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

alfox

you could probably get it going with a Camry. Not quickly, and geeze don't try to stop, LOL.

tmart

No, the Silverado can't do the tow. Very quickly they show the disclaimer saying dramazation, towing limit is 8500(?)pounds.

i_luv_toyota

This ad reminds me of one a few years back for the (ironically) Chevy Tracker, with it's "It Thinks Big" campaign.

Does Chevy really have a pickup with enough torque to haul away a fully-loaded 18-wheeler?

A semi truck without it's trailer weighs around 10 tons, I would figure, so not even a Silverado 3500 with Duramax could pull it feasibly.

But then that's the magic of television.

stickguy

It's not that hard to pull something that rolls on flat ground. Recently there was an idiotic show on where people competed with animals. One contest was an elephant vs. a bunch of "little people" pulling a jet airliner.

crkeehn

"See you in 20 years. " LOL

Actually, I can remember in 1969, a few years older than that boy, going down to the Porsche dealer and drooling over the 911s they had in the showroom. 35 years later, I still can't afford one.

i_luv_toyota

"One contest was an elephant vs. a bunch of "little people" pulling a jet airliner."

Was it Fox, by any chance? Knowing their track record for shows, that's the first network I would suspect.

Speaking of pulling, Fox has this show called the "Next Great Champion" or something similar, and a preview showed the contestants pulling F150s with straps attached to them.

I guess if a human can pull an F150 by his own stregth, no matter how slowly, then you're theory is right. But no road is absolutely flat for very long, even in the Midwest (Indiana in particular).

lemko

...on ESPN they have a "World's Strongest Man" competition where these guys were pulling city buses!

odie6l

I got sent 2 commercial via e-mail.
They are both for the Ford SportKa (The Ka's Evil Twin) 1st 1 is the one with the Pigeon getting smacked by the hood before it plops the car.
2nd 1 is also for the SportKa, but it envolves a cat. (that is all I will say about the commercial, except it was disturbing) Fortunatly I found out both animals are CGI creations.
If you want a link to either commercial e-mail me with "COMMERCIAL" in the RE: line.

Odie

i_luv_toyota

City bus? Now there's a test!

i_luv_toyota

Does anybody else notice how "Subaru-like" (the way the words pop up, the voiceover, etc.) the ads for this car are?

I find it rather ironic, considering the car itself is a disguised Subaru WRX wagon.

mirth

I've seen these commercials. The pigeon one is pretty funny. The cat one, I agree, is just disturbing. The advertisers must have all been dog people, and figured everyone hates cats. Big mistake.

gambit293

I don't remember exactly where I read this, but I heard that supposedly Ford had never intended for the cat one to get out. They had decided not to release it, but somehow it ended up on the Internet anyway. Don't quote me.

andys120

has anyone seen the one where the little boys are hanging in the control room of the crash test facility gleefully urging the "rocket scientist"
to keep crashing various Siennas.

Clever way to remind us that Siennas get a lot of crash testing?

Or that little boys love seeing things get smashed or blown up?

Or that the most exciting thing you can do with a Sienna is smack it into something at speed? :^P

speterson1

New Suzuki ad has several people saying they're looking for a new car, SUV, whatever. Toyota is "too pricey" (OK, I can see that), Honda is "too generic" (Huh? What does that mean?), and then they had an epiphany - Suzuki!! "Real cars for real people". Then says how Suzuki has the best warranty in the USA (10 years, 100,000 miles I think). Pretty funny ad, and typical since it does not talk ANYTHING about Suzuki vehicles at all and why they are better, save the long warranty. Better have that warranty from what I've seen of Suzuki's reliability records! Must be trying the Hyundai model of advertising - get 'em with the warranty.

lemko

...and I always thought Mitsubishis were the best backed cars in America. The warranty thing only goes so far. I have a cheap watch with a lifetime warranty. That doesn't make it as good as a Rolex.

andre1969

that on level ground a Silverado could pull an 18 wheeler. After all, on level ground I can push a 4000 lb '57 DeSoto or '67 Catalina. And I'd imagine that a Silverado would have a lot more hp and torque than my body does! ;-)

I did pull a moving van once with my '68 Dart...just got it going fast enough so that the guy could start it. It was a Ford, probably an F-350, former U-haul, and it was fully loaded, so I'd imagine that it weighed around 10,000 lb?

How fast was this Silverado pulling the 18 wheeler on the commercial?

lemko

...I saw a man pull a city bus on one of those "World's Strongest Man" competitions on ESPN.

gambit293

It's hard for me to enjoy any Hummer commercial since I despise them.

I just saw one annoying one where a kid is being dropped off for his first day at a new school. The mom is kind of worried but the kid is relaxed. He gets off, says hi to some kids who are all impressed by the Hummer his mom is driving. Thanks to Hummer, it's all going to be okay.

