2021 is slowly coming to an end and it’s time to summarize it through the eyes of the Thrill of Driving, in other words this blog. In a few words, it’s been a truly great car year and that many of you seem to get some inspiration around your car dreams through this blog makes us very proud! There’s around three times as many of you this year compared to 2020, which at the time was also a record year, and as readers you’re part of a truly global group, with most of you coming from the US followed by the UK, our native Sweden and Switzerland where I live, but with other countries following all the way down under to Australia! We can only thank you for your interest and fidelity and in this last post of the year, I thought we’d look back at some of your favourite readings in 2021 as well as some other noticeable things that may follow us into 2022.

Looking at your favourite car posts from the year through the lense of the dream garage, a concept I’m sure quite a few of us regularly phantasize about, most of you would like to put something like the following mix behind your garage door…

• The sports car would be a Maserati 3200 GT / Coupé GT, a Lamborghini Countach or a Ferrari Testarossa. Obviously the cheapest option here is the Maserati and that post, by now more than two years old, continues to be your favourite. So far that hasn’t improved resale values though so it’s not too late to make that dream come through – go for it! You’ll need a bigger budget for a Testarossa and (especially) a Countach, but you get far more drama as well, including the pleasure of a mechanical 12-cylinder!

• Those of you with family needs seem mostly to opt for one of the two grand daddys of SUV’s, however with very different profiles. On one hand there’s the classy Range Rover Classic, on the other the very cool MB AMG G63. Obviously these two don’t really compare and the RR could be in the oldtimer category as well, although there are firms out there that bring them to a modern standard, as highlighted in the post on restomods. Some of you still prefer the charm of a good old station wagon and many of you like the the Volvo 850 T5-R! That’s great as long as you make sure it’s yellow!

• There’s very little competition on what the convertible would be, namely the MB R129 SL that I also wrote about almost two years ago but which continues to go strong. Again, this blog luckily doesn’t influence resale values (yet) so it’s not too late! Those that prefer adding an 80’s coupé as their third car would instead go for the wonderful Alfa GTV6 I wrote about back in May. And those who want what is still considered by many as the best car of all time are by now on the lookout for a MB 500 E as per my recent post.

Other topics that have caught your interest include F1, and how could that be any different given the fabulous season which just ended. It will really be interesting to see where we head next year given all the changes that await, as described back in October.

As we’re about to turn the page on 2021, what can we expect for 2022? The first thing to note is that if you’re in the market for a new car, you’re in for a wait, and it could be a very long one. Most manufacturers struggle with supply chain disruptions caused by everything from Covid to the conflict around Taiwan and if your car isn’t in stock, it could easily be up to two years before you get it. This is something that risks not improving anytime soon as China continues to close down whole regions at the sight of a Covid infection, something that is highly disruptive. Then again, why would you bother? As this blog hopefully helps illustrate there are always great options among cars already built, and the price of these is increasing as we speak given new cars can’t be delivered, so don’t wait too long!

Sales of electrical cars are exploding (although from a very low base), so there’s reason to think that 2022 will see the large break-through that arguably already started in 2021, also since all large manufacturers are now in the game. That’s all good and great but contrary to what you would believe from mainstream media, we’re nowhere near EV’s taking over completely. They still make up low-single percentages in the US and at most low double-digits in some EV-friendly/subsidized other markets. With the push for green energy leading to strange decisions around varous sources of base power (namely to close them down without a replacement) we’d also better make sure we can satisfy the rising energy demand not only EV’s currently give rise to. As I write this, it doesn’t look very promising at least from a European perspective. It would also be helpful if we can find some substitute for those problematic metals in the batteries that I highlighted in my post on EV’s almost a year ago.

Finally in my personal garage I need to tell you what happened after the XC90 left. The search was large and covered various concepts as you may remember from my post at the time. I’m happy to say it’s come to an end and that I’m thrilled with the outcome! More about that early next year along with the regular mix of old and new, classic and sports car, F1 and an opinion here and there. If you have ideas on what the blog should contain, do bring them on, I read all suggestions and try to take them into account. And please subscribe – then you’re sure not to miss anything, and you help us making the blog even better!

A happy, prosperous and healthy new year 2022 to you all – may it be full with great drives!