Auto News 5

Rolly Resos glances in his rearview mirror and murmurs, more annoyed than anxious, "That orange car is right on my ass."

Let's skip over the marketing puffery about the Boxster Spyder "taking an idea back to the basics" and talk about the real reason this lighter roadster exists: testosterone. You see, the regular Boxster and Boxster S are very good vehicles -- nearly perfect vehicles, actually -- but they're often dismissed as chick cars. This is a problem for Porsche, since much of the market for $60,000 sports cars is made up of middle-age men looking to compensate for their receding hairlines and expanding beltlines.

This black-on-black 911 Turbo looks menacing at first glance, but it's anything but scary once you sit behind the wheel. In fact, this would be an extremely easy car to live with every day. The 911 Turbo has awesome capabilities-500 hp, 480 lb-ft of torque, 0 to 60 in less than 4 seconds -- but there are few apparent compromises to everyday driving comfort. The suspension is more supple than stiff, the seats are supportive but not unforgiving, and the prodigious power and torque are easily tamed when you need to maneuver through urban gridlock. Of course, at $150,000, you expect a lot from a car. The 911 Turbo pretty much delivers everything you ask of it.
- Amy Skogstrom, Managing Editor