Author Archives: Vincent Nguyen

The Infiniti brand was formed with a singular mission: to create an automobile that one would want to take on an endless drive. Now, the automaker is facing its biggest change in its thirty-year history, a wholehearted embrace of electrification. While parent company Nissan is at the helm, the heritage of past, present, and future Infiniti vehicles can be traced directly to the Prince Motor Company, acquired by Nissan in 1966, and particularly the Prince Skyline Sport with a familiar double-arch grille and crescent cut rear window. They're styling elements that are still present in the modern-day Infiniti. What's under the hood, though, will be very different.

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Nobody was surprised that the 2020 Land Rover Defender returning the classic nameplate stateside drew praises. Realists were overjoyed by how the new Defender managed to pay homage to its original styling without ruining the boxy, go-anywhere attitude of the original. On the other hand, there are of course the purists who prefer simple mechanicals, crude yet dependable suspension and drivetrain components, and an earthquake-proof body-on-frame chassis, the latter of which is also generally responsible for a bone-shaking and teeth-chattering ride.

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Station wagons aren't meant to be cool these days, but nobody passed Audi Sport the memo. Then again, the 2020 Audi RS6 Avant is about as far away from the old family woodie as you can get: the German automaker may insist on branding its wagons "Avant" but that's only the smallest of the differences between the new RS6 Avant and the unfashionable cars of old. Audi fans in North America have long watched their European counterparts enjoying several generations of a model the automaker insisted just wouldn't sell on US shores. Now, though, Audi has relented.

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Audi is adding a new RS model to its portfolio with the 2020 RS Q8: not only the sportiest and fastest Q model, but probably the most practical as well. Here in the US, Audi’s RS models are coming in droves. Less than three months ago, the automotive world felt a seismic shift when the German carmaker announced the 2020 RS6 Avant, a fast and sporty station wagon with a turbocharged V8 motor, would be finally coming to North American shores.

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The 2020 Aston Martin DBX is a long time coming. After all, this is Aston’s first attempt at building an entirely new product, its first SUV, and it needs to be better than good. There’s a lot riding on the new DBX: the British automaker is projecting an annual production of 4,000 vehicles by 2023, with the DBX leading the way. The first concept was shown back in 2015, and even back then it was clear that Aston's entry into the luxury SUV space was shaping up to something special.

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I’ve always been a huge fan of the Audi R8, particularly the V10 model. Sure, I too mourned the demise of the V8 in the second-generation Type 4S R8, and back when the R8 first launched in 2007, it was unlike anything I’ve seen before. The Audi Rosemeyer Concept from early 2000 and Audi Le Mans Quattro concept both surged into my mind as I watched six-time 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Jacky Ickx drive the R8 for the first time. The R8 was Audi’s first-ever supercar, and boy was it revolutionary in terms of design. Whether Porsche was ready to accept it or not, it was time for the 911 to have some proper competition, and the Audi R8 was the answer.

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If you thought Rolls-Royce's SUV couldn't get any more excessive, think again: the Black Badge Cullinan has arrived with a darker, even more dramatic vision of off-road luxury. Latest in the Black Badge series, the heavily customized Cullinan not only looks different, it coaxes more power from the 6.75-liter V12 engine.

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There’s a lot riding on Volkswagen’s first-ever ID.3 electric car. As I watched the first production model ID.3 roll off the assembly line, you couldn't miss the newfound sense of pride among the 8,000 or so employees inside VW’s Zwickau factory, which was converted recently from a large car manufacturing plant into what the automaker claims is the Mecca of e-mobility.

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Numbers. When it comes to the all-new 2020 Ford Shelby GT500, it's all about the numbers. Well, numbers and obsession. By far the meanest, and fastest iteration of the sixth-generation Mustang S550, when the invite hits your inbox you're already expecting ridiculous numbers. Turns out, if exorbitant horsepower and torque at your disposal is your guiding star, the new Shelby GT500 will outshine just about everything else in the muscle car scene.

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Right off the bat, Aston Martin wanted the new Vantage to go hunting for Porsche and McLaren. I experienced this first-hand on the challenging Portimao Algarve racing circuit in Portugal, a blistering combination of blind turns, massive elevation changes, and fast straights. There, the Aston Martin Vantage felt right at home and eager for more, but there was still one thing missing.

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While digital cameras still have the advantage of power and features over even the most sophisticated smartphones, they often lose out when it comes to ubiquity. If the best tool is the one that you have with you always, then smartphones have a distinct advantage over the powerful yet heavy professional cameras. Olympus says you no longer have to choose with the new OM-D E-M5 Mark III. Combining the lineage of its predecessor and the higher-grade OM-D E-M1 Mark II, the new interchangeable lens touts advanced features from the company's high-end OM-D kits but shrunken down to a handier and more rugged size.

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If you're driving something special, you want it to look the part, and so when Audi was creating the second-generation 2020 RS7 Sportback it put in the time to differentiate not only on driving dynamics from the regular A7, but also the exterior design. Sure enough, while the new RS7 Sportback still has that svelte sloping roofline, put both cars side by side and the differences stack up. Step outside to find a Tango Red Audi RS7 Sportback waiting for you, and it's enough to give you sweaty palms.

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