一些疑慮

????公眾對收入平等問題日益敏感，我不免擔心，在舊金山和西雅圖這樣有大量無家可歸人口的城市，我開著豪車招搖過市的舉動是否會引起一片嘩然。但事實證明我的擔心是多余的。我還擔心，每天在路況復雜的道路上開著這么嬌貴的車行駛200英里，它能受得了嗎？我的座駕倒是勝任愉快，但我卻常常產生別再這么糟蹋它的想法。最后一個擔心是，開著這樣手排擋的車如何應付舊金山依山而建、陡坡不斷的地形呢？其實這也不是問題，只要踩著離合器，911的山路駐車控制系統就會防止車倒溜。

風尚設計

????基本配置已經足夠多了。這兩款車是如何整合它們的呢？每款車都有自己獨到的整合之道，令人嘆為觀止。卡雷拉的車身用的是最新開發的銀色金屬漆（選裝費為3,140美元），車頂為紅色帆布。其內飾已升級，所用的“卡雷拉紅”真皮色澤十分飽滿（不過需要在基礎價格上另加4840美元）。至于博科斯特，則可謂光芒四射。它那優雅的“瑪瑙灰金屬”漆顯得極有檔次，內飾比以前更注重細節。這是首款不再沿用911那種過時車門的博科斯特。設計師運用了全新的靈活手法，在車門上增加了進氣孔和個性十足的線條，使整車極為有型。在這方面博科斯特完勝。

功能性

????就算是現在YouTube上有爸爸開著911送女兒上學，媽媽開著它去足球場的視頻，也沒人會買一輛保時捷用來拼車。而如果一輛車不夠舒服，你也不會愿意在里面待下去。博科斯特夠寬敞——前排空間很大，前后各有一個小型后備箱——因為它的引擎在座位后面，所以只好用它們來儲物。而911的車身前部有個較大的后備箱——必須用保時捷那令人抓狂的隱藏式開關打開——后面還有兩個較小的座位（可供兒童使用）。911還有無匙啟動功能，這是電動天線發明以來最省力的配置了。很自然地，保時捷這方面也有自己的特色：它沒有用常規的按鈕，而是在點火處用了個空白鍵，因為“這能提供更好的觸覺體驗。”這一輪911勝出。

性能表現

????就算是全美橄欖球聯盟（NFL）的替補裁判也懂得這一點：最能適應多變路況，馬力最大的車勝出。911一路駛來，征服了各色各樣的路況。在沿海公路彎道上，不斷出現高高低低、蜿蜒曲折的路，這就要求汽車忽而降到二檔，忽而全速沖上山頭。在紅杉林地帶，沒有路肩、穿過大片樹林的雙向車道很像柏油路，布滿了各種提醒粗心駕駛者的標識和反光鏡。911的第七檔和400匹馬力——對正常路況來說似乎有點過頭——此時讓人感到好處無窮。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付著穿過華盛頓州那條坎坷不平的I-5公路。這一輪911完勝。

側面評價

????舊金山的代客泊車員因為能開上911而欣喜若狂，不過最好的評價來自美加邊境的移民官。為了把博科斯特開到加拿大境內，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所需的一樣多，保時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說：“我也想有這么一份能開保時捷的工作。”這一輪兩車打個平手。

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.