Funnily enough, by pure coincidence, I've had a passenger ride this morning in my mate's 981 Boxster S. It looks fantastic with the 20" Carrera S wheels, Bose, PCM, PDK, Sport Chrono etc. (cost him £55k new). The interior is really good quality, the navigation screen is great too. When I first got it in it I did have a bit of an 'ooohh shiny' moment - it looks so sleek and modern next to my little Z4MC! We had about 25 minutes in it, during which time he gave it the full beans a couple of times up to the 7.5k rev limit. The engine sounds smooth, purposeful, and it felt quite unusual for me anyway, to hear the engine right behind you. But....it didn't FEEL that quick. On paper I know it is probably slightly quicker than my car or virtually the same but is just didn't seem that quick. The engine makes a nice noise, but it lacks a bit of the aural drama of the S54.
So my verdict was, objectively, a better car in just about every way possible than the Z4MC (as one 7 years newer should be), but I wouldn't swap mine for it. It was just the wrong car for me personally. Fantastic car, just not for me. I''m looking for something more visceral, raw, unusual and that's why I will keep building up a pot for a GT3.