goes on they havent fixed the casting method but desinged more ribs and reinforcement into the case. They originally slightly under estimated the strength needed. The water cooled flat 6 engines were the first of the engines when porsche started building a separate street engine case and race case. They are building more dumbed down cars for more profit. Porsche is now the most profitable car maker. Mainly based on brand management and trimming down manufacturing costs.

 

https://www.s2ki.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=430503

Check this out if your getting a boxster

 

FYI, the boxster top is NOT automatic locking. At least the one I drove (2005) was not fully automatic; it had the single latch in the middle of the top portion of the window shield. The 350z had a similar latch mechanism. I "hear" the Z4 has a totally atuomatic top, though.

 

the salesman told me that the 07 boxster i was sitting in had an auto top...that could also be open/closed while moving up to 30mph.

 

He may have been referring to the power operation of the top. There is one latch at the center of the header which is quite easy to operate. The top down while moving feature was new for 2006 and fortunately the S2K was amazing easy to convert to this ability. The 2002 Boxster I had required a lot more work to make this possible.