autoevolution
 

Aurel Niculescu

9,663  ARTICLES

Staff Writer
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Once upon a time there was a little boy that didn't know his age but dreamed of reaching high in the sky alongside the absolute best aviators. He was passionate about reading books (action and Sci-Fi), grew up with many great authors and soon discovered the mirage of cinema.

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.
Fifth-Gen 2025 Lincoln Navigator Black Label Is Just a Subtle Facelift in the CGI World
Fifth-Gen 2025 Lincoln Navigator Black Label Is Just a Subtle Facelift in the CGI World

14 Oct 2023, 22:00 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / Currently, Cadillac is far ahead of Ford Motor Company's Lincoln division as far as the hotly contested full-size luxury SUV battle is concerned, which is kind of odd when you think about it for a second. When getting the facts straight...

 
Imaginatively Redesigned Toyota Fortuner Works Even Better as a 4Runner Proposal
Imaginatively Redesigned Toyota Fortuner Works Even Better as a 4Runner Proposal

14 Oct 2023, 21:04 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / The Japanese automaker is about to get busy with lots of cool off-road-focused SUVs for the North American market – but about its international endeavors? Toyota is aiming to recapture the sales lead from General Motors, and since the b...

 
Who's Little, Not So Cute, and Afraid of the Tesla Boogeyman? Why, It's the BMW iX2!
Who's Little, Not So Cute, and Afraid of the Tesla Boogeyman? Why, It's the BMW iX2!

14 Oct 2023, 15:00 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / Another week, another formerly attractive BMW model was officially revealed as a next-generation or LCI (Life Cycle Impulse – or, as everyone else calls it, a facelift). However, I can't help but rant about it. Excuse me for calli...

 
Volkswagen Dune Concept Brings Forth a Wacky Proposal: Revive the Beetle as a CUV
Volkswagen Dune Concept Brings Forth a Wacky Proposal: Revive the Beetle as a CUV

14 Oct 2023, 01:00 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / Ever since Volkswagen duped the public with the infamous Dieselgate shenanigans, the American public has slowly and steadily lost faith in the German automaker. Its local online portal is a statement of two things – VW currently caters...

 
Chevy G20 Comes Back to Traverse Life Undaunted by the Fact It's a Figment of Imagination
Chevy G20 Comes Back to Traverse Life Undaunted by the Fact It's a Figment of Imagination

13 Oct 2023, 22:00 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / Chevrolet is one of the few American automakers that still offers a semblance of a passenger car lineup consisting of the dirt-cheap $25k Malibu four-door sedan, $31k Camaro pony car, and a trio of C8 Corvette versions - $66,300 Stingray, $108k Z06...

 
Toyota Corolla Cross Pickup Truck: Want It Rugged Like Maverick or Stylish as Santa Cruz?
Toyota Corolla Cross Pickup Truck: Want It Rugged Like Maverick or Stylish as Santa Cruz?

13 Oct 2023, 21:04 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / The Japanese automaker is struggling to regain the top dog position in the US automotive market from General Motors, and so far, with all its best efforts, it has been futile. That's even as they are the only ones selling more than one ...

 
All-Black BMW XM Label Red Makes a Good Case for Digitally Murdering Out All Super-SUVs
All-Black BMW XM Label Red Makes a Good Case for Digitally Murdering Out All Super-SUVs

13 Oct 2023, 20:04 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / I think it has been a while since I last talked about the phenomenon of ultra-luxury CUVs and super-SUVs that was initiated by the Bentley Bentayga and taken to new and exquisite heights by the likes of Lambo's Urus or the Rolls-Royce Cullinan...

 
Subaru Launches BRZ Touge Special Edition, You're Lucky* It's a Forbidden Fruit
Subaru Launches BRZ Touge Special Edition, You're Lucky* It's a Forbidden Fruit

13 Oct 2023, 09:48 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / Now, here's the (*) disclaimer: Subaru Italy prepared this limited series of 60 units, and it costs an arm and a leg compared to the regular US versions. Over in America, the 2023 Subaru BRZ starts at just $28,595 without the destinatio...

 
Subaru Baja & BRAT Virtually Try to Beat Toyota's Compact Truck to the Maverick Line
Subaru Baja & BRAT Virtually Try to Beat Toyota's Compact Truck to the Maverick Line

13 Oct 2023, 09:04 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / Lovingly nicknamed 'Subie' by ardent fans, the Japanese automaker has never been a company to stand out in too many crowds. Today, it maintains an even lower profile, but customers still appreciate its quirky design, the boxer mills, as w...

 
2024 Ford Mustang GT Drags Lexus IS F and BMW X4 M Competition, V8 Obliteration Ensues
2024 Ford Mustang GT Drags Lexus IS F and BMW X4 M Competition, V8 Obliteration Ensues

13 Oct 2023, 07:35 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / With the Dodge Challenger and Charger plus the Chevy Camaro bowing out soon, the seventh-generation 2024 Ford Mustang (S650) is set to remain the sole representative of the ICE-powered pony/muscle car realm. So, do you think it will shy away from d...

