Aurel Niculescu
9,667 ARTICLES
There he understood anything is possible if you work hard and passionately strive to follow your imagination. This is how at the age of 16 he managed to fulfill the first dream – flying alone in a glider plane. He was no Tom Cruise, of course, so young adulthood brought him back to reality.
With every kick in the familiar *utt comes a chance to step forward, so a seemingly unimportant ad in one of his favorite automotive magazines brought a dilemma - follow through with the current job or dare to achieve greatness by deploying (previously) unknown literary skills.
Since 2006, he’s been perfecting them at Automondial, Supercar, Cox, Autoshow, Autopro, Auto Motor & Sport, and more magazines plus their online versions. After driving some of the best and worst cars in Europe and around the world, he’s part of the autoevolution team, where he aims to develop his best-ever form.
2022 Hyundai Santa Cruz Digitally Beefs Up Its Off-Road and Hauling Credentials
23 Apr 2021, 08:54 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / After years of rumors, spied prototypes, and unofficial renders, the Tucson-inspired Santa Cruz “sport adventure vehicle” was finally presented by Hyundai as its first-ever four-door pickup truck to be sold in the North American region....
Early Ioniq 5 Reviews Focus on Low Price, Driving and 800V Charging Experience
23 Apr 2021, 08:07 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / Both Hyundai and Kia have already revealed their first fully electric models based on the group’s recently developed zero-emission dedicated architecture, the E-GMP. And while Kia’s EV6 valiantly played the performance card against supe...
V8 Lexus LC500 vs. V6 Jaguar F-Type Drag Encounter Has Dangerously Close Result
23 Apr 2021, 07:25 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / Never mind the glitzy atmosphere on this video from the good folks over at Australia’s Motor YouTube channel. Actually, they had a rather chilling, therapy-inducing, dangerously close for comfort encounter with the end of the strip for this o...
Hispano Suiza Unique Tailormade Has 1,904 Mods to Make Carmen a Custom Supercar
22 Apr 2021, 15:34 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / With the aftermarket sector so popular these days, OEMs, especially the exotic ones, are striving to incorporate customization options into their philosophies as well. The latest example comes from Barcelona, Spain, where Hispano Suiza has recently...
Jeep Owner Gives Honest Opinion on 10 Things to Hate About the 2021 Bronco
22 Apr 2021, 15:08 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / While many 2021 Ford Bronco fans are currently gathered in the vicinity of the city of Townsend, Tennessee, for the Super Celebration East (a.k.a. Supercel) community event, the internet never sleeps. Thus, we’re presented with the inevitable...
Honda Drops More Specs, Photos of 2022 HR-V e:HEV, Is Still Too Secretive
22 Apr 2021, 14:16 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / Back in February, Honda showcased to the world its third generation HR-V subcompact crossover SUV in both European and Japanese (Vezel) flavors. According to the rumor mill, the U.S.-spec HR-V will follow the Accord way of life and get a specific f...
Nissan GT-R Gaps Yamaha FZ-09 and C6 Corvette but Little Audi A3 Proves Too Much
22 Apr 2021, 13:30 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / Usually, whenever cars and motorcycles are involved in quarter-mile skirmishes, there’s one clear favorite for the win, and it usually doesn’t have four wheels. But since we’re dealing with the sticky tarmac of a proper drag strip...
Rough 1961 Chevy Corvette Was Concealed for 56 Years, Has Non-Running Stroker V8
22 Apr 2021, 11:18 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / Although it has the proper decaying looks and photo background to qualify as a barn find, we’re going to refrain from calling this 1961 ‘Vette that because it was kept in the same family as a project car for no less than 56 years. Unfor...
Crazy Six-Door Chevy C50 6x6 Rendered for Color Choice, Will Soon Become Real
22 Apr 2021, 11:13 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / Just like we said when discussing the Next Level Jeep Gladiator 6x6, it takes a lot of work to become the star of an automotive aftermarket showcase today. Luckily, there’s an entire virtual world of ideas to choose from, and this time around...
