I am ambivalent about the VW ads, but cannot resist pointing out that, and I think others will back me up on this, "yuppie" and "gen-x" are mutually exclusive terms.... ;-)
Has anybody else seen the VW Jetta ad where the guy is reading the manual and then runs and grabs his wife or girlfriend(or maybe someone he found drunk at a club lastnight) pulls her out of the house, unlocks the door just to show her that all the windows roll down.
I was so dissapointed with that commercial I now have a new found disgust for Jetta. As if all the windows rolling down when you unlock the door is a good thing what if it's windy outside then you gotta waste your time and roll em all up again.
I was hoping for something cool like maybe the car greets you or something or the radio turns on to your favorite station or the seats adjust them selves to the way you like it.
Really stupid! And people think Infiniti bragging about a rear sunshade is stupid. If I was that girl wouldn't let him back in.
I have been attempting to give VW the benefit of the doubt and hoping that the auto-window-roll-down feature only happens when you specifically choose it (like holding the key in the turned position for a couple seconds such as unlocks all the doors in the Odyssey -- turning the key for less time only unlocks the driver's door). VW diehards?
"I was hoping for something cool like maybe the car greets you or something or the radio turns on to your favorite station or the seats adjust them selves to the way you like it."
The Bonneville does the last two for you!
Personally, I view those types of commercials as highlighting mediocre (sunshade, window rolldown, full-size spare) features that makes no real difference about the car. Soon you'll see an ad about hoods that not only open upwards, but stay open on their own!
I have noticed something about Toyota year end clearance commercials. For 1999 clearance, they showed 2000 Camry, and for 2000 clearance, they show 2001 Corolla.
Just kidding but it's a very sporty sedan though I kind of like it's aggressive stance. I gotta a liking for cars that do what they do very well. If sporty it looks really sporty, if it's rugged it's rugged as can be.
This is a cool topic, and everyone's entitled to their own interpretation and review of car commercials. BUT, as a guy who's worked in advertising, let me give you a few basics about the industry.
All ads, cars especially, are targeted to specific audiences. The VW ad with the "window freak" is most likely targeted at the yuppie technowizard who has digital surround sound in his living room and a Sony Playstation. I'm being a little presumtuous, but you get the picture. Most of VW's ads fit this profile because this is where they're having the most success! It's called fishing where the fish are. This is usually a reliable way to continue and increase a strong consumer segment for your product. Generating new consumer base is another thing.
Remember the tag line, "This is not your father's Oldmobile?" That campaign tried to create an entirely new universe of consumers who would never think of buying an Olds. It was a miserable failure because the public saw through it: "If you have to TELL me this isn't my father's Oldsmobile, then I know damn well it IS STILL my father's Oldsmobile - no sale!"
As stupid as you may think VW ads are, bottom line is that they are selling a hell of a lot of cars. I personally identify with a lot of the VW ads (and yes, I bought one). The guy who crashes the shopping cart; the guy who parks at the back of a huge lot away from any other car, even the guy who washes some stranger's Passat in his driveway then runs away. All these ads point to the fact that VW owners are a little different - they identify with their cars. VW's aren't mere conveyances like Corrolas and Accords, they're...well, like family pets!
The problem with most critics is that they think too literally. No, it's not realistic that you can park right next to a grocery store, or play polo with your Pathfinder. Who cares!! The point of the message is in the absurd.
Back to the geek with the window thing. If you get out of your VW and forget to roll up the windows or something, you don't have to get back in, turn the key, etc... You can lock/unlock the doors, open/close the windows and moonroof from outside with your key in the door - I think that's awesome! So the point of these ads is that VW owner's are freaky over their cars to the point of obsession. Wouldn't you want to drive something that makes you feel that way? Maybe not, but there are many who do. For some, a reliable, uninspiring, same-as-yours Toyota or Honda is the right ticket. But for me, and many others, I want to have fun when I drive, to be inspired, to operate all the cool doo-dads that Germans love to overengineer... The Accord I owned did none of that - my Jetta does, everyday!
So, advertising has nothing to do with JD Power, Consumer Reports, whatever. It's all about getting people to check out your product so you can turn a profit!