 
All-Electric 2025 Ford Ranger Lightning Wants to Give the Mid-Size Series a CGI Jolt
All-Electric 2025 Ford Ranger Lightning Wants to Give the Mid-Size Series a CGI Jolt

13 Oct 2023, 06:58 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / If we look at the sales reports for the American mid-size pickup truck sector, we will quickly see there are no reasons to rejoice for Blue Oval's corner-office head honchos. While we wait for the N400 Toyota Tacoma production to commen...

 
2025 Tesla Model 3 Highland Wagon Gets Revealed in Fantasy Land, Would You Buy It?
2025 Tesla Model 3 Highland Wagon Gets Revealed in Fantasy Land, Would You Buy It?

13 Oct 2023, 06:15 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / Tesla – the Austin, Texas-based American clean energy and automotive company – is everyone's darling these days, including the imaginative realm of digital car content creators. The newly delivered Lucid Air Sapphire was at a...

 
Refreshed 2025 Toyota Highlander Gets Unofficially Revealed in Two Different Styles
Refreshed 2025 Toyota Highlander Gets Unofficially Revealed in Two Different Styles

12 Oct 2023, 20:56 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / After a barrage of all-new models, the Japanese automaker is currently busy planting the seeds for the 2024 model year growth spurt. Others, meanwhile, are thinking even further ahead into 2025MY. Toyota is actively trying to snatch the sale...

 
Toyota Crown Sedan Details Released, 'Traditional' 4-Door Arrives This Fall as HEV or FCEV
Toyota Crown Sedan Details Released, 'Traditional' 4-Door Arrives This Fall as HEV or FCEV

12 Oct 2023, 11:54 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / The Japanese automaker was quite fashionable about its next installment in the new Crown saga, mixing the four-door sedan with Takanori Nakamura, a gourmet food columnist, TV star, and luxury book author. Toyota is experiencing a true resurg...

 
Silver Range Rover Lowered on 24s Is Not a Surfer, Still Looks Like a Marvelous SUV
Silver Range Rover Lowered on 24s Is Not a Surfer, Still Looks Like a Marvelous SUV

12 Oct 2023, 11:10 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / The fifth generation of the iconic Land Rover Range Rover was introduced to the public in late 2021 and then went mainstream in 2022. Initially, it was met with fierce criticism regarding its subtle design overhaul, but now it's one of the mos...

 
Lucid Air Sapphire Drags Lucid Air Sapphire, Allegedly Runs an 8.94s Quarter-Mile
Lucid Air Sapphire Drags Lucid Air Sapphire, Allegedly Runs an 8.94s Quarter-Mile

12 Oct 2023, 09:50 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / Brooks Weisblat, the renowned videographer behind the "DragTimes" channel on YouTube, believes Jason Cammisa may have recorded a new EV record while at Sonoma Raceway for the start of deliveries of the mind-bending 1,234-hp Lucid Air Sapp...

 
Digitally Redesigned 2025 Jeep Renegade Toughens Up to Make the Wrangler Prouder
Digitally Redesigned 2025 Jeep Renegade Toughens Up to Make the Wrangler Prouder

12 Oct 2023, 08:34 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / If you look closely at what is going on with Stellantis' American brands, you might have noticed quite the uproar going on this time with Chrysler, Dodge, Ram, or Jeep. Chrysler, which is a brand that's slowly dying away in the Uni...

 
Kia Debuts All-New EV5 Electric SUV With a Maximum 302 HP, Possible $50,000 MSRP
Kia Debuts All-New EV5 Electric SUV With a Maximum 302 HP, Possible $50,000 MSRP

12 Oct 2023, 07:44 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / The first annual Kia EV Day takes place on October 12, 2023, and the South Korean company has announced the acceleration of their EV revolution with an expanded focus on enlarging their E-GMP-based EVx series plus a growth of the charging infrastru...

 
Unibody Jeep Grand Cherokee Pickup Truck Doesn't Make Sense, But It's Still Quite Awesome
Unibody Jeep Grand Cherokee Pickup Truck Doesn't Make Sense, But It's Still Quite Awesome

12 Oct 2023, 07:07 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / Frankly, I think that we don't get to spend nearly enough time discussing one of Stellantis' most prized brands. That would be Jeep, of course, the one-and-only legend of off-road adventure vehicles. The brand just got a shakeup at...

 
2024 BMW X2 Goes Oh-So-Fast Through the Tuning Process, Comes Out Virtually Cooler
2024 BMW X2 Goes Oh-So-Fast Through the Tuning Process, Comes Out Virtually Cooler

12 Oct 2023, 06:35 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / One of this week's highlights from the automotive industry, the 2024 BMW X2 subcompact luxury crossover SUV, will most likely stand out in any crowd when it goes on sale in early 2024 across North America. BMW has us accustomed to a lo...

 

Stories by Aurel Niculescu