A Candidate for Best Car on Road
如果在当前这场全球性经济衰退中人们还能看到一线希望的话，它一定与加油站那些“普通无铅汽油每加仑1.98美元”的广告有关。我已经有近两年时间没看到如此低廉的油价了。但另一方面，油价下跌对我上周驾驶的2009款本田飞度(Honda Fit)却影响不大，因为这款车平均一加仑汽油可以行驶32英里。
If there's a silver lining to this global economic meltdown, it must be driving by gas stations advertising regular unleaded for $1.98 a gallon. I haven't seen prices this low in almost two years. On the other hand, the effect was less dramatic in the car I was driving last week: the 2009 Honda Fit, with which I averaged 32 miles a gallon.
尽管传统的经验表明低油价不利于小型经济型汽车的市场销售，但我却不这么认为。飞度毫无疑问是我最欣赏的汽车，无论和任何品牌，任何价位的汽车相比它都是最好的。
While conventional wisdom says that cheap gas should damp enthusiasm for a compact fuel-sipper, I'm not going to be deterred. The Fit is unquestionably my favorite car, a vehicle that's the best all-around transportation available from any auto maker at any price.
我们先不用考虑飞度平均每加仑汽油行驶32英里的油耗，也不用理会在公路巡航时每加仑汽油行驶超过40英里的超级节油性，毕竟那些汽油在当下并不值多少钱。飞度还可以提供许多驾驶乐趣，购买飞度是理性的选择，而不是被迫的凑合。
So let's put aside those 32 mpgs during my week in the Fit, forget about the 40-plus mpgs I saw in steady highway driving and make a case for this exceptional econobox above and beyond fuel economy. Because for not a lot of money, the Fit is a whole lot of fun to drive, a prudent choice rather than a penalty box.
我们先从价格开始，15,220美元就可以把一辆基本款的飞度开回你的车库，并且配备了所有我们认为理所当然的设备：随处可见的气囊、电动车窗、空调、播放CD的音响等等。当然如果你花了超过2万美元，就可以得到车载导航系统和自动变速箱（可选配件）。当然在这个价位你也可以买到一些其他的车型──尽管不是特别多。
Let's start with the price: $15,220 puts a base model five-door Fit in your garage, a car fairly well-equipped with the stuff we take for granted: airbags everywhere, power windows, air conditioning, a CD player, etc. While you can run the Fit's price over $20,000 if you start loading it up with the navigation system and the optional automatic transmission with paddle shifters, it's still a lot of car for the money -- even as it's not a lot of car.
事实上飞度是一款很小巧的汽车，大约比一辆宝马5系列短30英尺，重量轻大约1,500磅。而宝马5则是我认为在公路上最好的汽车之一。
Indeed, the Fit is quite small, almost 30 inches shorter and nearly 1,500 pounds lighter than, say, a BMW 5-Series, that perennial best-car-on-the-road contender.
考虑一下上面的描述，再想想随着空间的缩小，设计一辆如此出色的汽车又是多么的困难。怎么可能将如此多的功能全部塞入到一辆像飞度那样体积的车内呢？并且这辆车可以顺利通过碰撞测试，不但乘坐舒适，而且充满驾驶乐趣。这样的车怎么可能卖到2万美元以下呢？一辆豪华轿车的价格可能是飞度的3倍，但是由于有了更大的空间，从工程技术角度来说它造起来反而更容易些。
Ponder this for a moment. Then consider how, as the package shrinks, the difficulty in building a truly good car increases. How do you even find the space to engineer everything you need into a car the size of the Fit? So it can pass crash tests, so it's comfortable, so it's drivable, and so you can still build and sell it for less than $20,000? A nice luxury sedan that costs three times as much is inherently less impressive because it poses fewer challenges to engineers.