Where the same guy who kidnapped his boss is now acting as a translator between two groups of terrorists (or are they Italian and Russian mafia)... When terrorist #1 (seated in this guy's car) demands $10 million from terrorist #2, he ups it in the translation to $20 million and asks that $10 million be putin a Swiss bank account in terrorist #1's name, and that they create a second account for our hero in his own name.
Has nothing to do with the car of course, but has the same irreverence as the old Joe Isuzu ads.
If GM was serious about bringing people my age into Oldsmobile dealerships, they would rename the brand entirely ... for cryin' out loud, the word "old" is in there!
But it's named after the guy who created the company in 1897, Ransom Eli Olds. Changing the name would just destroy it's 100+ years of car building history.
OK, after reading your detailed analysis, I scientifically studied the VW "automatic window" ad last evening both times that it came on. Taken in its entirety (including the opening shot of the "dude" sitting in the car reading the manual and his best Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure "Whoa!" response to finding the bit about the auto rolling down of the windows) I can see the techno-zealot appeal clearly. Thank you for the insight. If I ever go to graduate school and decide to study Marketing (in the event that hell ever becomes seriously endangered by glacial encroachment), then I may well write my thesis on this phenomenum. Heck, I'm obviously in possession of enough of the requisite anal retentiveness.... Dude! ;-)
I was a history major! Totally useless, but my forray into advertising has been interesting. I guess after seeing all those ad concept pitches from ad agencies, I'm conditioned to think like the target audience. However, Tim, it would take some serious "glacial encroachment" of hell before I ever worked in an ad agency.
Vqzhqr, I like the Nissan ads - especially the Maxima doing 120 sideways on a dry lake bed to the Who song. But I don't want to buy a Maxima...or any other Nissan. I really loved the old 300ZX ad where the action figure steals Barbie from Ken with Van Halen in the background! I'll tell you what I hate - the Ford Focus ads. But that's because I don't have 12 tatoos and 10 piercings, I guess.
Now that you mention it, I think that all of my favorite ads have been for products that I never owned nor felt any particular desire for. Hmmmmm.... I wonder if there is a mutual-exclusion rule, or tendency anyway, with memorable (in a positive way I mean) ads and effective ads? That would go a long way to explain the preponderance of totally rancid local TV ads for furniture stores ("We can save YOUBIIIIIIIIIIIIGGGGGGG if you come down to our moving/inventory reduction/close out/restock/overstock/whatever reason Sale!!!!!") and the occasional "shouting" car dealer....
I think mostly all of the VW commercials are great, especially the one where the guy tackles the grocery cart coming at his car,everytime I see that commercial I just can't stop laughing!!!
Those irritatingly stupid commercials with the "Imagine the perfect luxury vehicle, we have" slogan in them are getting on my nerves!! Not only is it false advertising, but it only an overdone crappy Nissan Pathfinder. If you want a real SUV get a 4Runner, it sells by word of mouth, not by stupid advertising!
Don't get me started on those Ford "I want to CELEBRATE" ads, grrrrr!
Those Pathfi er, I mean QX4 commercials are horrible. Awhile back they add a commercial with the frame falling through the sky and the voiceover saying something like “the first vehicle with a one piece frame” which is absurd because Chrysler had it in the 50s on all their cars except Imperials. Guess they should’ve researched that first, eh?
Speaking of Ford, maybe they should run some ads for a “Ranger/Explorer Blowout” sale...
I don't know which celebrities are selling Toyotas in your neck of the woods, but here in Northern California, Toyota's go-to spokesperson is Steve Young. Following his appearance at the Republican National Convention and several RNC fundraising events, however, it seems that his ads are starting to disappear from the televisions. Perhaps this is on account of the possibly polarizing effect that this kind of political stumping can create.
Nationally, the most memorable 4Runner ad I've seen recently depicts a traffic-clogged street below an overbearing concrete canyon with several humdrum gunmetal-grey cars surrounding a bold 4Runner Ltd with a roofrack loaded with outdoor sporting gear (a kayak or surfboard?). A businessman hauling a briefcase back to his office sees the 4Runner outfitted for a weekend of fun and wonders, "It's Tuesday ... people have to go to work on Tuesday!?!?!"
