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Sebastian Toma

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Personal motto:

"Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth." - Mike Tyson

Senior Contributor
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Sebastian's love for cars began at a young age. He cannot put a finger on what started it all, but it was there, and it grew day by day. Little did he know that a career would emerge from this passion (and that it would not, sadly, involve being a professional racecar driver).

It all started with him pointing at cars on the street and asking what make and model they were. Sebastian couldn't wait to be tall enough to see over their steering wheel and be allowed to drive them.

When was ready to hit the road, Sebastian was left without a potential first car after his family's '72 Mercedes-Benz was rolled by his father. While the early '70s sedan proved unexpectedly safe, Sebastian was left without a ride, so he took various jobs and saved up for an E30 BMW 3 Series. Months later, he got his dream job – writing about cars for a local website while he was getting a bachelor's degree in Journalism.

Fourteen years had passed since Sebastian started writing about cars and motorcycles, and his job took him behind the wheel of several hundred vehicles, as well as through some of the most important local publications.

Just before returning to autoevolution, he was the editor-in-chief of the country's most-read car magazine and its website. Sebastian took on the challenge and started writing for us again, so sit back and enjoy the read!
How to Sell Your Car in Five Easy Steps
How to Sell Your Car in Five Easy Steps

29 Mar 2016, 17:20 UTC · By: Sebastian Toma / Selling a car is a tricky business. Even if your ride is perfect, you can still end up getting way less than it is worth, or wait for weeks or months to sell it. There are many mistakes you can do when selling a used car, and the worst of them ...

 
BMW Is Testing a Plug-In Hybrid X1 That Looks Production Ready, Spyshots Reveal
BMW Is Testing a Plug-In Hybrid X1 That Looks Production Ready, Spyshots Reveal

29 Mar 2016, 13:51 UTC · By: Sebastian Toma / BMW engineers are testing the final prototypes of the X1 plug-in hybrid. As the photos shot by our friends at CarPix reveal, the PHEV version of the second-generation BMW X1 seems to be fitted with production-ready components, and the low level of ...

 
Swiss Company Wants to Revive the Isetta and Sell It as an EV
Swiss Company Wants to Revive the Isetta and Sell It as an EV

29 Mar 2016, 12:47 UTC · By: Sebastian Toma / Micro Mobility Systems, a Swiss company, has designed and built a modern Isetta with electric drive. It all started in 2015, when the company collaborated with ZHAW University and Designwerk to create several concepts, and they even converted an...

 
Hyundai Has Filed a Patent for Revolutionary Gullwing Door That Can Slide
Hyundai Has Filed a Patent for Revolutionary Gullwing Door That Can Slide

29 Mar 2016, 09:56 UTC · By: Sebastian Toma / An interesting patent filed last year by South Korean carmaker Hyundai for a recreational vehicle with a sliding gullwing door was published last week. As it turns out, instead of conventional sliding doors or the eccentric gullwing variety, Hy...

 
Dale Earnhardt Jr. Wants to Donate His Brain to Science After His Death
Dale Earnhardt Jr. Wants to Donate His Brain to Science After His Death

29 Mar 2016, 08:46 UTC · By: Sebastian Toma / Inspired by the decision of former players of the Oakland Raiders football team who made the choice to donate their brains for CTE research after they die, Dale Earnhardt Jr. pledges to do the same. The NASCAR star announced his decision on his ...

 
Electric Car and Plug-In Hybrid Incentives in the USA - A Quick Guide
Electric Car and Plug-In Hybrid Incentives in the USA - A Quick Guide

28 Mar 2016, 17:13 UTC · By: Sebastian Toma / Electric Vehicles and Plug-In Hybrid cars are more expensive than their equivalent conventional models, but the U.S. government and other legislatures have introduced incentives to convince more people to buy them. According to an estimate of t...

 
Land Rover Plotting Next-Generation Discovery with Extreme Off-Road Abilities
Land Rover Plotting Next-Generation Discovery with Extreme Off-Road Abilities

28 Mar 2016, 12:44 UTC · By: Sebastian Toma / Land Rover will launch the fifth generation of the Discovery later this year, but some insiders announce that other versions are under development. According to a company insider, Land Rover’s Special Vehicle Operations division is working...

 
2017 Porsche Panamera Spied While Testing at the Nurburgring
2017 Porsche Panamera Spied While Testing at the Nurburgring

28 Mar 2016, 11:36 UTC · By: Sebastian Toma / Porsche is preparing the 2017 Panamera, and the development of the vehicle has reached the Nurburgring testing phase. Not all carmakers test their cars on the Nurburgring, as there is no point for this in some models, but Porsche has to go the e...

 
Nissan Won't Make a Toyota GT86 Rival
Nissan Won't Make a Toyota GT86 Rival

28 Mar 2016, 09:35 UTC · By: Sebastian Toma / Nissan has ditched the idea of making a Toyota GT86 rival for the foreseeable future. The Japanese carmaker first generated rumors related to such a car when it unveiled the twin IDx concepts at the 2013 Tokyo Motor Show. At the time, Nissan sho...

