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The 2.5 L 97-99 Boxsters only have one set of cats, and if you remove these you would have to deal with the CEL from not having them. (2000 - 2004 986 have 2 sets of Cats and only the front set is monitored so you can bypass the 2nd set with no CEL). Since you have no cats built in to the stock "headers" you can get some headers without having to worry about a CEL from them. I think Topspeed sells a complete exhaust with headers, mid pipe, and exhaust for an affordable price. You would have to solve or deal with the CEL by using spacers or some other solution. Some say that the low end grunt suffers when you do this but you get more power at the top end.
Underdrive pulley frees up a few HP that you can feel in the seat of your pants, but (in my experience) every time I get stuck in traffic, the car seems to heat up a lot quicker than it did before - one theory is that since the WP is turning more slowly, especially at idle, it isn't moving as much water. I never really drove in stop and go traffic before or really even watched the gauge before so it may just be due to my paying more attention to the gauges now.
Stripping some weight out of the car also can give an improvement to the HP/Pound ratio and make the car feel more powerful. Look at the Spec Boxster race series that uses the 2.5L Boxster as a platform.
Driver education - the car itself is probably faster than most of us can drive it - the more we learn the more we can appreciate and utilize the performance the car inherently has.
The general consensus seems to be that the Boxster is a fast car designed to be driven fast, but not necessarily designed to accelerate super hard from 0-60 like a "Muscle car" .
Steve
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