Ringing In The New Year With A New Sped

The start of the new year has been an interesting one. My Thanksgiving accident where I was on the receiving end of a head-on collision is now a criminal case. Never have I ever had an airbag hit me in the face, let alone consider the fact that something like this would go to court.

I’ll tell you what I do know: a minor concussion has knocked any remains of fear out of my system. My perspective has been influenced by a willingness to live by greater means and grab life by the horns. So for 2026, I’m looking for my greatest year yet with Sped.

It’s my mission to grow the blog and turn it into an eventual institute with a soul. Never a platform that attributes to the A.I.-generated slop that has been dialed up to eleven over the course of the last year or so. Basically, written content paying contributors for next-to-nothing in exchange for meaningless slosh.

I’m not up to date on this crap, nor do I care enough to. You can read more about it from one of my old gigs who’s also trying to prevent his site from becoming a soul killer. But it does give me an idea, the desire to revel in my deep-seated disdain for authority and rise against the machines.

So there are two things that will be a recurring theme throughout the year: One, to love the car you have now in addition to the one you want. Two, to connect with more humans. My writing is not perfect—jumbling up several writing styles depending on the car website will do that you—but it will at least be legible. Not everyone has the literary comprehension of Shakespeare.

This is moot to my former editors who subscribe to Sped (You know who you are) who love the content for the sake of content. It’s a nice break away from the trending article slop designed to generate clicks for their respective sites, and why this is my haven.

So you’re going to learn my perspective on cars. It’s not solely based on numbers on a spreadsheet or how one feature of one car triumphs another feature on another car. It’s merely about what makes it worth keeping. I can guarantee that there are internet archives of vehicle comparisons where the car that finishes in first place isn’t the one that stays in people’s lives.

This can come down to business decisions, replacement parts access, reputation of the company; the list goes on longer than an arm and a leg. Just because something is a good idea when new doesn’t always translate into the same sentiment years down the line—a notion I will explain in greater detail when I reveal the first-ever Pick10 inductees for 2026. Hint: They don’t all carry a fresh design. In fact, one model was released during President Obama’s first term.

But that’s enough for now. What you need to know is that post-accident, I’m okay and I’m very lucky and very grateful. And I can’t wait to show what I, and Sped, can do this year.

With great optimism, I leave you lovely readers with the following message.

Stay tuned.

-TA