The most capable off-road machine I've ever ridden is electric
So, too, the biggest damn SUV I've ever driven
I've been lucky to test out a lot of wild vehicles over the years, means of conveyance powered by every known form of propulsion and riding or rolling on everything from treads to tires. But over the decades, only twice have I had to say to myself, "I'd better take it easy on this thing or I'm really going to hurt myself."
The first was the DTV Shredder, a sort of jet ski for the road on tank treads. All you had to do was roll off the throttle too quickly, and that thing would launch you right over the handlebars. It did that to me multiple times in a few hours of filming with the thing. After a particularly high-speed off, one that sent me tumbling across a thankfully soft piece of pasture, the great Nick Miotke, the video producer who was filming me back in 2016, kindly said, "Dude, you need to stop riding that thing."
I will forever be thankful for that.
A few months ago, I again had to force myself to take it easy when testing something, but this time it wasn't the machine's fault. This time it was my own. It was when riding the Stark Varg EX, an electric enduro motorcycle so wildly capable in the right hands that it's able to cover just about any obstacle. The only problem? Mine weren't the right hands. The launch for that bike was over some seriously challenging terrain in Spain, steeper and trickier than anything I’d yet faced. My enduro experience was sadly lacking.
I've been tracking the company behind the bike, Stark Future, for a few years now, profiling them, and how they were unfairly prevented from competing back in 2023. The reason? It was clear that the internal combustion competition was afraid.
This year, I finally got a chance to see why. The bike is an absolute rocket ship, and even though I didn’t push it to its absolute limits, I got plenty enough saddle time in plenty enough conditions to see just how capable it is. Though it still has a few disappointing teething pains that I elaborate upon in my impressions over at Ars Technica, I'm still bullish on the company and its products. The folks at Stark are hugely passionate about this project. There's surely much more good stuff to come.
Ridin' heavy in the Cadillac IQ
I'm not generally a fan of big, three-row SUVs, regardless of make or model. But I have to confess I've always been inordinately fond of the Escalade. It presents a weird blend of red-carpet luxury and family hauling practicality, and an Escalade is always just a bit more fun to drive than you'd expect given the machine’s prodigious dimensions.
The new, electric Escalade IQ, though, pushes that to preposterous lengths. Literally. It's a foot longer than a regular Escalade and roughly 50 percent heavier. Yeah, yikes.
That's a big machine, and while it delivers plenty of style and grace and certainly an abundance of luxury, it just didn't click with me when I tested it for Worth, certainly not like Cadillac's other EVs have.
That's all from me for now. This past week, I was ostensibly on vacation, which meant I probably only worked 40 hours or so. Eventually, I'll figure out how to take a vacation as a freelancer, but this week wasn't it.
But don't cry for me. I'm wrapping up a week with the Volvo EX30, which is fundamentally charming despite numerous foibles, and I have some further features in the pipeline I can't wait to share with you. More on those to come. Until then, be well and do good.