So if you want your kid to be accepted and popular with the superficial crowd, then get an H2.

andre1969

where the kid gets dropped off at school, and the other kids gather round, just staring in what seems like awe. But then, one of them opens his mouth and says "Wow. Your Dad must have a really small..." and then have it get drowned out by the honk of a passing car or the blow of a crossing guard's whistle.

lemko

...we'd have all got together and kicked his yuppie butt!

badgerfan

I see Toyota is trying some new print and TV ads to attract younger and mostly female adults,say upper twenty to lower thirty age group, to Camry. Do I think it will work? No, not with the unwieldy styling it has, though I can't fathom how even the boomers can overlook the styling of these beasts, much less the pillowy handling.

mh3

Totally off topic, but are you THE badgerfan? Of cfn.com POTY fame?

I'm AMH4AU. Small world, and more evidence for my theory that the internet is the same 50-100 people with to much time on their hands on a million different websites.

Congrats on the good season to date. Maybe our teams can meet again this year, in say, Miami?

PS - Don't dis Toyota, I sell 'em!

john_324

For Mustang fans, the commercial to see is the Ford ad for the new 2005 Mustang...complete with a brought-back-to-life-in-digital-form Steve McQueen to drive it.

A farmer cuts a racetrack in his corn field (ala Field of Dreams), and a "Bullitt"-style McQueen comes out of the corn to drive the farmer's '05.

Apparently it's supposed to come out next month, but there have already been a few sightings it seems. Supposed to be extremely well done, and there's already a lot of anticipation. I for one can't wait. : )

andre1969

but they did something minor to the front-end of it for '05 that IMO improves its look considerably. It was just a subtle rejiggle, with slightly different headlights, a different grille pattern, and I think the lower fascia might be different.

I don't see how it can appeal to young people either, but I actually have seen fairly young people buying them. A few years back, a young couple moved into a condo in my building. At the time they had a Ranger and a Mistubishi Mirage, both of them a bit rough, but not beaters...at least not yet.

Well, almost immediately after they bought the condo, they must've gotten all sorts of credit card offers in the mail, or thought they hit the big time, or something, because he bought a fairly new Silverado, and she bought an '02 Camry. In yawner white.

john_324

I have a bunch of friends who have 'em (late 20s/early 30s)...to me, it's the ultimate "toaster" car (they should sell them only in white or beige), but they really like them.

I think it's the gen-X version of the Oldsmobile Delta 88 family sedan my father used to own in the late 1970s/early 1980s...solid, dependable, good for transporting your stuff/kids around and you really don't have to worry about it at all. <shurg>

gambit293

I've seen houses with two Camries sitting in the garage. You have to remember, Edmunds users (the enthusiast crowd) are still a minority. A vast majority of people simply view cars as appliances.

andre1969

a few miles from me that used to have THREE Tempos in the driveway! And where I used to live as a kid, up the street there were 3 white Pinto/Bobcat station wagons parked. I guess some people are either gluttons for punishment, or don't learn from their mistakes. Although on that one street, I swear they've found a way to clone cars, because further down there are usually 2 Chevettes parked, back-to-back.

stickguy

those are just parts cars Andre.

anythngbutgm

I'd say 1 out of every 3 homes in my development (roughly 130 homes) has a Camry in the driveway. Most of them share the driveway with a Highlander or Pilot. I'd say the only vehicle that is more common is the F-150.

badgerfan

I have never visited cfn.com, but there are a lot of us Badger fans out there! It's a big university with a lot of alumni. Yeah, Auburn pretty much kicked our butt last year in Nashville-I was there. Had a good time despite the loss. It was any easy drive down and back with super December weather in Tennessee for us northerners.

Those Badgers of last year grew up and are looking good, especially our defense. Who knows where we will end up, but even if Bucky wins out the rest, it is most likely the Rose Bowl, but you never know what can happen to the BCS leaders.

Toyotas are generally good cars, but I think some of them are turkeys styling wise, and Camry is about the worst in their lineup. But what do I know, they still sell a lot of them. I doubt if they will get a large following among buyers under 35 or so with the current generation Camry, however.

i_luv_toyota

I like the one where a wheel (looks off a Solara) is "driving" along in various locations (a highway, etc) to the tune of what sounds like Tori Amos in the background. I think this is the ad introducing the "Moving Forward" theme Toyota is shooting for.

Also in one of the shots, you can see the new 2005 Tacoma in the distance.

I like this ad, much better than most any ad Toyota has put out before this (although I did like the TOYOTA | everyday pitch).

mh3

Yes, I corresponded with your namesake and found out he's never been on this site.

Good luck to the Badgers! I'm very fond of Wisconsin as my dad was born and raised there and we visited alot before my grandparents died. Truly "God's Country".

Scion is lowering the overall average age of Toyota buyers.

badgerfan

I am headed to Madison bright and early tomorrow morning to watch em beat up on Northwestern (Hopefully!). 11 AM game time (ESPN set the schedule) so we have to get an early start as traffic on I-94 West and in Madtown gets heavy on football weekends.

And good luck to Auburn, unless we play you again this year!

andre1969

the Toyota "Everyday People" pitch. I think the problem with it though, was that it left itself open for jabs, such as "the last thing I'd want is a car for everyday people" stuff like that.

