Author Archives: Vincent Nguyen

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you probably know Bugatti broke the mythical 300 mph - or 304.77 mph, to be exact - speed barrier in a prototype Chiron. Now that car, presented by Bugatti CEO Stephan Winkelmann at the automaker's 110th-anniversary celebration in Molshein, is called the Chiron Super Sport 300+. It reached a top speed of 304.7 mph around Volkswagen’s Ehra-Lessien proving ground, and Bugatti is only making 30 examples for a starting price of roughly $3.9 million each.

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The first-generation Audi RS7 Sportback was a marvelous car, but it had some quirks. With only seating for four inside, the promise of a high-speed luxury sedan with coupe-styling felt a little cramped. Now, Audi is changing all this and more with the second-gen 2020 Audi RS7 Sportback. Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder but I'm a big fan of the new design, and crucially it doesn’t look like a regular A7 Sportback. Indeed, the only shared elements between the base model and the RS7 are the roof, hood, front doors, and tailgate. Everything else is unique.

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Out of all the events I had the pleasure of attending at Monterey Car Week and Pebble Beach - a week filled with priceless classics, stunning hypercars, and the sort of rarities that give automotive enthusiasts palpitations - I wasn't expecting a bright green electric prototype to be the most memorable. I got a chance to take the VW ID Buggy for a spin, and it's fair to say it left a lasting impression.

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Welcome to America, 2020 Audi RS6 Avant! The unicorn with near-mythical status in the US makes its debut stateside for the first time later in 2020, the German automaker has confirmed, now in its fourth-generation and packing some serious V8 muscle along with a mild-hybrid powertrain. Frankly speaking, it’s still a mystery to me why station wagons lost their allure in the US. It must be everyone’s thirst for big, hulking land yachts or maybe the stigma of being seen in a boring, plebeian family car. I’m here to tell you first-hand that the 2020 Audi RS6 Avant is going to be anything but boring.

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Bugatti is creating quite a stir at the 2019 Concours d’Elegance. After the much-anticipated U.S debut of the Bugatti La Voiture Noire at Pebble Beach, along comes the Bugatti Centodieci. In this crazy world of high-stakes number games, nothing comes close to a Bugatti, particularly one which takes inspiration from the iconic EB110.

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Whatever the name night suggest, you can think of the new Volkswagen Atlas Cross Sport as a five-seat alternative to the Atlas. Conceived primarily for the U.S. and Canadian market, it's an example of VW's regional divisions knowing what works for their audience, and the automaker's platforms being flexible enough to drive that understanding right onto dealership forecourts. As I found from behind the wheel of an Atlas Cross Sport prototype, that flexibility comes with pros and cons.

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The Lexus brand was born of an obsession to make the best car in the world. It’s as simple as that. Toyota founder Eiji Toyoda issued the challenge back in 1983: to create a new premium sedan that would go head-to-head with the best from BMW and Mercedes-Benz. Hiding under the initial code name of Circle F - which eventually became F1 or Flagship One - Lexus began working on their first car, the LS sedan. Interestingly enough, it was around the same time fellow Japanese carmakers Honda and Nissan were also working on their respective luxury arms, Acura and Infiniti.

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The last time I laid eyes on the ThinkPad 7th-generation X1 Carbon laptop from Lenovo was at CES in early January. Exactly eight months later, a fully-spec’d out review unit landed on my doorstep. Lenovo allows the buyer to customize the X1 according to their needs and, more importantly, what their budget permits.

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There’s a reason why Chevrolet revealed the 2020 C8 Corvette Stingray during the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing. The new mid-engine Corvette is one small step for Chevy, and one giant leap for the American-built sports car industry. It sounds like I’m exaggerating - maybe even like I'm a star-struck fan - but having had the chance to get up close and personal with the 2020 Corvette I’m pretty convinced it'll create a huge tsunami in the world of high-performance cars.

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The 2020 BMW 2-Series is a sprightly little compact coupe. Available with either a powerful turbocharged four-cylinder or inline-six motor driving the front wheels, the 2-Series have always felt like a proper BMW. If there’s one thing that has been holding back the existing 2 Series from its places as the Ultimate Driving Machine of German luxury compacts, it’s the fact it only has been available with two doors. And with the Mercedes-Benz A-Class and CLA looming in the distance, BMW needed a proper compact four-door to stand a chance.

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Mercedes-AMG recently unveiled the all-new M139 2.0-liter turbocharged engine. It’s a complete redesign of the previous-gen M133 four-cylinder motor in the outgoing Mercedes-AMG A45, CLA45, and GLA45. And, with up to 415 horsepower and 369 pound-feet of torque available, the M139 earns the title of the most powerful four-cylinder engine in the world.

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The Rolls-Royce brand is known for many things. It can either be the magic carpet ride, or the immensely powerful engines for both motorcars and the aviation industry. Most of all, though, Rolls-Royce motorcars are known for their excellence in bespoke manufacturing. Nothing embodies this more than the new Wraith Eagle VIII.

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