Virtually Hovering Porsche 911 VTOL Blends Air-Cooled Vibes and Near-Future Tech
22 Apr 2021, 09:55 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / In case anyone missed the news, a flying Porsche might soon turn out as a daily reality if American aviation giant Boeing can help it. The company also provided in 2019 a digitally altered look at the possible design for the upcoming fully electric...
Stick-Shift 2021 BMW M3 Goes for Drag and Track Comparison With Cheaper E90 M3
22 Apr 2021, 09:21 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / Released side by side, the 2021 BMW M3 and M4 have often been put into perspective, one against the other. But how about a traditional old versus new comparison that aims to showcase the gap—if there’s one. Naturally, because we’r...
Stretched 1969 Triumph TR6's 488ci Pontiac Turbo Engine Loves Quarter-Mile Runs
22 Apr 2021, 08:11 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / Whenever we see a car mentioned in the same sentence with Byron Dragway, it’s understandable to expect some fiery side-by-side action on the well-known quarter-mile strip. This time around, we’re in for a solo recital, but we promise th...
Jeep Gladiator 6x6 Conversion Starts From Just $132k, Looks Totally Next Level
22 Apr 2021, 07:31 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / In a world where technology brings just about anything into the spotlight, it’s getting harder and harder to stand out in a crowd. Take the car aftermarket sector, for example, where 4x4 trucks are so yesterday, and now 6x6 is slowly becoming...
Small 2022 VW Taos Brings Low $22,995 MSRP, in U.S. Dealerships From June
21 Apr 2021, 14:43 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / In between spring thaws with Tanner Foust, the 2022 Golf R, and ID.4 or botched marketing attempts (remember the Voltswagen scare?), the German automaker also has time to prop its crossover SUV lineup with North America's smallest and most aff...
Check Out the Impressively Large Herd of 2021 Broncos at Super Celebration East
21 Apr 2021, 14:00 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / We still haven’t seen Ford kick off the first deliveries for the 2021 Bronco 2-Door and 4-Door, but at least the reinvented sixth-generation rock-crawling SUV is popping up just about everywhere. Be it the Petersen Automotive Museum or the pa...
AMG GLC 63 Drag Races Urus, Challenger, Charger, Trackhawk to Surprising Results
21 Apr 2021, 13:24 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / Mercedes-AMG heavily relies on its handcrafted 4.0-liter V8 mill for the high-performance credentials of the vast majority of its models. As far as the high-riding GLC 63 is concerned, it’s good for either 469 or 503 horsepower when opting fo...
20k-Mile 1959 Chevy Bel Air Deluxe Hides an Interesting V8 Secret Under the Hood
21 Apr 2021, 12:28 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / Although the fourth-generation Bel Air doesn’t hold a candle against the cult following of the 1955 to 1957 Tri-Five Chevrolets, it doesn’t mean the 1959 model fell out of the history books. Instead, with the brand having an all-new atm...
2022 MINI Oxford Hardtops Seek to Entice U.S. Buyers With 2018MY-Level MSRPs
21 Apr 2021, 11:06 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / BMW Group’s British brand got the mojo working for the 2022 MINI 2-Door and 4-Door Hardtops (and the Convertible) since January in the United States. Surprisingly, they came with a lot of styling and tech upgrades but also bumped the base pri...
Turbo 1967 VW Beetle Has 300 HP, Chopped and Dropped Riches Life Story
21 Apr 2021, 10:26 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / Because Shawn Davis, the host of the AutotopiaLA YouTube channel, confesses to not sitting in a Beetle for years, it was probably high time he made amends with the Bug fans. No worries, because this orange-cool example is ready to give him the...
Stanced Porsche 959 Wears CGI Rauh-Welt Widebody to Deliver Cool Supercar Vibes
21 Apr 2021, 09:31 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / With less than 350 units produced between 1986 and 1993, Group B rally car heritage, the world's fastest street-legal production car title in its pocket at the time of introduction, and herald of the AWD supercar age, it’s safe to say th...