Author Archives: Vincent Nguyen

Autonomous driving is huge right now, and Audi is accelerating into the age of self-driving vehicles across a wide range of abilities. First off was the recent Audi AI traffic jam pilot techday, where I got to experience Level 3 autonomy in real-world traffic jams and then hop into the driver seat to experience for myself what happens during the crucial 10 second hand-off period as the tech disengages. Now, at this year’s Internationale Automobil-Ausstellung (IAA) motor show in Frankfurt, Audi is taking the wraps off its new Level 4 and 5 concept cars, Elaine and Aicon respectively, that illustrate its vision of future autonomous mobility.

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Most of the time I'll do my absolute best to avoid a traffic jam, but the 2019 Audi A8 makes them oddly appealing. Forget "Artificial Intelligence": the AI we're talking about today is Audi Intelligence. What exactly does this mean, and why should we care? We as a collective of road-users are going to need to be much more sensitive to the fact that there are cars on the road not being driven by human beings. Instead, we're increasingly going to see advanced driving assistance software taking the wheel, like the new Audi AI traffic jam pilot, the world’s first Level 3 automated driving system in a production vehicle.

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In an intimate gathering in Munich this morning, BMW’s CEO and Chairman of the board of management of BMW AG, Harald Kruger shared with journalists that “by 2025, we will offer 25 electrified vehicles." Twelve of those will be fully-electric, Kruger confirmed. By the time these new battery-electric vehicles (BEV) come to market, the automaker says, range anxiety will be a thing of the past because owners can expect to have a range of up to 700 kilometers or 435-440 miles.

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Volvo’s unexpected reinvention as one of the most thoughtful automakers in the industry has produced award-winning big SUVs and sedans. Now, it’s the turn of the premium compact SUV to get its shot of Swedish imagination. As the dad of two extremely active girls with multiple after school activities, I’m big on the idea of driving a sportier compact SUV, especially when I don’t have to sacrifice on safety and a luxurious cabin. Just because you’re buying a compact SUV, doesn’t mean that you have to settle for less, and that’s the key message Volvo wanted to share with a group of journalists at a recent event in Gothenburg, Sweden.

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Meet the all-new 2018 Nissan Leaf, the much-anticipated updated version of one of the most affordable electric cars on the market. Promising more range, more power, and more technology, the new 2018 Leaf also adds some enthusiasm to the design of Nissan's zero-emissions hatchback. And, having had the rare opportunity to cruise around Nissan's research facility in Japan behind the wheel of a prototype, here's why I think this is a tipping point for the car.

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I struggle with the new SQ5 because the Q5 is already an amazing mid-size SUV. There’s so much goodness I’d imagine one would struggle with the idea of anything better, right? The correct answer is, wrong. While the differences are subtle for what you can and cannot see, they might be just enough for the right buyer in search of a high performing vehicle that stands out from the rest of the crowd; especially when there are over 1.5-million first generation Q5 roaming the roads today. That’s where Audi’s S-badge comes in.

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Motorola’s Moto Z2 Force couldn’t have asked for a better - or tougher - test over the last week, as it became my go-to phone on back to back events. The tl:dr? It’s an evolutionary follow-up to the first-gen Moto Z Force, for better and worse. Full disclosure, I’ve always had a soft spot for the Z’s raw and rugged design when there isn’t a Moto Mod attached to the back. When I saw that it had loaded up with upgraded specs and a thinner design, I was mighty curious to see how the changes played out.

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I’m sorry, you’re called what? The Demon? The demon of what, you might also ask? It’s the torpedo of drag racers, born out an addiction to speed in a straight line, and its singular mission is to obliterate the competition on any drag strip. The specs say that the 840 HP V8 can propel this particular 4,275-pound missile from 0-60 mph in 2.3 seconds, and hammer out the quarter mile in 9.65 seconds at 140 mph. This is the world’s fastest production car, and it’s wearing an American badge.

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Supercars may be fast, but the cutting-edge of automotive technology is happening in luxury sedans like the new 2019 Audi A8. The fourth-generation of Audi's most luxurious car, the new A8 introduces Audi AI, a vision of smarter mobility including industry-first Level 3 assisted driving that, the automaker says, will eventually see all of its cars intercommunicating.

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The world’s moving towards turbochargers and Audi’s not immune to the change, and as a result, we have this new Audi-built 2.9-liter V6 twin-turbo engine. It’s at the heart of the 2018 Audi Sport RS 5 Coupe, described by Stephan Winkelmann, CEO of Audi Sport GmbH., as “the gran turismo among the RS models from Audi Sport." That means “elegant aesthetics with high everyday usability," something I got to test out in full on the roads of Andorra.

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I’ve seen countless concept or prototype cars at auto shows and press junkets over the years. Rarely does anyone ever get to drive them, because concept cars are, well, only concepts. One of kind and invariably hand-built, they’re obscenely expensive, too. Their primary purpose in life is to showcase new styling and new technology. Think of them as eye candy aimed to grab attention, from everyone and especially away from the competition.

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Bravo Honda, bravo. The 2018 Civic Type R is the company’s most powerful car ever to be sold stateside. Indeed, Honda’s people are unofficially referring to it as the fastest front-wheel drive “road legal racecar” on the road. In short, no, the “R” in the name plate isn’t just for show.

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