Good morning, dear reader. I’m writing from home on a quiet, pitch-black Sunday morning, where it’s just me and my pooch Koopa awake at the moment — though with the noise he’s making with his new squeaky toy, I figure we won’t be alone for long.

We’ve actually been testing out a lot of dog toys lately for an upcoming article that’ll appear at The Guardian. Thanks to this, it’s been my professional duty of late to spoil him with all sorts of goodies, including the stuffed, squeaky T. rex he’s currently masticating with far more energy than I can usually manage at 5:50 am. All for the sake of critical evaluation, of course. More on that to come.

As to me, I spent much of this past week in and around Malaga in Spain testing out Porsche’s new 911 Turbo S, which features not one but two of the fancy electrified turbos that debuted in the GTS last year. How’s it drive? You’ll have to wait a little longer before I can share my impressions on that.

Here’s what else I’ve been up to lately.

Last year, Toyota’s RAV4 became the best-selling vehicle on the planet, and when you’ve hit a home run like that, you’re forgiven for not reinventing the wheel when it’s time to launch a new version. Indeed, the 2026 edition, which I drove a few weeks back in Arizona, very much stays true to the template set by its wildly successful predecessor. But there are a few big, interesting upgrades.

One of those is the in-dash software experience. I confess that, as I was heading to the launch, I wasn’t expecting much from that side of the equation. Toyota’s infotainment experience has evolved from primitive to passable over the years, but it’s never been something that I was ever particularly excited about.

This new Linux-based ‘26 flavor doesn’t take a radical leap forward from a visual standpoint. Nor frankly does it offer any groundbreaking features, though I do appreciate the flexibility and customization that’s been baked into the interface, plus the enhanced dashcam mode.

It’s the performance that really impressed me. While it was slow to boot up when the car was turned on, once loaded, everything was quick and responsive, even the voice assistant, which brought back information in a rapid, natural way.

Even more impressive? That Toyota not only maintained smartphone projection -- both Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, wirelessly -- but designed the experience to integrate nicely with both. You not only get your phone’s interface in the SUV’s main touchscreen, but you also get the projected navigation on the digital gauge cluster inset cleanly behind the trip meter and other bits of core information.

It’s a tidy integration and a very pro-consumer move, one that feels all the stronger in the face of Mary Barra confirming that GM is killing projection across all its cars soon, a move that feels decidedly more hostile. You can read more detailed impressions on that over at Engadget.

The other big thing in the ‘26 RAV4 is the new GR Sport edition. After being pleasantly blown away by what Hyundai did with the Kona N, I was sorta kinda hoping that maybe we’d get a taste of the raucous GR Corolla in the new RAV4. As it turns out, it’s far less than a taste. It’s maybe more of a whiff of GR essence, enough to make the SUV feel a bit less sleepy. It’s still very much the adequate-but-not-exceptional driving experience we’ve all come to expect from the RAV over the years. I dig deeper on that for my write-up at Hagerty.

The other upgrades to the RAV4 are good across the board, the only question is how much will it cost. Toyota isn’t saying yet, and I presume that’s because Toyota doesn’t know yet. These are complicated times for product managers, and I don’t envy them.

If you’re not sick of reading my thoughts on the Mustang GTD, my take for Robb Report hit the web this past week. Most places, when considering the GTD, understandably focus on the cost equation quite a bit. I’m lucky when writing for Robb Report that I can more or less put that to the side and just dwell on the car itself, which, from a performance standpoint, is remarkable.

In contrast to the above, for Yahoo, I wrote up a fun list entirely focused on what cars cost. Lists like this are inherently complicated since a car’s cost and value aren’t always straightforward, nor is the determination of what is a production car. If a brand builds two examples of a thing, is it a production car or a special release? What about three? Five? Anyhow, I tried to wade through that nuance for this list of toys for the uber-rich.

And that’s all I’ve got in my link repository since last I wrote. Tomorrow I’m off to my second favorite place on the planet, Japan, to check out what’s going on at this year’s Tokyo Mobility Show. I’ll also be getting an inside look at a few upcoming machines from Honda and working up a travel guide for the city itself. I’ve been lucky to visit Tokyo just about every year since 2010, and I feel like I’ve learned enough to make myself a comprehensive guide along the way.

P.S. In case you’re wondering what my numero-uno favorite place is, it’s right here at home, of course, somewhere I sadly won’t be seeing much of for the next few weeks. So, if you are at home, please enjoy it on my behalf, and stay tuned for more updates on all my travels to come next week.