高性能的小型汽车之所以如此稀少，原因之一就是汽车制造商们长时间以来一直认为体积小等于便宜，从而使人们减少了对此类车型的期待。甚至本田这个以制造高质量小型车闻名的企业近来也错误地遵从了“越大越好”的理念，把自己产品线上的每一款车型都设计得越来越大。
One of the reasons good small cars are so rare is that auto makers have long assumed that small equals cheap; that makes for diminished expectations. Even Honda, known for building good small cars, has recently been guilty of pandering to the bigger-is-better paradigm, supersizing its lineup top to bottom.
人们现在欣喜地发现，新款飞度的目标不仅是成为一辆高性能小型车，而且要揭开轿车行业的新篇章。飞度将公路行驶所需的元素集成到一起，并且在此价位上比其他车型更实惠。飞度的内饰材料──塑料和装饰织物──显然成本不高，但是质地、颜色以及整体设计却给人以并不低档的感觉。（想想宜家的家居）
So it's refreshing to find the new Fit aiming to be not just a good small car, but an exceptional car, period. It's screwed together as well as anything on the road, and feels more substantial than other cars in its price range. The interior materials -- the plastics and fabrics -- are obviously inexpensive, but don't seem like it because of their textures and colors, as well as the overall design. (Think Ikea.)
飞度的仪表板非常简洁，大尺寸的操控部件体现出高超的人性化与工效学设计。车的前排座椅也体现出同样的特点，取消了非常复杂的多方位调整功能，加入了坚固的支撑和舒适的坐垫，这种设计甚至比一些价格相当于飞度两倍的车还要出色。飞度的后排座椅可以将靠背折叠放平，掀背式的后门加上很低的门槛使得飞度有一个非常人性并且易于存放的行李空间。将后座的靠背立起来后车内可以容纳4名成年人，尽管车身很小但并不会使人感到拥挤，好像本田神奇地找到了最佳的车内空间比例布局。造成这种印象要归功于足够大的、可以完全敞开的车门，当然较高的车顶也是一个优势。
The Fit's dashboard is simple, and its oversize controls are ergonomically wonderful. The same goes for the front seats, which trade complex adjustability for good bolstering and firm, yet comfortable cushions that far outclass those in many cars costing twice as much. With rear seats that fold down flat to the floor and a hatchback with a low sill height, the Fit can have an enormous and easily accessible cargo hold. Flip the seats back up, load up four adults, and despite its diminutive size, the car still doesn't feel small, as if Honda somehow divined the perfect threshold of proportions. Part of this is having large doors that open wide for easy ingress, but the Fit's high roof helps too.
飞度由前轮驱动，整辆车的最吸引人之处在于它提供的驾驶乐趣。这要归功于那颗动力十足的四缸1.5升引擎。这样的引擎听起来好象没什么了不起，但它117马力的动力足以让车在高速公路上驰骋。飞度的悬挂系统比大多数汽车要硬一些，这样可以让驾驶员更好地感觉路面变化。标准的5档手动变速箱更增加了飞度的运动感，而不仅仅是一个省钱的设计。
But the crowning achievement is that the front-wheel-drive Fit is as fun to drive as it is functional, thanks to a sprightly 1.5-liter four-cylinder engine. It may not sound like a lot, but 117 horsepower is plenty, with the Fit surrendering only the ability to merge into freeway traffic by force of will, rather than finesse. The suspension is firmer than most, but it makes for a real connectedness with the road. The standard five-speed manual transmission adds sportiness to the car rather than just cost savings.
飞度真正提供了一辆汽车应该配备的一切，放弃了所有不必要的多余功能。人们都知道美国人对小型掀背式汽车不感兴趣，但是如果有那么一辆汽车可以促使美国人改变口味，那就是这辆飞度了。在当前严峻的经济形势下，人们需要用更务实的方式处理个人交通问题。飞度就是一款可以改变人们口味的车。
The Fit truly offers everything you need in a car, and nothing you don't. Americans are famously skeptical toward small hatchbacks, but if ever there was a car that could lead us to embrace the genre, this is it. These sobering times demand a more pragmatic approach to personal transportation. Call the Fit the automotive change we need.
JEFF SABATINI
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