I know that many companies want us to think that all kinds of great things will happen when we buy their products ... usually, the ads try to send us this message that if we wore this pair of jeans or dyed our facial hair with this special formula for covering grey, we can get all these beautiful women like the ones that appear in these ads; but what is this ad trying to tell us? So, if we buy a 4Runner, our bosses will give us more time off from work?
Well, if that's true, my only concern is how am I going to pay for this rig if I'm not busy making more money at work? Those Limited models cost about as much as a decked-out Tahoe or an Audi A6.
Are more interesting then whatever Toyota or Lexus can come up with. Toyota commercials, don't even get me started.
4Runner has to be the most costly and ugly piece of crap I've seen yet. Why would you someone pay close to $40,000 dollars for a Tacoma with 4 doors it's crazy as hell, not to mention it's not as refined as Pathfinder and doesn't even touch QX4. Pathfinder is the best All around SUV. It's the most refined, a bargin for what you get(unlike 4runner) goodoffroad capabilities, and even has one of the best cargo space. It really has the best of both worlds. Toyota is just riding that image to the max with 4Runner it really isn't worth it for that high price. Why don't they just discontinue it cause no one really wants one.
Back to the Topic I happen to think that those New Lexus IS commercials SUCK. They have nothing to do with the car and then those new ones talking about being Better then a BMW not on this planet. Then camry thinking it's sexy, so pathetic. I have to give it to Toyota though for brainwashing a lot of fools. People who buy a Sienna instead of an Oddessey(even Quest is bigger) a Camry instead of a Maxima or Accord. It's a damn shame, it really is. What a waste of money too!
post #126 Have you ever looked at a Camry and then an Accord? Except for a few minor differnces in trim, they look exactly alike. The current Camry came out as a 1997 model (been #1 seller since then, BTW) and the current Accord came out for 1998. What does that tell you? Camry came out for '97, the Accord for '98, and look VERY similar. Why? If you guessed Honda copying Toyota, you're right! Copying the best is the only way to COMPETE with the best! I could say this though, Honda builds good lawnmowers!
Back to the topic. Like I said before, Infiniti QX4 ads blow chunks! They even show this ultimate POSEUR (excluding the BMW X5) going off road!!! Ha ha, how false can advertising get?
Every Ford Focus commercial sucks as well, and the one with the firemen in the F150 Stupid, uh, I mean Super Crew ads are horrid, gave me nightmares for weeks! Stupid commercials for stupid vehicles with exploding tires, I guess...
Oh so, the Camry commercials claiming that they redesigned it this year are false, huh? Boy, that sucks. Gives me even more reason to hate that stupid commercial of the couple noticing a Camry instead of the building being imploded a couple blocks away. Of course, from that ad, the couple undoubtedly noted that the redesigned Camry looks almost exactly like an Accord now. If Toyota had only stolen, er, I mean flattered Honda with a closer replica of the Accord tail lights, then they would have had a really nice looking (though middle-of-the-road) car design. Oh well, can't have everything.... ;-)
Those commercials with the dogs are pretty ridiculous, as well.
It could mean: The Honda Odyssey, a good vehicle to transport your family....of dogs. The Honda Odyssey, so easy to drive, a dog can drive it. The Honda Odyssey, it's a dog (looks, performance, both. Take your pick.)! -OR- The Honda Odyssey, it's one big crappy minivan!
Anyway, what in THE HELL was Honda thinking (smoking, drinking, etc.) when these ads made it into circulation on TV as well as magazines?
Enough bagging on any car that isn't Toyota ... it's revolting. You've got one heckuva complex about the car you drive. The re-design dates of Accord following the Camry closely is purely coincidental ... all cars are on a five-year cycle to save money these days anyway. Accord had been on a four-year cycle, and the '94-'97 Accord beared little resemblance to the '92-'96 Camry except for its cost of ownership and satisfaction statistics.
Camry and Accord still set the standard for reliability and dependability, and that is evidenced in the Mitsubishi ads which name both vehicles as their benchmark before alleging that the Galant is better (whatever).
Camry alone sets the standard for sales volume, but it is not a standard that every car tries to achieve, and certainly not the Accord. If Honda really wanted to try to keep up with the Camry, they should just offer rebates. But you know what would happen if they did that ... resale value plummets.
