I drive an '02S because I like the "modern-classic" look of the 986 and I don't want to worry too much about it. I bought my car 4 years ago. If I was going to buy today, I'd probably buy a 2009 or 2010 model (maybe a Cayman).
I bought my car for a song @ 11K miles and have put almost 60K on it over the past 4 years as my daily driver - rain, snow, sun, whatever. Yes it requires a bit more maintenance, but it's a 10 year old car now... After a while, all of the usual-suspect stuff breaks and then you have a well sorted daily driver. I think (hope...) I've reached that spot.
I've owned 3 BMWs and truthfully there is no comparison. The Porsche is a driver's car. BMW lost their way a long time ago.
Mike Focke's site still has a lot of great information about buying a Boxster:
mikesporscheboxsterwebpages - mikefocke2