Now all I need is for someone to lend me their 981 Spyder and and a Ferrari for an equally thorough test drive ;-)
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Nice report flat6 and good luck with the loan of a Spyder 
In the meantime last week I had the pleasure both on PEC track & local country roads in the 718 & 718S pdk & manual
my immediate impression on mental notes made on the day:-
Morning session on track and then 30 minutes on country roads in the 718 PDK followed by similar session on track and roads in 718S manual. What can I say - If I didn't know I would never have spotted this was small flat 4 turbo engine underneath the rear hood. Smooth, very fast and nice soundtrack from the bog standard exhausts when gunning it plus buckets of torque. PDK Gen 3 version now has moved the game on from my old 987 Gen 1 version but only to be expected from a company like Porsche
Extremely impressed by the standard fixed suspension set up wonderfully compliant ride and we went on a few rough roads too! Steering is from the Spyder so very samey even though I thought it was slightly heavier which I much prefer but my friend thought it was very samey and as he drove us there in his Spyder he had the back to back experience to qualify that comment
Brakes way way less snappy and servo far less aggressive making smooth braking much easier than the Spyders anchors which you have to be ballet dancer light footed especially around town
Manual 718S just reminded me how brilliant and how short the Spyder shift is in comparison if somewhat stiffer to engage the gogs but after a while behind the wheel the brain adjusts and starts to forget the extra travel between gears
Clutch weight slightly lighter than the Spyders and very smooth with excellent bite point as always
Overall We both went there expecting to be in for a possible disappointing experience from all those articles down grading the Boxster, for the first time in 20 years, whilst they all accept there is still nothing better to drive for the money.
We both agreed if there was ever a 718 Spyder with say 425 plus bhp we probably wouldn't rush to buy it but we definitely wouldn't rule out getting with the future world of small efficient turbo charged Porsche engines either so I guess the jury is out on that one
Sadly none of the 718's had PSE so how good bad or ugly that sounds I have no idea but the stock exhaust is certainly not lacking when revving the flat 4 but I have read some critical reports on the PSE never changing its tone just the volume as the revs rise a comment even made by the usually reliable Chris Harris too
To conclude we left suitably impressed that the Boxster is still a stunning piece of kit and now even with the smallest power plant extremely fast on our crowded roads its a very easy car to live with and it was only when gunning our way back home on "B" roads one can appreciate how much more hardcore the Spyder ride is, how much firmer everything feels through the lightly padded carbon buckets and how wonderful the 3.8L n/a screams over the last 1/3rd of max rev range