Further proof that Honda isn't copying Toyota ... their cars don't ride and drive like hyperbaric chambers on wheels. You can feel the bumps in the road, but you can just as easily and safely swerve around them ... don't try that in a Toyota, just as you wouldn't wanna try it in a Buick.
Speaking of copycats, head on over to the "Who's Copying Who" forum and see what people are saying about Toyota's Tundra.
I try to get back on topic here, but some (you) just seem to think I'm bagging every car that's not a Toyota. I'm just criticizing the commercials for certain cars, not the cars themselves. Honda's are good cars, I never said they weren't, I just think that their ads are a tad rediculous, that's all. I just got a little out of hand about the whole "Honda copies Toyota" thing to.
Oh and about that "ride and drive like hyperbaric chambers on wheels" comment about Toyotas, sounds like something a German car owner would say. You wouldn't by chance drive one, do you Rick? Sounds like a stereotypical comment a German, especially a VW, owner would say about Japanese cars.
You're confusing ugly with bland. But you have to look at Toyota's mission with a car like the Camry: 4-dr family sedan for the masses. By definition, it will look very conservative (bland). By comparison, VW has set themselves up as, IMHO, the company offering very competant, entry-level Euro sedans. They are trying to offer a little more flash than their Japanese counterparts and so their commercials tend to be much more quirky.
Not all Toyota commercials are bad. I like the one's for their Tacoma's ('adrenaline donor program' one is good IMO).
Pontiac commercials drive me nuts. What is up with their secret agent Bonneville commercials? Do typical Bonne owners see themselves as some kind of James Bond or what?
"If Honda really wanted to try to keep up with the Camry, they should just offer rebates. But you know what would happen if they did that ... resale value plummets." So Toyota offers rebates from time to time on Camrys(lease incentives, dealer incentives) and the Camry has exceptional resale value. So your theory is false.
"You can feel the bumps in the road, but you can just as easily and safely swerve around them ... don't try that in a Toyota, just as you wouldn't wanna try it in a Buick." Check out the stats! The Accord is no great handler either. Not to mention both are pretty equivalent in their "handling prowess".
As for Infiniti ads.
Gimme a break. They still have the worst ads in the luxury segment. The QX4 ads are a joke: "the CD-changer has its own suspension...." etc. My mountain has a suspension to, who cares?
Not to mention Infiniti dedicates a whole ad to pointing out their lame Q45 has HID lights.
yawn.....
Best ads go to mercedes in recent history. As well as BMW ads are great, and some recent ads for the Caddy STS have been good.
Recent Saturn ad showed a BMW arcade driving game with the machine asking the guy to insert coin after coin after coin. The other game, featuring a Saturn LS, depicted the guy putting in one or two coins and driving. I laughed...but more for the fact that it was a Saturn.
Infiniti ads? Pathetic. Here is what they've recently advertised: *Rear sunshade *HID lights *Multiple 'suspensions' *QX4 as the ultimate luxury vehicle (right...) *Most powerful [horsepower] V6 in class, which is BS. Class is entry-luxury, right? Technically, the Park Avenue Ultra is entry-luxury, and it has 240-hp. This is the second misnomer that Infiniti has advertised. The first was with the QX4 being billed as the first vehicle to have a body-on-frame design. Wrong. Title goes to Chrysler in the 1950s.
Hey Infiniti, do some research before you commence production on your next ad. *
I like Jaguars ad for the S-Type with Stings song, Desert Rose, playing. But it seems like a pointless ad! And by sting sitting in the back seat relaxing it seems the ad is making the S-Type out to be a chauffer driven car.
I think Infiniti means best HP in class. That would mean V6 SUVs.
The Pathfinder/QX4 are unibody construction, not body on frame. In that case, Jeep was before them, I think as is the Lexus RX300, Toyota RAV4 and I think some other SUVs.
Even though I've never even driven a Ford Probe, my favorite car commercial of all time was for the Probe back in the mid-80s, I think.
It starts with the image of a little old lady puttering down a highway in an old sedan with the bumper sticker, "I'd rather be knitting." Then you see a Probe come up behind the sedan, flash its turn signals, and zip past.
