一些疑慮

????公眾對(duì)收入平等問(wèn)題日益敏感，我不免擔(dān)心，在舊金山和西雅圖這樣有大量無(wú)家可歸人口的城市，我開(kāi)著豪車(chē)招搖過(guò)市的舉動(dòng)是否會(huì)引起一片嘩然。但事實(shí)證明我的擔(dān)心是多余的。我還擔(dān)心，每天在路況復(fù)雜的道路上開(kāi)著這么嬌貴的車(chē)行駛200英里，它能受得了嗎？我的座駕倒是勝任愉快，但我卻常常產(chǎn)生別再這么糟蹋它的想法。最后一個(gè)擔(dān)心是，開(kāi)著這樣手排擋的車(chē)如何應(yīng)付舊金山依山而建、陡坡不斷的地形呢？其實(shí)這也不是問(wèn)題，只要踩著離合器，911的山路駐車(chē)控制系統(tǒng)就會(huì)防止車(chē)倒溜。

風(fēng)尚設(shè)計(jì)

????基本配置已經(jīng)足夠多了。這兩款車(chē)是如何整合它們的呢？每款車(chē)都有自己獨(dú)到的整合之道，令人嘆為觀止?？ɡ桌能?chē)身用的是最新開(kāi)發(fā)的銀色金屬漆（選裝費(fèi)為3,140美元），車(chē)頂為紅色帆布。其內(nèi)飾已升級(jí)，所用的“卡雷拉紅”真皮色澤十分飽滿（不過(guò)需要在基礎(chǔ)價(jià)格上另加4840美元）。至于博科斯特，則可謂光芒四射。它那優(yōu)雅的“瑪瑙灰金屬”漆顯得極有檔次，內(nèi)飾比以前更注重細(xì)節(jié)。這是首款不再沿用911那種過(guò)時(shí)車(chē)門(mén)的博科斯特。設(shè)計(jì)師運(yùn)用了全新的靈活手法，在車(chē)門(mén)上增加了進(jìn)氣孔和個(gè)性十足的線條，使整車(chē)極為有型。在這方面博科斯特完勝。

功能性

????就算是現(xiàn)在YouTube上有爸爸開(kāi)著911送女兒上學(xué)，媽媽開(kāi)著它去足球場(chǎng)的視頻，也沒(méi)人會(huì)買(mǎi)一輛保時(shí)捷用來(lái)拼車(chē)。而如果一輛車(chē)不夠舒服，你也不會(huì)愿意在里面待下去。博科斯特夠?qū)挸ā芭趴臻g很大，前后各有一個(gè)小型后備箱——因?yàn)樗囊嬖谧缓竺?，所以只好用它們?lái)儲(chǔ)物。而911的車(chē)身前部有個(gè)較大的后備箱——必須用保時(shí)捷那令人抓狂的隱藏式開(kāi)關(guān)打開(kāi)——后面還有兩個(gè)較小的座位（可供兒童使用）。911還有無(wú)匙啟動(dòng)功能，這是電動(dòng)天線發(fā)明以來(lái)最省力的配置了。很自然地，保時(shí)捷這方面也有自己的特色：它沒(méi)有用常規(guī)的按鈕，而是在點(diǎn)火處用了個(gè)空白鍵，因?yàn)椤斑@能提供更好的觸覺(jué)體驗(yàn)?！边@一輪911勝出。

性能表現(xiàn)

????就算是全美橄欖球聯(lián)盟（NFL）的替補(bǔ)裁判也懂得這一點(diǎn)：最能適應(yīng)多變路況，馬力最大的車(chē)勝出。911一路駛來(lái)，征服了各色各樣的路況。在沿海公路彎道上，不斷出現(xiàn)高高低低、蜿蜒曲折的路，這就要求汽車(chē)忽而降到二檔，忽而全速?zèng)_上山頭。在紅杉林地帶，沒(méi)有路肩、穿過(guò)大片樹(shù)林的雙向車(chē)道很像柏油路，布滿了各種提醒粗心駕駛者的標(biāo)識(shí)和反光鏡。911的第七檔和400匹馬力——對(duì)正常路況來(lái)說(shuō)似乎有點(diǎn)過(guò)頭——此時(shí)讓人感到好處無(wú)窮。而相比之下，博科斯特只有六速變速器和265馬力，只能用噪聲較大、頗為粗糙的扁平輪胎對(duì)付著穿過(guò)華盛頓州那條坎坷不平的I-5公路。這一輪911完勝。

