Hello from the best seat in the world, the one at my desk at home. I spent the better part of this week off in Utah driving a thing that I'm sadly not even allowed to hint about, so that's the beginning and the end of my teasing there, but thankfully I can say more in the near future. And trust me, there's a lot to say.

A few new publications this week to discuss and some updates on this very newsletter, too, so let's dig in.

Back when I had the great pleasure of driving Audi's RS5 in Marrakesh, all of three months ago, I was one of just a few journalists invited out into the desert to have a go. Nobody else on the media side had been behind the wheel yet.

Meanwhile, the internets were ablaze with keyboard warriors lambasting the PHEV for its 1,000-pound weight gain, saying that Audi had totally lost the plot.

All that was very definitely in the back of my mind as I was writing those first reports. Why? Because the car was great, far more exciting and alive than the previous model, a radical change but one that was undeniably for the better. My takes were almost universally positive, directly against what the keyboard warriors were saying. Even for someone who's been doing this sort of thing for three decades now, that can inject just a slight feeling of uncertainty.

I remember writing video game reviews back in the late '90s and having similar doubts. Back then I operated in a complete vacuum, working for weeks on reviews of this RPG or that shooter with nary a word between myself and any other videogame journalist. When reviews were published, I'd look to my peers at EGM or IGN or GameSpot to see whether my conclusions had been totally off base. Thankfully I rarely missed the mark, which I suppose is at least partly why I’m still in the game.

Anyhow, I was glad to see more Audi RS5 takes appearing online in the past few weeks after Audi held a second drive event. My friends at Ars Technica, Jalopnik, and The Drive were similarly enamored by the dynamics.

Sweet validation.

If you didn't get enough of my early takes on the RS5, another one went online this week for Worth Magazine. You can read it here, and check out my earlier takes for continuity's sake, too.

My latest hot take in Japanese is on Waymo and its expansion in the Tokyo market. Want to read it? Sadly you’ll likewise have to be in the Japanese market.

If you're still reading this, then you've successfully made the transition over to the new platform, or found this newsletter online. Either way, hello, and thanks.

Just a few updates. This is the first newsletter I've sent with an ad in it, and you have my sympathies and apologies about that, but I do have bills to pay. I promise I'll do my best to ensure the ads stay as unobtrusive as possible.

That said, if you can't stand them, you've got options. I've added an ad-free subscription tier that's just $1 a month or $10 annually. Join up and, assuming I set things up appropriately, you'll never see an ad.

Or, if you're still hanging on to the Really Simple Syndication lifestyle, A: you have my endless respect and B: you can dust off your RSS reader and point it here: https://rss.beehiiv.com/feeds/2YJDRRVzqO.xml

Finally, if you're feeling generous, I have a Supporter plan that costs $8 a month, $90 annually, or $200 for a lifetime membership. You'll not only get no ads, but a personal email address you can use to ping me with questions, comments, and suggestions for what I should write about next.

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That's all from me for now. I'm back to Bilbao next week to drive an electric machine that could do something rare: create a whole new market segment. More on that to come.

Until then, be well, do good, and my thanks again for your continued support.