Car Commercials, the good, the bad, and the annoying!

Mr_Shiftright

I had a Tercel AWD wagon. Nice, versatile car but pretty tinny/plasticky car. If you have dreams of off-roading, you might hold off on that. You have to take any TV commercial showing a car doing all that outdoorsy stuff with a grain of salt. It's harder than it looks.

fintail

This is about as much off road as one would want to do, I think:



These were once everywhere around here, and I still see one now and then.

Mr_Shiftright

They had a lot of driveline "lash", like old Fiats. You let off the gas and you do the samba for the next 100 feet.

stever

I didn't know you had one of those Shifty. My 4 door Tercel sedan 5 speed was quite "sporty".

Mr_Shiftright

I've had about one of everything I think.

roadburner

I see Kia has launched their version of the "We build cars for inattentive idiotic drivers" campaign. Meanwhile, Subaru's new tagline is apparently "The car for teenagers who run into things. A lot."

fintail

I think MB got that ball rolling a few years ago with "our cars can save you from your own ineptitude" themed ads.

I've seen the dopey Toyota Monte Carlo GP themed ad again lately, twice. Will a single Camry sell from it? And of course the spot with the adventurous RAV4, stylish Prius, fun Corolla, bold Camry, etc.

kyfdx

The RAV4 commercials are at least amusing.

andres3

fintail said:

I kind of snickered at that ad, who drops a load of concrete blocks from that height into an unlined pickup bed? What's next, a MB ad showing the S can tow an Airstream better than the 7er? It'll be interesting to see how Ford counters. Chevy car ads are still pretty awful, this isn't much different.

Most trucks I see will never have more than a case of pop thrown in the back.

I'd like to see all the still alive former and current CEO's of Ford get into an F150 and all the former and current CEO's of GM get into a Silverado and go at each other head on and collide at 25 MPH each for a healthy 50 MPH collision.

Now that I would buy tickets to watch.

Would be curious to see which fares better.

ab348

My current un-favorite commercial is for the Kia Sorrento. It is set up like an early '80s football video game with beeps and boops and crude graphics. A touchdown is scored and the player with the football exits the stadium. Cut then to an actor I guess I should recognize but don't in football gear getting onto a Sorrento and driving it back into the video game stadium and scoring another touchdown on the game screen. The tagline is "Sorrento: The MVP of SUVs". Pretty bad.

Michaell

ab348 said:

My current un-favorite commercial is for the Kia Sorrento. It is set up like an early '80s football video game with beeps and boops and crude graphics. A touchdown is scored and the player with the football exits the stadium. Cut then to an actor I guess I should recognize but don't in football gear getting onto a Sorrento and driving it back into the video game stadium and scoring another touchdown on the game screen. The tagline is "Sorrento: The MVP of SUVs". Pretty bad.

That's not an actor - that's Bo Jackson, a two sport star from the late 1980s.

Remember the "Bo Knows" commercials from Nike?

berri

When I watch ads I think of two garage band songs from my youth - "Lies" and "Liar, Liar"

Michaell

berri said:

When I watch ads I think of two garage band songs from my youth - "Lies" and "Liar, Liar"

"Lies" is from the Thompson Twins, a new wave / pop group from the UK. Not the Seattle garage band you may be thinking of.

Though, I do understand the sentiment behind the thought.

ab348

Michaell said:

ab348 said:

My current un-favorite commercial is for the Kia Sorrento. It is set up like an early '80s football video game with beeps and boops and crude graphics. A touchdown is scored and the player with the football exits the stadium. Cut then to an actor I guess I should recognize but don't in football gear getting onto a Sorrento and driving it back into the video game stadium and scoring another touchdown on the game screen. The tagline is "Sorrento: The MVP of SUVs". Pretty bad.

That's not an actor - that's Bo Jackson, a two sport star from the late 1980s.

Remember the "Bo Knows" commercials from Nike?

Wow, I guess I look a lot older than I did 25 years ago too.

berri

Were the Knickerbockers a Seattle band? Remember, I've got a few on you. The garage band songs I'm talking about were from the mid 60's. I think the Thompson Twins were the 80's?

Michaell

berri said:

Were the Knickerbockers a Seattle band? Remember, I've got a few on you. The garage band songs I'm talking about were from the mid 60's. I think the Thompson Twins were the 80's?

Yes, 80's.

Presumptuous of me to think there was only the one song with that title.

