autoevolution
 

Aurel Niculescu

9,667  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.
Supercharged Cadillac Escalade-V Drags Tuned Durango Hellcat; It's Not Even Close
Supercharged Cadillac Escalade-V Drags Tuned Durango Hellcat; It's Not Even Close

15 Aug 2023, 07:03 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / Hennessey Performance has done it (over and over) again, lining two behemoth SUVs for a quarter-mile dragstrip race that's more suitable for high-performance sports cars. Despite that, both look and feel glorious. However, only one of them sou...

 
2024 Acura Integra Type S Coupe Feels Eerie Cool in Virtual Gold and Blue Attire
2024 Acura Integra Type S Coupe Feels Eerie Cool in Virtual Gold and Blue Attire

14 Aug 2023, 21:04 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / With all the commotion around the automotive industry this August, you would think everyone is hooked on the 2024 Toyota Land Cruiser, 2024 Hyundai Santa Fe, 2025 Cadillac Escalade IQ, or Monterey Car Week 2023 narrative. But you would be wrong not...

 
Aston Martin Introduces DB12 Volante as an Ultimate 202-MPH Open-Top 'Super Tourer'
Aston Martin Introduces DB12 Volante as an Ultimate 202-MPH Open-Top 'Super Tourer'

14 Aug 2023, 13:10 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / Aston Martin Lagonda may be one of the world's smallest fully-fledged automakers, but unlike other peers, they didn't take any time off this summer. So, after this July, they rocked our V12 world with the 705-hp Valour; now it's time...

 
Bugatti Feels the Gold Rush With a Sur Mesure W16 Mistral Convertible at The Quail
Bugatti Feels the Gold Rush With a Sur Mesure W16 Mistral Convertible at The Quail

14 Aug 2023, 12:34 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / Almost a year after it was first presented, the swan song of the W16 Bugatti engine - aka the mid-engine two-seater Mistral convertible - is getting customized by the company's bespoke unit, Sur Mesure. Also called the Bugatti W16 Mistr...

 
AWD Honda Integra Type R Sleeper Drags Porsche 918 Spyder, All Hell Breaks Loose
AWD Honda Integra Type R Sleeper Drags Porsche 918 Spyder, All Hell Breaks Loose

14 Aug 2023, 11:58 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / The YouTubers from WAM Barn and Officially Gassed collided on Mat Watson's carwow section for drag races, putting to the test a couple of 'worlds-apart' cars: a Porsche 918 Spyder PHEV hypercar and a built AWD Honda Integra Type R se...

 
2024 Toyota Land Cruiser's Combined MPG May Be Equal to That of Many Subcompact CUVs!
2024 Toyota Land Cruiser's Combined MPG May Be Equal to That of Many Subcompact CUVs!

14 Aug 2023, 11:56 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / Sure, that is just a 2024 model year projected EPA-estimated mpg rating estimate, as determined by the Japanese manufacturer because the official figures are not out yet. However, it's way better than expected. In reverse chronological ...

 
2025 Toyota Tundra Refresh Unofficially Mixes Truck DNA With Land Cruiser and GX Cues
2025 Toyota Tundra Refresh Unofficially Mixes Truck DNA With Land Cruiser and GX Cues

14 Aug 2023, 09:18 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / August is really thriving, as far as the automotive industry is concerned, with the 2024 Toyota Land Cruiser, 2025 Cadillac Escalade IQ, and 2024 Hyundai Santa Fe worldwide introductions – plus all the hype surrounding the Monterey Car Week a...

 
2025 Cadillac Escalade IQ Needs Few Virtual Changes to Revive the EXT Pickup Truck
2025 Cadillac Escalade IQ Needs Few Virtual Changes to Revive the EXT Pickup Truck

14 Aug 2023, 07:56 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / This year's August has proven a worthy month for automotive adoration. It all started with the worldwide introduction of the 2024 Toyota Land Cruiser (Prado or 250 across various regions outside North America). The boxy Hyundai Santa Fe was al...

 
New Ford Econoline Van Comes From Bronco Raptor's Lifestyle, Albeit Only in Dreams
New Ford Econoline Van Comes From Bronco Raptor's Lifestyle, Albeit Only in Dreams

14 Aug 2023, 06:44 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / Ford is at a crossroads now. The Blue Oval Company wants to live the EV lifestyle casually but also doesn't like abandoning the lucrative ICE-powered business in the crossover, SUV, and truck fields. After all, they had already abandone...

 
2024 Toyota Land Cruiser Easily Morphs Into a Mall Crawler or Extreme Off-Roader
2024 Toyota Land Cruiser Easily Morphs Into a Mall Crawler or Extreme Off-Roader

13 Aug 2023, 21:04 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / Can you name a more critical automobile introduction that occurred during the last month of summer before the Monterey Car Week took over and shared many goodies through its many events? Of course, there's only one superstar – Toyo...

