A car in search of a road

On a twisty, freshly paved and relatively secluded road in the Sahyadri hills, I am quietly celebrating the internal combustion engine in all its glory.

Except that it's not exactly a quiet celebration. The scream of the 420hp, naturally aspirated 4.0-litre flat-six engine ricochets off the black mountain rock and reverberates through the Ambenali valley. As the revs rise, the engine sound peaks in a spine-tingling crescendo at 8,000 rpm. However, it's not just the engine that makes the driving experience. It's also something that's rare to find in a sports car these days-a manual gearbox.

A manual gearbox with the good old H-pattern shifter is quite a treat in this age of twin-clutch transmissions and paddle-shifters. In fact, for purists, there's no better treat than this car-the Porsche 718 Spyder.

Gloriously gizmo-free

As far as driving experiences go, it's hard to find anything as pure and deeply analogue as the 718 Spyder, which combines one of the most loved naturally aspirated engines, a snickety-slick, six-speed manual gearbox, and a soft top that exposes you to the elements, all wrapped in what is possibly the best balanced chassis in the world.