Good morning, y’all, from a frigid, frosty wonderland in New York. We got our first significant snowfall this week, seven days that saw us below freezing more often than above. It’s an abrupt start to the winter, but after a few years of middling, tempered holiday seasons, I’m here for it.

On the publications side, it’s been a few quiet weeks waiting for embargoes to lift and publishing schedules to synchronize. Finally, though, we’ve got a lot of ground to cover this week, so let’s dive in.

After what seems like an eternity of teasing and waiting and me sitting through endless technical briefings and presentations about everything from cylindrical battery cells to advanced recuperation techniques, last month it was finally time to see how it all came together. And this week, it all hit the wire.

BMW’s iX3 is the first of the company’s next-generation of EVs, and while it isn’t exactly a reinvention for emissions-free motoring, it really is a massive step forward. Whether it’s outright range, charging speed, or even ride quality from conventional dampers, this thing is remarkably impressive.

Due to a little travel whoopsie on the way out, I wound up missing BMW’s well-defined event schedule. That made for little extra stress and a lot of extra time sitting around in airports, but had the secondary effect of meaning I got a day by myself to wheel an iX3 around however I wanted. It was great, I learned a lot, and I’m thrilled to finally share it all with you and myriad fine outlets.

By now, you probably know I travel a lot, something like a dozen countries and 200-odd thousand miles in an average year. I’m lucky to regularly visit the most amazing cities in the world, but Tokyo is the only one where I always, always add at least a few extra days every time I visit.

It’s my favorite destination, and I’m very glad to share some of my most frequent haunts, plus a few new ones, too.

Speaking of Japan, I’ve been lucky to contribute to Car Graphic, Japan’s greatest car magazine, for a little over a year now. This month, the franchise turned the tables a bit, profiling me in CG Neo Classic, Car Graphic’s spin-off focused on modern classics like the 1998 Subaru STI coupe I imported. CG Neo Classic, featuring yours truly, is on newsstands now in Japan.

You can also find me in the current issue of Worth Magazine, the current issue of Excellence magazine, and yes, Car Graphic as well.

The fine editors at Engadget asked me to write a bit of a retrospective of 2025 from an EV perspective, and I gotta say, it was a little hard. Despite some epic new models coming to market, has been a challenging 12 months for EV aficionados such as myself.

Over the next few months, you’re going to read piece after piece about how EVs are dead in America thanks to the current sales glut. But anyone who’s been watching the market knew this decline was coming after the big rush to beat the end of the federal tax incentive. The market will recover, and though there’s no guarantee of success for EVs in the US, there is reason for optimism, and I remain optimistic.

Finally, is another piece I wrote for Alloy recently, a sort of hype post for the final round of the World Rally Championship. I’m a huge rally fan and really loved the opportunity to share that love for the sport in such an amazing new outlet. That final round has since come and gone, and I won’t spoil things here, except to say that I can’t wait for the first round of the next season, which at this point is only about a month away.

That’s it from me this week, and that seems like a lot. I’m back on the road in the week ahead to sample Mercedes-Benz’s next-gen electric sedan. I’m also making a stop on the way home to sample one of the world’s greatest arcades, but you’ll have to wait a little longer to read about that.

Until then, be good and do well.

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