Must Reads of 2023: Road Test Editor Zac Palmer

You’re probably already thinking that my list is going to be rather predictable. Road Test Editor … it’s probably just going to be a bunch of Road Tests, right? Well, only partially. Looking back on the year, there are a lot of stories that I’m proud to shine a spotlight on, from epic comparison tests to breaking news and more. Yeah, I still write news here despite the job title perhaps suggesting otherwise – but this is Autoblog, car news is what we do!

With that, I’ll invite you on this little journey through 2023. I narrowed the list down to just seven stories (it was hard!), so scroll on down and check them out.

We charged a non-Tesla at a Supercharger. Here’s how it went

Remember that weird several-month stretch where it looked like Tesla was going to install CCS adapters on its Superchargers so that non-Teslas could charge on them? The great NACS migration shortly thereafter essentially killed that idea, but while it was a viable one, I drove our long-term Kia EV6 hundreds of miles to one of the chargers with the CCS adapters (termed Magic Dock) installed to tell you all how it worked. Consider it one of the weirder footnotes in the ever-evolving history of EVs we’re living through right now.

2023 Nissan Z vs. 2023 Toyota GR Supra Comparison Test

This one’s pretty self-explanatory. Comparing the GR Supra and Z was my comparison test highlight of the year, and I’m thrilled with how both the test, photos and story came out.

Mercedes-Benz’s Dolby Atmos audio wins the 2023 Autoblog Technology of the Year award

As Road Test Editor, I’m the lucky one who gets to plan and organize our annual Technology of the Year award testing. Then, when it’s done, I get to write the story for the winner. It’s always a hectic and fun time of the year, and it’s one of the stories that we put a ton of effort into every year.

Take a deep dive into Porsche’s one-off Sonderwunsch program with an 8-year waitlist

As a Porsche nerd myself, there are few better times I can think of than nerding out with some Porsche employees about some of the rarest most special things that the company does. I didn’t know much about the Sonderwunsch program before this story, but I sure am glad I took the time to learn. And I’m going to double-up on this one, too, because this story came from my attending Rennsport Reunion 7 at Laguna Seca this year. I took hundreds of photos while there, then brought them to you in this subsequent post. Porsche nerds, you’ll want to click here.

Autoblog’s Editors’ Picks: The Complete List

Rating and reviewing cars is one of the biggest and most important tasks we take on here at Autoblog, and the program is mine to run. We’ve been doing it for long enough now that this year I was able to compile a master list of every car deemed to be an Autoblog Editors’ Pick. It’s long, so find a snack for this one.

2023 Honda Civic Si Road Test: The cheap, do-everything performance car

I tried my best to not fill this list with various Road Tests, but I’ll sneak this one in because it’s an especially good read and full of scenic photos taken by yours truly. I drove down to the Indy 500 in a Civic Si, proceeded to attack the Indiana Nurburgring with it, then drove it on back to Michigan. That’s layering on over 1,000 miles in every possible type of driving. What a good, little car the Civic Si is.

BMW Vision Neue Klasse revealed with stunning design, huge EV improvements

This one might look a little out of left field, but it’s not every day that you fly to Munich, interview and chat with tons of BMW designers and engineers, then get to write about that super-secret concept car months later. I’m a huge fan of the Neue Klasse, and this story was a joy to put together from start to finish.