In the beginning my wife viewed the 996 as a race car and was very reluctant to drive it. After one drive in the boxster s, she loves it. we have a 996, 987, and a 986 and she always goes for the 986.
My wife loves driving a stick but has only driven the Boxster maybe twice. Then I can also say the same thing about my RX8. This from a woman who has 150+ track days as a corner worker at Road America. At least she lets me buy these cars so I can't complain.