This Is A Special Vibe Check Because I Might Be Back For Real

Things are looking up. Not car sales, dealership activity, or anything in between, but my freelance career. I just started a promising new gig at Motor1, which sees my first article published, which may have pointed to potentially more freelance work by way of a referral.

Things are looking green at the moment, which means I can turn my attention back to Sped with a few changes. The World According to Cars, which I nonchalantly referred to as WAC, is dead. Long live Sped.

Sped is a refinement of the theory that you should love the car you have now, as well as the one you want next. No market conditions, price, or political circumstance should guide your decision to buy. Follow what feels right to you. You could pay less in the future for your next car but statistically, the odds are unlikely.

As someone who used to sell cars—and may go back again someday—I am not shy when it comes to advising you that it’s better to keep what you have. If it’s mechanically sound, continue to take care of it and it will reciprocally take care of you. That’s really the message I’m trying to establish here.

Getting more material out there is not easy. It will take time. I believe what Sped can become and I hope readers in this early part of the journey take note and share. This is a one-man band with 23 personalities.

So, to mark the occasion, let’s cover what Sped, formerly known as WAC, has missed since the last Vibe Check on Feb. 28. Believe it or not, there are one or two piece of news.

1st Shift: Toyota Has A New Winner

Surprising absolutely no one, the Toyota RAV4 was the bestselling non-pickup passenger vehicle of 2024, seeing almost half a million units moved. That honor used to belong to the Toyota Camry, and before that the Honda Accord. Sedans are out, small SUVs are in. And the RAV4 benefits from its popularity with consumers.

Eager to milk on its success, Toyota has considerably revamped the RAV4 for the 2026 model year. Bad news: It looks much better.

It gets new features and colors but that’s not important. The important bit is that the RAV4 is going hybrid-only, a big move to implement on what’s arguably the company’s most profitable model, thus raising the stakes considerably.

This is the third Toyota model to go exclusively electrified, following the Sienna minivan and Camry sedan (the Prius doesn’t count because it’s always been a hybrid, not changed to one). But it’s a tough act to follow considering its status as a volume seller.

But the Camry saw more than 300,000 sold in 2024, indicating that the risk has paid off. Still, if the new Camry was like Burger King introducing the Impossible burger for the first time, the new RAV4 is if Burger King did away with a beef Whopper entirely, leaving only the vegan alternative. And the probability of its success hinged solely on company reputation because good luck getting a deal on a Toyota.

There’s not much to say about the 2026 RAV4. It doesn’t get a radical redesign, with the hybrid powertrain being largely unchanged, just more refined. There’s still a plethora of equipment levels for people wanting to take it to the streets or off-road. Instead, what this does is fix my biggest problem with it.

Previous generation RAV4s were never lookers. They were functional, utilitarian objects. This new sixth-generation model gets a complete makeover. I have no qualms seeing this on every street corner if it remains as popular as ever.

So I’ll leave some more pictures and give it a perfect score for not being an eyesore.

2nd Shift: BMW Won’t Stop Building Manual Cars

The increasingly iconic roadster has just become more iconic. BMW has announced it will continue building the Z4 all the way into next year. Even better, it will continue to offer the Handschalter Package, which upgrades the engine and suspension but most importantly, installs a six-speed manual transmission.

This wasn’t introduced when the car originally launched, nor was the coupe variant in the Toyota Supra. But when Toyota started offering a manual for 2023, BMW followed suit shortly after. And it’s been a success.

Although the company doesn’t confirm, sales were up 13 percent in 2024 when the manual became available in the Z4. And in more recent news, BMW is rethinking its decision to go automatic-only, to continue offering three pedals in the cars that deserve it most. So everybody wins.

3rd Shift: Tavares Is Out, Hemis Are In

Stellantis is probably the one company that’s in deeper shit than Nissan. Although Nissan is getting ready to mount a comeback, Stellantis is still coming up with a game plan.

For reference, Stellantis is what happened when the corporation that owns Citroen, Peugeot, Opel, Vauxhall merged with Fiat Chrysler, which includes Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram Trucks, Fiat, Maserati, Alfa Romeo, and Lancia. And every company right now is losing popularity in sales.

It’s not just a sales drop, it’s a sales plummet. When Ram Trucks are down in America, you’re in deep shit. Which is why its former CEO un-retired and came back to salvage Ram’s reputation. He’s in charge of the trucks only, while a new global CEO has taken over Stellantis.

Carlos Tavares, the now ex-global CEO, was tasked to right the conglomerate ship toward an electrified future, include cutting Hemi V-8 production. This was a cardinal sin if there ever was one in Christian America. With EV demand down, Stellantis, like a lot of carmakers, is reconsidering gas-powered vehicles for the near future.

Among the early moves include a relaunch of Hemi V-8 availability in Rams starting in 2026. The Durango, which was supposed to bow out after 2025, has also been commissioned for a longer stay. It’s a backwards world we live in and for once, it’s a good thing.

Get Away Every Day

10s, 10s, 10s across the board! What a miracle in the industry in spite of political tariff petulance.

This Vibe Check is for sure atypical than most. I don’t have to tell you to get away because most people are already doing that for the summer.

Me personally? A vacation is a staycation so I really love to read. If I may add something to your reading list, it’s my newest freelance venture with Motor1 [the links are no accident]. You can follow it and my previous write-ups here.

Happy reading, happy cars!

-TA