Next the Probe catches up to a Rolls Royce cruising along with the bumper sticker, "I'd rather be playing golf." And once again the Probe changes lanes and speeds by.
Finally, the Probe comes upon a slow-moving 4x4 with the bumper sticker, "I'd rather be doing NOTHING." And the Probe does a couple quick lane changes and zooms off towards the horizon.
And the tagline is, "The Ford Probe, for people who would rather be . . . driving."
I don't wanna write about upsetting commercials yet, but I thought it might be a barnburner if I told 2000Camrylev6 about the car I drive ... it's a Toyota.
I've got a very well-kept high-miler '92 Cressida loaded to the hilt minus leather with a diamond white pearl exterior. I shopped for the right Cressida for about four months until I found this one.
Other than a replaced head and gasket (it was about time anyway), it has been very reliable, so I do know what Toyotas are made of.
Those have to be one of the best cars that Toyota built, Camry included. 3.0 I-6 from the Supra, rear-wheel drive, suspension tuned for sport Nad luxury. At 190 HP, the car hauled!! It's replacement, the Avalon, while a nice car, could never live up to the Toyota flagship status like the Cressida did. It was one awesome car, it's a real shame Toyota discontinued this model.
I apologize for going off topic, but when it comes to Toyota or Lexus, I can't get enough!
Nissan Frontier TV ads? They show this new Power Ranger transport flexing mightily in slow motion as it skids across some loose rocks (as if anyone who buys one would risk chipping the paint!). Of course, it just makes it look cheaper to me watching the thing bend so much.
I had thought the pompous "interview" ads with the designer touting there prowess were jokes before. They have raised (lowered?) the bar on tacky....
I read recently that a survey of new car buyers last year revealed that many people think that their new car has anti-lock brakes when, in fact, they don't. It reminded me of the time that a customer was trying to trade in a Camry CE and they *insisted* that it had ABS. When I tried to inform them only the LE's and XLE's offered the ABS feature, they thought I was up to my doubt-instilling sales techniques.
In any event, I'm curious to know how many people cruising around in Pontiac Montana think that they have four-wheel or all-wheel-drive. I just met someone who was curious to know when Honda would begin adding AWD to the Odyssey. When I told them that AWD hadn't even appeared in the rumor mill, they said, "It's a shame that Honda wouldn't even offer all-wheel-drive when you could just buy a Pontiac Montana."
I tried to tell them that the trend among minivan manufacturers is tending away from AWD (remember that Caravan and Voyager lost this?), but they were quite sure that Pontiac was AWD.
Do you think this has anything to do with the Pontiac Montana commercials? Y'know ... the one with the red Montana rushing full-throttle alongside a speeding train? Then there's the one with the red Montana thrashing around in a corral.
Given the gullibility of certain consumers, I think that these advertisements are dangerous.
it should be no surprise to you that a Lexus ad gets my winning vote. No, it's not the IS 300 ads, but rather the GS ads from about a half-year or so back. Its the one where a guy is out driving his GS on some curvy backroads (with a song going "they did a bad, bad thing" was playing in the background), when all of a sudden, the guy starts undoing his shirt and smears lipstick over his face, as if he were with another woman. But when he gets home, his wife is sitting there in the kitchen waiting for him. She say "Nice try. You've been out driving again, haven't you?" And in the following silence, the tagline reads "The Lexus GS, Sinful." Had me in stiches!!
GM had a ad out for a little while that showed one of the big suv's hanging on the side of a cruise ship as a lifeboat. The first time I saw it, I thought "HMMMM... a lifeboat, like a rock" Well it's funny to me! The one that really makes me laugh is the toyota p/u out towing a Ford, Chevy and even a Freightliner up the hill! Yea, right maybe in Wonderland! On TVLand they run old commercials, the VW ad with the snowplow, good for it's time. And the GTO ads where the tiger pops out from under the hood.
I hate the ads for the Montero that show look alike yuppy guys at a car wash, then an attendant starts honkin a horn saying, "your car is ready. It turns out not to be the "cool" Montero, but a 1991 Mercury wagon and there is a look of embarassment. "Time to get a new Montero!"
Now, what 31 y/o "cool" guy drives one of these in the first place? And, who cares what people you don't even know think of what you drive?