 
Monterey's Stars, the Cadillac Escalade IQ, and the 2024 Hyundai Santa Fe - What a Pack!
Monterey's Stars, the Cadillac Escalade IQ, and the 2024 Hyundai Santa Fe - What a Pack!

13 Aug 2023, 15:00 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / Suppose you are more the outdoorsy type and don't like classic, conference center-confined auto shows. In that case, there are basically two major automotive industry outings that could satisfy every whim and desire - England's Goodwood F...

 
Simple and Quirky Three-Door Ford Ka Goes 'Ka-Boom' During Insane F1 CGI Makeover
Simple and Quirky Three-Door Ford Ka Goes 'Ka-Boom' During Insane F1 CGI Makeover

13 Aug 2023, 01:00 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / Today, all Ford's corner-office head honchos can think of is how to sell more crossovers, SUVs, and trucks – including the EV variety. That's probably why FoMoCo's CEO Jim Farley is taking an F-150 Lightning on a 630-mile West ...

 
Porsche 911 Ideation Sketch Envisions a Smaller, Lighter Next-Gen ICE-Powered 994 Series
Porsche 911 Ideation Sketch Envisions a Smaller, Lighter Next-Gen ICE-Powered 994 Series

12 Aug 2023, 22:00 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / As always, Porsche is busy teaching the old dog 911 new tricks – like hustling the GT3 RS engine inside the 911 S/T special edition for close to $300k or preparing the GTs for a quick nip and tuck for upcoming model years. That's ...

 
An Off-Road Chevy Corvette C8 Would Cross Swords With 911 Dakar and Sterrato, Right?
An Off-Road Chevy Corvette C8 Would Cross Swords With 911 Dakar and Sterrato, Right?

12 Aug 2023, 21:04 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / Unlike the current sixth generation of the legendary Camaro pony and muscle car series, the C8 iteration of the iconic Chevy Corvette is thoroughly successful, right? The 2024 Chevrolet Camaro model year is the last one for the current iterat...

 
I Love the 326-HP Hybrid 2024 Toyota Land Cruiser, But What About Its Friends and Foes?
I Love the 326-HP Hybrid 2024 Toyota Land Cruiser, But What About Its Friends and Foes?

12 Aug 2023, 15:00 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / Toyota has potentially bombed the American off-road SUV marketplace with the spectacular J250-based, hybrid 2024 Land Cruiser - so are the GX 550 and N400 Tacoma in any danger, not just the obvious Jeep Wrangler and Ford Bronco foes? Not lon...

 
2025 Toyota Corolla Cross Pickup Truck Feels Virtually Ready for a Maverick Brawl
2025 Toyota Corolla Cross Pickup Truck Feels Virtually Ready for a Maverick Brawl

12 Aug 2023, 01:00 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / This year, Toyota took out the small and big guns to fight General Motors for sales supremacy in the US automotive market. It did not take the lead at halftime, so they are probably mounting yet another assault. The flurry of novelties from ...

 
Presumptive Mercury Grand Marquis Revival Shows the American Sedans Are Not Dead Yet
Presumptive Mercury Grand Marquis Revival Shows the American Sedans Are Not Dead Yet

11 Aug 2023, 22:00 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / The modern Dodge Charger as we know it – a four-door muscle sedan – is going the way of the dodo in favor of a return to its coupe roots with EV oomph. The Chrysler 300 is also about to retire, and the Chevrolet Malibu is General Motors...

 
2024 Lambo Urus Has a Curious Case of Virtual Tuning, Looks Ready for the Widebody Arena
2024 Lambo Urus Has a Curious Case of Virtual Tuning, Looks Ready for the Widebody Arena

11 Aug 2023, 21:04 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / Has anyone ever been surprised that the few still flourish when most people get impoverished? If you need an automotive example, just look at Lamborghini's record-breaking sales for the first half of 2023. Besting the potential economic...

 
Restomod Idea: 1969 Chevy Camaro Might Look and Sound Great With a Porsche Flat-6
Restomod Idea: 1969 Chevy Camaro Might Look and Sound Great With a Porsche Flat-6

11 Aug 2023, 20:04 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / Sadly, not just Stellantis ordained the disappearance of the ICE-powered Dodge Challenger and Charger, much to the dismay of Mopar enthusiasts. General Motors followed suit and recently turned the sixth-gen Chevy Camaro into a disappearing species....

 
2024 Land Cruiser 3-Door or Pickup Derivatives Would Make Hauling and Trailering a Breeze
2024 Land Cruiser 3-Door or Pickup Derivatives Would Make Hauling and Trailering a Breeze

11 Aug 2023, 17:04 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / This August is hotter than a far-away desert as far as the automotive field is concerned. The Monterey Car Week kicks off on August 11, and before its massive string of novelties, we already got a trio of superstar introductions. Going back ...

 

Stories by Aurel Niculescu