A tale of electric sedans, old and new

We've come a long way, my friends, but we could have gone so much farther.

My first Model S review, 11 years ago,

Hello, friends. Greetings from Atlanta, Georgia. I'm sitting just outside Porsche's Experience Center, where I'm about to get a sneak peek at something fun and fast. More on that later.

This week, I wanted to share a couple of lengthy pieces I wrote about electric sedans, one looking into the future and the other reflecting quite a ways back.

This week marked the 20th anniversary of Engadget, a site that is, of course, near and dear to my heart. If you don't know, I was EiC there from early 2011 to late 2013. That seems like an age ago now, and I suppose it was.

It's a bittersweet anniversary because they've just lost a fair few senior staff members, folks who I consider more family than friends. This breaks my heart, but in the spirit of “The show must go on…”

Prior that all going down, I was asked whether I'd be interested in writing a bit of a retrospective on the Tesla Model S, looking back at its significance over the past decade and change as part of a package to celebrate Engadget’s anniversary. Back in 2013, I was one of the first to review the Model S. It was an exceptional car back then, and I was full of optimism about all that was to come from Tesla. As you'll see in my retrospective, that's been tempered somewhat.

Read "The Tesla Model S shook the industry, but its echo is fading" at Engadget

My automobile photography skills have improved a smidge in the last decade, too.

The second piece I wanted to share is a bit more optimistic. It's my first drive in the Volkswagen ID.7. VW’s new mega-sedan takes much of its character from the ID.4 in that, from a driving standpoint, it doesn't necessarily have a lot of character.

However, it does a remarkably good job of pretending to be a luxury car at what I'm assured will be a far more affordable price. Yes, it's big and soft, but it's smooth and comfortable and nicely refined. The software's also miles better than what shipped on the ID.4.

Sadly, those capacitive-touch steering wheel buttons are still here, but that's really my only quibble with the ID.7. That is, assuming it's priced right -- and assuming it'll do over 300 miles on a charge. I think it will be, and I think it will do, too.

Read my Volkswagen ID.7 first drive at The Verge

That's all for this week. Be well.