Comments
I was so dissapointed with that commercial I now have a new found disgust for Jetta. As if all the windows rolling down when you unlock the door is a good thing what if it's windy outside then you gotta waste your time and roll em all up again.
I was hoping for something cool like maybe the car greets you or something or the radio turns on to your favorite station or the seats adjust them selves to the way you like it.
Really stupid! And people think Infiniti bragging about a rear sunshade is stupid. If I was that girl wouldn't let him back in.
selves to the way you like it."
The Bonneville does the last two for you!
Personally, I view those types of commercials as highlighting mediocre (sunshade, window rolldown, full-size spare) features that makes no real difference about the car. Soon you'll see an ad about hoods that not only open upwards, but stay open on their own!
Has anyone seen the new Solara convertible commercial? Pretty weak if you ask me. So you can't drive naked in a Sebring?
Just kidding but it's a very sporty sedan though I kind of like it's aggressive stance. I gotta a liking for cars that do what they do very well. If sporty it looks really sporty, if it's rugged it's rugged as can be.
All ads, cars especially, are targeted to specific audiences. The VW ad with the "window freak" is most likely targeted at the yuppie technowizard who has digital surround sound in his living room and a Sony Playstation. I'm being a little presumtuous, but you get the picture. Most of VW's ads fit this profile because this is where they're having the most success! It's called fishing where the fish are. This is usually a reliable way to continue and increase a strong consumer segment for your product. Generating new consumer base is another thing.
Remember the tag line, "This is not your father's Oldmobile?" That campaign tried to create an entirely new universe of consumers who would never think of buying an Olds. It was a miserable failure because the public saw through it: "If you have to TELL me this isn't my father's Oldsmobile, then I know damn well it IS STILL my father's Oldsmobile - no sale!"
As stupid as you may think VW ads are, bottom line is that they are selling a hell of a lot of cars. I personally identify with a lot of the VW ads (and yes, I bought one). The guy who crashes the shopping cart; the guy who parks at the back of a huge lot away from any other car, even the guy who washes some stranger's Passat in his driveway then runs away. All these ads point to the fact that VW owners are a little different - they identify with their cars. VW's aren't mere conveyances like Corrolas and Accords, they're...well, like family pets!
The problem with most critics is that they think too literally. No, it's not realistic that you can park right next to a grocery store, or play polo with your Pathfinder. Who cares!! The point of the message is in the absurd.
Back to the geek with the window thing. If you get out of your VW and forget to roll up the windows or something, you don't have to get back in, turn the key, etc... You can lock/unlock the doors, open/close the windows and moonroof from outside with your key in the door - I think that's awesome! So the point of these ads is that VW owner's are freaky over their cars to the point of obsession. Wouldn't you want to drive something that makes you feel that way? Maybe not, but there are many who do. For some, a reliable, uninspiring, same-as-yours Toyota or Honda is the right ticket. But for me, and many others, I want to have fun when I drive, to be inspired, to operate all the cool doo-dads that Germans love to overengineer... The Accord I owned did none of that - my Jetta does, everyday!
So, advertising has nothing to do with JD Power, Consumer Reports, whatever. It's all about getting people to check out your product so you can turn a profit!
Has nothing to do with the car of course, but has the same irreverence as the old Joe Isuzu ads.
What can you say about the Maxima and Xterra ads, basically all Nissan ads.
Vqzhqr, I like the Nissan ads - especially the Maxima doing 120 sideways on a dry lake bed to the Who song. But I don't want to buy a Maxima...or any other Nissan. I really loved the old 300ZX ad where the action figure steals Barbie from Ken with Van Halen in the background! I'll tell you what I hate - the Ford Focus ads. But that's because I don't have 12 tatoos and 10 piercings, I guess.
Don't get me started on those Ford "I want to CELEBRATE" ads, grrrrr!
Speaking of Ford, maybe they should run some ads for a “Ranger/Explorer Blowout” sale...
Nationally, the most memorable 4Runner ad I've seen recently depicts a traffic-clogged street below an overbearing concrete canyon with several humdrum gunmetal-grey cars surrounding a bold 4Runner Ltd with a roofrack loaded with outdoor sporting gear (a kayak or surfboard?). A businessman hauling a briefcase back to his office sees the 4Runner outfitted for a weekend of fun and wonders, "It's Tuesday ... people have to go to work on Tuesday!?!?!"