Everything old is new again.

berri

...and they are stealing my music Actually, when I listen to 80's music it is probably something like Journey or the Seattle group Heart. Although I think they are actually from Bellevue or something like that. Good Interstate cruising stuff. Now if you want to take a trip to the 60's Psychedelic scene, many say it started in the Haight Asbury section of San Francisco (which I believe is near where your new employer is at). Although personally, I think it spun out of garage bands initially. Might be hard for you youngin's to guess that Starship of "Jane" fame got their start as the often (but not always) San Francisco psychedelic band Jefferson Airplane! Hope that new gig is going well for you (just don't tell me you're cruisin' around in paisley ). btw, many British Invasion and American bands from the mid 60's ripped off 50's and early 60's tunes - but I looked the other way.

Michaell

berri said:

...and they are stealing my music Actually, when I listen to 80's music it is probably something like Journey or the Seattle group Heart. Although I think they are actually from Bellevue or something like that. Good Interstate cruising stuff. Now if you want to take a trip to the 60's Psychedelic scene, many say it started in the Haight Asbury section of San Francisco (which I believe is near where your new employer is at). Although personally, I think it spun out of garage bands initially. Might be hard for you youngin's to guess that Starship of "Jane" fame got their start as the often (but not always) San Francisco psychedelic band Jefferson Airplane! Hope that new gig is going well for you (just don't tell me you're cruisin' around in paisley ). btw, many British Invasion and American bands from the mid 60's ripped off 50's and early 60's tunes - but I looked the other way.

Though I'm younger, I was, and still am, a big Beatles fan.

Yes, I know the connection between Airplane and Starship.

Having matured in the 80's, my musical tastes are fixed there. Was rock, but now more New Wave and a little bit of punk.

fintail

Saw an ad for the "exhilarating" Prius this morning - I think Toyota is just trolling us now.

berri

Don't forget those "racing" Camry's ! hahaha

andres3

Well, has anyone put up Toyota lap times in the car rags lately? The Camry V6 has been top in class (or close to it) for a long time now. Maybe the SE model is putting up some decent times?? Not saying that makes it fun, but I find Toyota's to be very competent (and soft).

As to the Prius, it does have a "POWER" mode, but most Prius buyers leave it in ECO. Not sure if there is a middle-ground "normal" drive setting. Anyone seen a Prius with after-market coilovers and racing wheels?

Michaell

andres3 said:

Well, has anyone put up Toyota lap times in the car rags lately? The Camry V6 has been top in class (or close to it) for a long time now. Maybe the SE model is putting up some decent times?? Not saying that makes it fun, but I find Toyota's to be very competent (and soft).

As to the Prius, it does have a "POWER" mode, but most Prius buyers leave it in ECO. Not sure if there is a middle-ground "normal" drive setting. Anyone seen a Prius with after-market coilovers and racing wheels?

If I'm not mistaken, there was an episode of "Car Matchmaker" where a "murdered out" Prius was one of the options provided. Not sure if it included any suspension mods, however.

PF_Flyer

The current Chevy Silverado commercials kinda annoy me. Say, let's drop a load of concrete blocks into an aluminum bed truck and a steel bed truck. The aluminum dented??? WOW, who saw that coming?

Same for the one where they lift the award winning vehicles up out of the ground and one of the female consumer/actors says, Oh they're going UP...

Fortunately I keep Gorilla tape handy to prevent my head from exploding...heh

jpp75

PF_Flyer said:

The current Chevy Silverado commercials kinda annoy me. Say, let's drop a load of concrete blocks into an aluminum bed truck and a steel bed truck. The aluminum dented??? WOW, who saw that coming?

Same for the one where they lift the award winning vehicles up out of the ground and one of the female consumer/actors says, Oh they're going UP...

Fortunately I keep Gorilla tape handy to prevent my head from exploding...heh

+1

kyfdx

Yeah.. I was over those commercials a long time ago.

sda

berri said:

Don't forget those "racing" Camry's ! hahaha

The two brothers racing in Monaco or somewhere like that? So ridiculous it is cringe worthy.

roadburner

sda said:

The two brothers racing in Monaco or somewhere like that? So ridiculous it is cringe worthy.

Not only is the ad ludicrous, but the two brothers look like geeks who would have spent their high school days being pantsed and given swirlies.

berri

So they're racing hybrids to boot

fintail

GM and Toyota aren't just in a sales war, they are in a dumb commercials war. GM "real people" vs "exciting" Toyotas.

ab348

berri said:

So they're racing hybrids to boot

Well, the current generation races drones and has vaping competitions, so that almost seems understandable by comparison.

imidazol97

ab348 said:

...has vaping competitions, so that almost seems understandable by comparison.

