Well the 986S gear box was not intended to be coupled with tbe Boxster engine.
Kind of an after thought, let's take the Carrera six speed gearbox and stick in the Boxster. I think the differing and wide ranging opinions on the B&M short shifter bolster this opinon as nearly every Carrera owner sees an immediate improvement with a short shifter while BoxsterS owners seemed very mixed.
It's crunchy and noisy but I much prefer it to only having 5 gears.
THere's no comparing anything to the S2000, like a precise bolt action rifle.
But you're paying for it. An S2000 is now creeping over $35K and they still look
like...well an s2000. Compare that to the 1993 Boxster concept car which still looks great today.
I had a miata and I wouldn't trade that gear box for my clunking 6 speed for even a day. That darn thing was notchy as hell. I played with all flavors of Redline fluid and sometimes it was smooth (when the it got hot) and sometimes it was like
cracking walnuts. The best improvement came when I replaced the shift boot, snick, snick, snick. Too bad I sold the car the next day.