I know that many companies want us to think that all kinds of great things will happen when we buy their products ... usually, the ads try to send us this message that if we wore this pair of jeans or dyed our facial hair with this special formula for covering grey, we can get all these beautiful women like the ones that appear in these ads; but what is this ad trying to tell us? So, if we buy a 4Runner, our bosses will give us more time off from work?
Well, if that's true, my only concern is how am I going to pay for this rig if I'm not busy making more money at work? Those Limited models cost about as much as a decked-out Tahoe or an Audi A6.
4Runner has to be the most costly and ugly piece of crap I've seen yet. Why would you someone pay close to $40,000 dollars for a Tacoma with 4 doors it's crazy as hell, not to mention it's not as refined as Pathfinder and doesn't even touch QX4. Pathfinder is the best All around SUV. It's the most refined, a bargin for what you get(unlike 4runner) goodoffroad capabilities, and even has one of the best cargo space. It really has the best of both worlds. Toyota is just riding that image to the max with 4Runner it really isn't worth it for that high price. Why don't they just discontinue it cause no one really wants one.
Back to the Topic I happen to think that those New Lexus IS commercials SUCK. They have nothing to do with the car and then those new ones talking about being Better then a BMW not on this planet. Then camry thinking it's sexy, so pathetic. I have to give it to Toyota though for brainwashing a lot of fools. People who buy a Sienna instead of an Oddessey(even Quest is bigger) a Camry instead of a Maxima or Accord. It's a damn shame, it really is. What a waste of money too!
post #126
Have you ever looked at a Camry and then an Accord? Except for a few minor differnces in trim, they look exactly alike. The current Camry came out as a 1997 model (been #1 seller since then, BTW) and the current Accord came out for 1998. What does that tell you? Camry came out for '97, the Accord for '98, and look VERY similar. Why? If you guessed Honda copying Toyota, you're right! Copying the best is the only way to COMPETE with the best! I could say this though, Honda builds good lawnmowers!
Back to the topic. Like I said before, Infiniti QX4 ads blow chunks! They even show this ultimate POSEUR (excluding the BMW X5) going off road!!! Ha ha, how false can advertising get?
Every Ford Focus commercial sucks as well, and the one with the firemen in the F150 Stupid, uh, I mean Super Crew ads are horrid, gave me nightmares for weeks! Stupid commercials for stupid vehicles with exploding tires, I guess...
It could mean:
The Honda Odyssey, a good vehicle to transport your family....of dogs.
The Honda Odyssey, so easy to drive, a dog can drive it.
The Honda Odyssey, it's a dog (looks, performance, both. Take your pick.)!
-OR-
The Honda Odyssey, it's one big crappy minivan!
Anyway, what in THE HELL was Honda thinking (smoking, drinking, etc.) when these ads made it into circulation on TV as well as magazines?
Camry and Accord still set the standard for reliability and dependability, and that is evidenced in the Mitsubishi ads which name both vehicles as their benchmark before alleging that the Galant is better (whatever).
Camry alone sets the standard for sales volume, but it is not a standard that every car tries to achieve, and certainly not the Accord. If Honda really wanted to try to keep up with the Camry, they should just offer rebates. But you know what would happen if they did that ... resale value plummets.
Further proof that Honda isn't copying Toyota ... their cars don't ride and drive like hyperbaric chambers on wheels. You can feel the bumps in the road, but you can just as easily and safely swerve around them ... don't try that in a Toyota, just as you wouldn't wanna try it in a Buick.
Speaking of copycats, head on over to the "Who's Copying Who" forum and see what people are saying about Toyota's Tundra.
Oh and about that "ride and drive like hyperbaric
chambers on wheels" comment about Toyotas, sounds like something a German car owner would say. You wouldn't by chance drive one, do you Rick? Sounds like a stereotypical comment a German, especially a VW, owner would say about Japanese cars.
;-)
lighten up man
Not all Toyota commercials are bad. I like the one's for their Tacoma's ('adrenaline donor program' one is good IMO).
Pontiac commercials drive me nuts. What is up with their secret agent Bonneville commercials? Do typical Bonne owners see themselves as some kind of James Bond or what?