 
BMW's X7 Will Also Have a Four-Seat Luxury Version
BMW's X7 Will Also Have a Four-Seat Luxury Version

28 Mar 2016, 08:16 UTC · By: Sebastian Toma / BMW first confirmed the X7 two years ago, when it said the new seven-seat SUV would be made in Spartanburg, USA. The company did not mention this model too much in previous years, as it focused on launching and promoting other products. However,...

 
Mazda CX-9 Might Come to Europe, Needs a Diesel First
Mazda CX-9 Might Come to Europe, Needs a Diesel First

27 Mar 2016, 13:53 UTC · By: Sebastian Toma / Mazda's biggest model, the CX-9 crossover, was originally announced as a model for the U.S. market only. However, there is a possibility of this car being offered on the Old Continent, but the company needs to fit it with a diesel engine t...

 
Gone in 60 Seconds, Florida Edition: Thieves Steal Eight Cars in One Heist
Gone in 60 Seconds, Florida Edition: Thieves Steal Eight Cars in One Heist

27 Mar 2016, 12:58 UTC · By: Sebastian Toma / Cars get stolen every day, and that is just a statistic. While some models are more prone to be stolen than others, a group of thieves managed to take several cars in one heist. Unlike other thefts, the one we are talking about in this article ...

 
Audi Q5 Falls from Fourth Floor of Parking Garage, Nobody Was Seriously Injured
Audi Q5 Falls from Fourth Floor of Parking Garage, Nobody Was Seriously Injured

26 Mar 2016, 16:25 UTC · By: Sebastian Toma / Car accidents happen every day. They are an unfortunate problem caused by the fact that humans are imperfect, and the machines and systems designed by them fail from time to time. Once in a while, a thing called a “freak accident” ha...

 
James May Says New Top Gear's Stunt at Historic Monument Was "Ill-Judged"
James May Says New Top Gear's Stunt at Historic Monument Was "Ill-Judged"

26 Mar 2016, 15:50 UTC · By: Sebastian Toma / The new Top Gear team has begun filming, and some of you already know that the stunts performed by some of them were not approved by the British authorities and public. For those who do not recall the incident that took place earlier this month,...

 
How to Share the Road with Motorcyclists
How to Share the Road with Motorcyclists

25 Mar 2016, 17:55 UTC · By: Sebastian Toma / The warm season brings new challenges for drivers, who now have to share the road with bikers. Along with the spring refreshment guide for a vehicle, drivers must also be careful on the road to avoid collisions with other types of vehicles. ...

 
Land Rover Might Make a BMW X6 and Mercedes-Benz GLE Coupe Competitor
Land Rover Might Make a BMW X6 and Mercedes-Benz GLE Coupe Competitor

25 Mar 2016, 14:31 UTC · By: Sebastian Toma / Range Rover is reportedly preparing a new model for next year. According to unnamed company insiders, the project is referred to as the Evoque Plus, or the Evoque XL. The potential new addition to the Range Rover portfolio would rival the BMW X...

 
Chevrolet SS to Live On After Holden Shuts Down, Will Get Replacement
Chevrolet SS to Live On After Holden Shuts Down, Will Get Replacement

25 Mar 2016, 12:39 UTC · By: Sebastian Toma / Chevrolet will make a successor of the SS performance sedan after Holden shuts down its manufacturing facility in Australia in 2017. Previous reports have announced that the Chevrolet SS, a car based on the Holden Commodore, will be discontinue...

 
Volkswagen Got an Extension on the Deadline for the Dieselgate Fix
Volkswagen Got an Extension on the Deadline for the Dieselgate Fix

25 Mar 2016, 10:39 UTC · By: Sebastian Toma / Volkswagen has received an extension on the deadline for the submission of the Dieselgate fix. A US judge gave the German company an extension of one month, until April 21, to present a fix for the 600,000 vehicles sold in the USA that were aff...

 
2017 Toyota Corolla 50th Anniversary Special Edition Revealed
2017 Toyota Corolla 50th Anniversary Special Edition Revealed

25 Mar 2016, 09:12 UTC · By: Sebastian Toma / Toyota’s 2017 Corolla celebrates the 50th Anniversary of its nameplate this year, and the Japanese compact car has received some improvements to make it more attractive to clients. All 2017 Toyota Corolla grades have the Toyota Safety Sens...

 
2017 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Convertible Brings Its Soft Top in New York
2017 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Convertible Brings Its Soft Top in New York

24 Mar 2016, 17:02 UTC · By: Sebastian Toma / Chevrolet presented the 2017 Camaro ZL1 Convertible, a drop-top with a supercharged 6.2-liter V8 engine. The new Camaro ZL1 Convertible features an LT4 engine which develops an estimated 640 HP (477 kW) and 868 Nm (640 lb-Ft) of torque. The mode...

 

Stories by Sebastian Toma