Had to look that up! Learn something every day.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9oIo_nKOGlQ

tmart

PF_Flyer said:

The current Chevy Silverado commercials kinda annoy me. Say, let's drop a load of concrete blocks into an aluminum bed truck and a steel bed truck. The aluminum dented??? WOW, who saw that coming?

Same for the one where they lift the award winning vehicles up out of the ground and one of the female consumer/actors says, Oh they're going UP...

Fortunately I keep Gorilla tape handy to prevent my head from exploding...heh

I feel the same way with the current commercial pushing the tool box on to the Ford bed and a closeup showing the hole with their comments, BUT when repeated on the Chevy no closeup at all or even a shot of where it hit!

ab348

tmart said:

PF_Flyer said:

The current Chevy Silverado commercials kinda annoy me. Say, let's drop a load of concrete blocks into an aluminum bed truck and a steel bed truck. The aluminum dented??? WOW, who saw that coming?

Same for the one where they lift the award winning vehicles up out of the ground and one of the female consumer/actors says, Oh they're going UP...

Fortunately I keep Gorilla tape handy to prevent my head from exploding...heh

I feel the same way with the current commercial pushing the tool box on to the Ford bed and a closeup showing the hole with their comments, BUT when repeated on the Chevy no closeup at all or even a shot of where it hit!

There's a longer version where they show the Chevy bed marked and marred and a little dented, but not punctured.

berri

I was behind a guy in a pick up tuck the other day and I saw this huge plume of smoke. Thought he was blowing a head gasket. As I passed him, I realized he was vaping. You could send smoke signals with that stuff

fintail

Today I learned the Corolla is "stylish" and "fun to drive". The nannies cracked down on VW for supposed false advertising, why not this?

stever

Eye/seat of the beholder, not their lungs....

And do you mean to tell me that there are other commercials besides political ones airing right now?

stickguy

political ads. Just get the election over with so they go away.

even worse, I live near Philly, but over in NJ. For some reason, our cable system still shows all the PA political ads. So I am intimately familiar with the 2 people running for senate from PA, but have no clue who is running for anything I can vote for! President excluded of course.

fintail

If lungs mattered, commercial vehicles wouldn't be held to different standards. Nice try though.

No point airing presidential ads in my area.

stever

Puffing vs. inhaling.

stickguy

I am getting a ton of Presmo ads this year. Not because of Jersey where I live (that is hardcoded in I think) but because PA is really in play this year, and those are the ads flooding me!

Michaell

stickguy said:

I am getting a ton of Presmo ads this year. Not because of Jersey where I live (that is hardcoded in I think) but because PA is really in play this year, and those are the ads flooding me!

Same here in Colorado.

stever

Read the Denver Post this morning after seeing a blurb about ads getting pulled in CO. Funny how the paper has divided their sections - main, business, sports, cannabis....

The article that caught my eye was about "green" pot growers sucking up all the power on the grid or running diesel generators 24/7 to avoid being on the grid.

Interesting times.

fintail

I'm not aware what a Presmo ad is, don't have those here.

If pot growers are sucking up the grid, imagine what would happen if the vehicle fleet was EV. Especially in areas where juice is expensive.

Mr_Shiftright

When people talk about living in a city completely filled with EVs, I caution them to be careful what they wish for.

stever

I think a lot of people are tired of living in cities completely filled with cars,

stickguy

If you want to go EV, better go solar on your house first to make up for it.

There is apparently some new technology coming that is IIRC transparent solar panels of some kind? Or a film you put on windows. in any case, I think you can basically cover a skyscraper with them and really get some serious SF action.

fintail

A world full of EVs won't free cities from cars.

A lot of people are tired of living in cities with failed transit and infrastructure systems. Unless you live in NYC, Chicago, SF and a few others, or unless you have a sweet public sector job where you can dawdle in and dawdle out when you want, you're going to want a car. Constant dodging of the impacts of EVs won't change it. We all know the issues created by internal combustion vehicles, those don't cancel out the issues created by the alternatives.

And of course, those leading the anti-car brigade are the ones who want a bus or autonomous shared pod and a 400 sq ft shoebox for everyone else, but sure as heck won't give up their own private car and detached house.

Mr_Shiftright

NYCs mass transit is amazing but it is completely antiquated.

I haven't seen any EV commercials. I would presume they'd show the cars in an urban environment.

berri

Mass transit may be an area were Chicago actually tops New York

fintail

Yay, Chevy has a new emoji themed ad, this one for a Cruze. The "real people - not actors" thing is awesome.