It's the only excitement they know. ;-)
(Was James Furber the all-in-the-mind-adventure guy?)
"You can feel the bumps in the road, but you can just as easily and safely swerve around them ... don't try that in a Toyota, just as
you wouldn't wanna try it in a Buick." Check out the stats! The Accord is no great handler either. Not to mention both are pretty equivalent in their "handling prowess".
As for Infiniti ads.
Gimme a break. They still have the worst ads in the luxury segment. The QX4 ads are a joke: "the CD-changer has its own suspension...." etc. My mountain has a suspension to, who cares?
Not to mention Infiniti dedicates a whole ad to pointing out their lame Q45 has HID lights.
yawn.....
Best ads go to mercedes in recent history. As well as BMW ads are great, and some recent ads for the Caddy STS have been good.
Infiniti ads? Pathetic. Here is what they've recently advertised:
*Rear sunshade
*HID lights
*Multiple 'suspensions'
*QX4 as the ultimate luxury vehicle (right...)
*Most powerful [horsepower] V6 in class, which is BS. Class is entry-luxury, right? Technically, the Park Avenue Ultra is entry-luxury, and it has 240-hp. This is the second misnomer that Infiniti has advertised. The first was with the QX4 being billed as the first vehicle to have a body-on-frame design. Wrong. Title goes to Chrysler in the 1950s.
Hey Infiniti, do some research before you commence production on your next ad.
*
I think Infiniti means best HP in class. That would mean V6 SUVs.
The Pathfinder/QX4 are unibody construction, not body on frame. In that case, Jeep was before them, I think as is the Lexus RX300, Toyota RAV4 and I think some other SUVs.
The ad with "most powerful V-6 in class" was for the I30, although they did do a later ad with the QX4's engine.
It starts with the image of a little old lady puttering down a highway in an old sedan with the bumper sticker, "I'd rather be knitting." Then you see a Probe come up behind the sedan, flash its turn signals, and zip past.
Next the Probe catches up to a Rolls Royce cruising along with the bumper sticker, "I'd rather be playing golf." And once again the Probe changes lanes and speeds by.
Finally, the Probe comes upon a slow-moving 4x4 with the bumper sticker, "I'd rather be doing NOTHING." And the Probe does a couple quick lane changes and zooms off towards the horizon.
And the tagline is, "The Ford Probe, for people who would rather be . . . driving."
Anyone else remember that commercial?
I've got a very well-kept high-miler '92 Cressida loaded to the hilt minus leather with a diamond white pearl exterior. I shopped for the right Cressida for about four months until I found this one.
Other than a replaced head and gasket (it was about time anyway), it has been very reliable, so I do know what Toyotas are made of.
I apologize for going off topic, but when it comes to Toyota or Lexus, I can't get enough!
I had thought the pompous "interview" ads with the designer touting there prowess were jokes before. They have raised (lowered?) the bar on tacky....
(This was also posted in More Ugly New Vehicles... following an earlier post with photos....)
In any event, I'm curious to know how many people cruising around in Pontiac Montana think that they have four-wheel or all-wheel-drive. I just met someone who was curious to know when Honda would begin adding AWD to the Odyssey. When I told them that AWD hadn't even appeared in the rumor mill, they said, "It's a shame that Honda wouldn't even offer all-wheel-drive when you could just buy a Pontiac Montana."
I tried to tell them that the trend among minivan manufacturers is tending away from AWD (remember that Caravan and Voyager lost this?), but they were quite sure that Pontiac was AWD.
Do you think this has anything to do with the Pontiac Montana commercials? Y'know ... the one with the red Montana rushing full-throttle alongside a speeding train? Then there's the one with the red Montana thrashing around in a corral.
Given the gullibility of certain consumers, I think that these advertisements are dangerous.
The one that really makes me laugh is the toyota p/u out towing a Ford, Chevy and even a Freightliner up the hill! Yea, right maybe in Wonderland!
On TVLand they run old commercials, the VW ad with the snowplow, good for it's time. And the GTO ads where the tiger pops out from under the hood.
Now, what 31 y/o "cool" guy drives one of these in the first place? And, who cares what people you don't even know think of what you drive?