#FlatSix

The Porsche 718 Spyder has always delivered a thrilling open-top driving experience, but there’s a new variant coming that promises to up the ante significantly. The 2024 718 Spyder RS borrows the 4.0-liter flat-six from the 718 Cayman GT4 RS and combines it with Porsche’s excellent seven-speed PDK transmission. Power output is prodigious, at 493 horsepower and 331 pound-feet of torque. 

Replacing the lead singer in an iconic rock band is a thankless task. Van Halen fans never fully embraced Sammy Hagar. Paul Rodgers’ recent stint as lead singer with Queen was okay, I guess, and Axl Rose is now screaming it out in front of AC/DC. All fantastic singers and more than worthy in their own right, but how to you replace David Lee Roth, Freddie Mercury and Brian Johnson?

Enter Porsche’s 2017 reboot of its beloved mid-engine Boxster/Cayman. Same deal. The operatic flat-sixes that have propelled this duo since their respective inceptions sing no more, replaced by a pair of gruff turbo flat-fours.

Oh, the conundrum.