Aurel Niculescu
9,653 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.
Winter Is Coming, Time for Fun at AMG's Driving Academy
22 Sep 2020, 14:07 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / Some say that Lapland is home to some elves and a big, jolly, old guy dressed up in red... But we are actually more interested in the Swedish Lapland region that could prove equally alluring to performance car aficionados this coming holiday season...
Opel's Reinvention Model, the Mokka, Is a Smidge Below 20k Euros in Europe
22 Sep 2020, 12:58 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / Under the PSA Group banners (soon to be called Stellantis), Opel is trying to get back on track and has decided to aim for the sweet spot when pricing its all-new Mokka subcompact crossover. Going below certain thresholds always helps, so no wonder...
Even Danish Supercar Makers Trust the British With Paint-Protecting Their Assets
22 Sep 2020, 12:04 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / Probably because Zenvo itself comes from a place of many islands, the Danish supercar maker decided it can only trust the British specialists at Topaz Detailing with the important job of paint protecting one of their most prized assets, the TSR-S h...
Lotus Evija Development Prototype Hits the Track, Handling Looks Impressive
22 Sep 2020, 11:24 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / It’s been quite a while since we last heard anything new about the progress Lotus made with the Evija electric hypercar, so eager performance car fans should be pleased to know everything is going well. And to demonstrate that – along w...
Still Unofficial, the 2021 VW ID.4 Gets Three Years of Free Charging in the U.S.
22 Sep 2020, 11:09 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / The German automaker has already started its ID. electric revolution in certain parts of the world, but U.S. fans still need to hold on for a little while (we hope the reveal comes sooner, rather than later). The Chattanooga factory is just about r...
C8 Corvette YouTuber Gets Out on the Track With Shelby GT500 and Famous Racer
22 Sep 2020, 09:41 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / With Dodge firmly setting its sights on the drag strip, Ford and Chevrolet are left holding the American banner when it comes to preparing sports cars for racing circuits. And both have a firm cult following, but also some cross-shopping enthusiast...
Lucid Teases the Air Possibly Doing the Quarter Mile in 9:62s
22 Sep 2020, 08:32 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / Remember how the past decade was dominated in terms of performance by the holy trinity of hybrid supercars, namely the LaFerrari, McLaren P1, and Porsche 918?! Well, we’re still early on with the current decade, but we can already take hints ...
1966 Porsche 912 Is Almost Unused at 55k Miles, Has Low $37,500 Price
22 Sep 2020, 07:42 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / The Porsche 911 series story kicks off back in 1963, and during those days the Neunelfer was not the established household name that we have come to know in the modern age. It was just a rear-engine, air-cooled, German sports car trying to carve a ...
2021 Nissan Maxima 40th Anniversary Edition Has Snazzy Looks and Exclusive Perks
22 Sep 2020, 06:54 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / Just a few years ago everything was still in working order for the ubiquitous sedan category. This allowed carmakers to basically not care at all about this body type other than regularly updating the dull looks with more boring styling, and casual...
2021 Chevrolet Silverado Updates Explained, There's More Besides New Tailgate
21 Sep 2020, 15:28 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / Chevrolet has decided to focus on the back of its top-selling truck for the 2021 model year revisions, but the Silverado’s most important addition – the Multi-Flex Tailgate – is joined by a host of other tech improvements, includi...
Michael Fassbender's Porsche Cup Outing Was a Workout for Le Mans Big League
21 Sep 2020, 15:02 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / Michael Fassbender is an accomplished individual. He is an Irish-German actor enjoying a steady stream of successes at Hollywood, and his personal life is also the stuff of dreams. Married to Swedish actress Alicia Vikander (of "Ex Machina,&qu...
U.S. Fans Can Explore Timeless McLaren Elva Virtually, Just 149 Are Now Planned
21 Sep 2020, 14:00 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / This year has been troubled to say the least – with the auto industry's reaction to the ongoing health and economic crisis a clear indicator of the way going forward. Automakers have scrambled to reshape strategies and as such we have se...
1966 Ford Mustang Faces Off 2017 Porsche 911 Turbo S, Result Is Surprising
21 Sep 2020, 13:15 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / Looking for a fun, mismatched mechanical mayhem track day, MotorTrend’s “Put Up or Shut Up” YouTube series pitted a very old Ford Mustang against an almost brand-new Porsche 911. Don’t jump to conclusions thinking the former...
Touring Superleggera AERO 3 Wows With Retro-Styling and Contemporary Power
21 Sep 2020, 11:55 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / The 15th Annual Salon Privé Concours d’Elégance, scheduled from September 23rd through 26th, will attempt to stand in for a major automotive show with an all-star cast ensemble that will also include significant new model introd...
Find Out What Makes the Electric Rimac C_Two Tick Just Before Production Debut
21 Sep 2020, 11:17 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / A startup electric supercar maker and an established vehicle component partner for the biggest automotive OEMs out there, the little Croatian company Rimac Automobili is making the headlines once more. This time around we are not intorumors surroun...
Possible 2022 C8 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 Sighted With Centered Quadruple Exhaust
21 Sep 2020, 09:47 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / Chevrolet has managed to reinvent the popular Corvette for the C8 generation with its decision to switch to a mid-engine architecture. And people are so far loving the new Stingray, though some crave for even more than its Z51-enabled 495 horsepowe...
1979 Porsche 911 SC Targa Is a Well-Preserved Living Piece of Motoring History
21 Sep 2020, 09:04 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / Have you ever imagined what life would be for a car aficionado without the eternal rear-engine, rear-wheel drive German sports car from Stuttgart? Well, it would certainly be way different, considering this 911 SC-series was envisioned at one point...
Don't Try This With the Boss: Kia K5 Does Flying 360-Degrees Flat Spin
21 Sep 2020, 08:29 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / Automakers know very well that catching the attention of consumers is really hard these days. People now have a hard time focusing on anything that’s longer than a Tik Tok video, so the stakes are higher than ever before. Somehow, Kia has man...
Porsche 911 Turbo S Cabrio Loses Twice to Ferrari F8 Tributo, Crowd Is Furious
21 Sep 2020, 07:17 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / While both the Porsche 911 Turbo S (irrespective of generation) and the exquisite Ferrari F8 Tributo are track-ready machines that feel best when driven hard on a complex track, there are those who delight themselves with simpler things. Such as a ...
Have a Rock-Crawling Splash on Just Three Wheels With a Special Ural Weekender
19 Sep 2020, 08:50 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / Sport utility vehicles are overrated. They are glorified cars with a bit more ground clearance, only sometimes available all-wheel drive, and a raised cost of acquisition and ownership. This is how you need to think to justify throwing away enough ...