Still, no worse than Chevy's "Like a Rock", which might be a reference to how their resale drops... ;-)

carguy58

I have seen a few young guys in their mid to late 20's drive them. As a matter Today in a mall parking lot I saw a 02-04 Camry SE with Tinted out windows. I am in my mid 20's and I think previous Camry's looked better than the new one in my opinion. I do happen to like the front of the Camry SE's but the tall back end is what turns me off. Alot of Camry Owners are anywhere from their 40's to 60's from what I observe. I read a like a year ago the average age of Camry buyer is like 51. 10 years ago it was 47 years old. So it hasn't gone up that much.

jaserb

This one I found pretty disturbing. Dodge has a new model of the SRT-10 out now, with the Viper V10, quad cab, and auto trans instead of the reg. cab and 6 speed of the '04 model. The ad shows a nice bucolic suburban neighborhood, with car doors landing all over the place. In someone's swimming pool, on the front porch, etc. The gist of the commercial is that this is some Nascar driver's home town, and he's blowing the doors off of everyone elses cars (notably an F150 quad cab) in the neighborhood.

I'm sure there was some sort of a disclaimer stating "It's really not a very good idea to go screaming through a residential area at triple digit speeds in your ungodly fast pick-em-up truck", or something like that. Seemed a little over the top to me, anyway.

-Jason

john_324

Remember Mitsubishi's ad campaign where they tried to tie-in with the release of "2 Fast 2 Furious"? Featured two 20-somethings sitting in cars at the dealership making "vroom vroom" racing noises.

I could see what they were thinking (targeting a youthful audience), but at the same time, I recall questioning whether "officially" connecting the brand with a movie that glorified illegal street racing was the best idea...

gambit293

Yes, I found Mitsu's advertising to be the height of hypocrisy, further exemplified by how Mitsubishi has been voiding warranties of any evo whose CPU shows evidence of racing (even track racing).

Has anyone seen that Jeep ad (I think a Liberty or Cherokee) where the Jeep outruns an Audi TT and some sedan on a track? That one made me scratch my head. Maybe I missed the small print.

jaserb

Than a BMW 325Xi or an Audi TT. Both all wheel drive, automatic models. I have no doubt a new Grand Cherokee with the Hemi would have any problem outrunning those to 0-60, but once the track gets twisty....

Not that I think that many people are cross shopping TTs and Grand Cherokees.

-Jason

john_324

I love the trend of ads that shout out that vehicle X TOTALLY BEATS its 3 competitors from other companies...and then go on to explain that it has better acceleration that vehicle A and more room inside than vehicle B and gets better gas milege than vehicle C.

Seems to be most common in pickup ads...

loncray

Two kids inside a car, pretty mom asks if they want her to drop them off a block away, they tell her no. Car pulls up to a school entrance, kid gets out and goes thru a gauntlet of sullen teenagers, who then look back at the ride, which is a black Hummer H2. Leader of sullen kids says "Nice ride!". New kid is accepted into popular clique at school and goes on to an Ivy League school.

john_324

I find it funny that every H2 ad takes place in the suburbs, city or even a cruise ship, but never offroad.

fintail

You'll see a RR Phantom off road just as soon

i_luv_toyota

We haven't yet seen an ad where the Hummer H2 is most commonly seen, that of course being the mall.

Double parked, of course...

speterson1

They've had a few Hummer ads that show it bounding over desert terrain with some cool techno music going on in the background. I know the Hummer ad you'll *never* see though - any Hummer pulling into a gas station! Lately with gas topping $2/gal I've had the urge to do the Nelson (bully from the Simpsons) laugh any time I see one filling up.

i_luv_toyota

"I know the Hummer ad you'll *never* see though - any Hummer pulling into a gas station!"

I saw a show a couple weeks ago ("Listen Up" Monday at 830 on CBS) where the lead character (Jason Alexander aka "George Costanza") crashed his car, so the body shop (recommended by the Malcolm Jamal Warner character) gave him a loner, which was Dennis Rodman's H2 with a lift and big tires, etc.

Anyway, one of the shots featured Jason Alexander filling the H2 at a gas station. Jason jumped with saracastic joy when it topped over $100. I thought it was funny.

I guess that *could* be like a commercial for the H2's mileage, but disguised as a sitcom.

lemko

I knew a lady who had a Ford Excursion with the V-10. It took $80 to fill the tank and that was long before $2.00+ gasoline. I imagine it must be something like $120 today!

i_luv_toyota

Yikes! Makes me feel good to only have to fill up every 3 weeks at 30 bucks a pop.

andre1969

with the good looking woman with a tear in her eye pleading with us to "stop truck bed abuse"! I thought it was pretty funny, and one of the few commercials that has actually made me laugh lately!

ab348

In fairness to Hummer, all SUV ads are about the same and all are equally unrealistic. If SUV advertising was to be believed, the entire North American populace would consist of 20-somethings who spend their days rock-climbing, hiking, shooting rapids in kayaks, and trail biking. In reality of course the most common cargo carried in SUVs is not kayaks or bikes but a 6-pack of Budweiser, a carton of Marlboro Lights and a few boxes of Twinkies.