側(cè)面評(píng)價(jià)

????舊金山的代客泊車(chē)員因?yàn)槟荛_(kāi)上911而欣喜若狂，不過(guò)最好的評(píng)價(jià)來(lái)自美加邊境的移民官。為了把博科斯特開(kāi)到加拿大境內(nèi)，我需要一大堆的通行證，幾乎像《北非諜影》里的維克多?拉塞羅和伊麗莎?蘭德要逃離卡薩布蘭卡時(shí)所需的一樣多，保時(shí)捷為此給了我一份官方文件，闡明了我此行的目的。讀了這份文件后，移民官在遞還給我時(shí)說(shuō)：“我也想有這么一份能開(kāi)保時(shí)捷的工作?！边@一輪兩車(chē)打個(gè)平手。

Concerns

????With income equality looming larger in the public consciousness, I wondered whether there would be bad vibes in cities like San Francisco and Seattle with large homeless populations. There weren't. I worried, too, that driving 200 miles a day in demanding automobiles over challenging roads might be too much of a good thing. It wasn't, but I was rarely unwilling to quit. And finally, how would I handle those San Francisco hills with a manual transmission? No worries. The 911's hill hold feature keeps the car from rolling backward when the clutch is engaged.

Style

????Enough preliminaries. How did the two cars stack up? Each was striking in its own way. The Carrera was top-shelf trimmed with silver metallic body paint (a $3,140 option) topped by a red canvas roof. Porsche has upgraded its interiors, and the "Carrera Red" leather was succulent (although it added another $4840 to the base price). As for the Boxster, it glowed. Its elegant "Agate Gray Metallic" paint oozed class, and its trim revealed greater attention to details than in the past. This is the first Boxster that doesn't have to make do with hand-me-down doors from the 911. Designers made good use of their new flexibility by adding flourishes like air scoops and character lines that really dress up the car. The Boxster was the winner here.

Functionality

????Nobody buys a Porsche for car pools, even if a current YouTube clip shows Dad driving his daughter to school in a 911 Cabrio and Mom cruising to soccer practice. Still, if a car isn't comfortable, you aren't going to spend any time in it. The Boxster felt commodious enough -- the front seats were roomy and the car has two smallish trunks, front and rear -- but that's it for storage, since the engine fills the space behind the seat. For its part, the 911 has one larger trunk in front -- accessed with Porsche's maddening hidden lid release -- and two smaller seats in back (technically usable by children). But the 911 also came with keyless start, the best laborsaving device since the motorized antenna. Naturally, Porsche has its own spin: Instead of the usual button, it uses a key blank in the ignition "because it provides a more tactile experience." The 911 won this round.

Performance

????Even fill-in NFL refs could have figured this one out: The car with the best route and the most horsepower wins. All the interesting roads ran under the wheels of the 911. There were dozens of hairpins and switchbacks along coastal inlets that required downshifts to second gear, followed by lusty acceleration up to the top of the next hill. In redwood country, the shoulderless two-lane road threaded through groves of enormous trees so close to the asphalt, they were marked by signs and reflectors for the unwary. Seven forward gears and 400 hp -- seemingly excessive under normal conditions -- provided a banquet of benefits. The Boxster, by contrast, made do with six gears and 265 hp, and was forced to cope with miles of knobby I-5 through Washington State on low-profile tires that were both noisy and rough. The 911 won by a landslide.

Profiling

????The parking valets in San Francisco swooned over the 911, but the best comment came from the immigration official at the border. Since I needed nearly as many letters of transit to get the Boxster into Canada as Victor Laszlo and Ilsa Lund did to escape Casablanca, Porsche provided me with an official document explaining my mission. Upon reading it, the officer handed it back to me with the comment, "I wish my job required me to drive Porsches." This round was a tie.