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

ateixeira

Can't be worse than many people who just can't parallel park by themselves.

-juice

bigdveedubgirl

First of all, IF you are driving a LS430, would you be going anywhere that requires you to paraell park, that does not have an option for valet??? Things that make you go hmmmmmmm.....

bumpy

Sure, there are plenty of places without good lot parking. Of course, new cars often have such atrocious rear visibility that you need rear cameras and parallel parking assist.

ateixeira

If you're in an urban environment, often the answer is yes.

I had to parallel park in my garage yesterday, and also went to the Brazilian Embassy and had to parallel park once again.

No valet parking in either. Of course it's a cinch in a Miata with the top down. :shades:

-juice

odie6l

if you look closely in the add, it looks like it has the rear back-up sensors along the front bumpers too. I brought this commercial up in the Gadget thread, because I feel this is just another way to jack up the prices of the cars. I'm still waiting for a car commercial that features "Check out our NEW Turn Signals, they have been around for a long time, we just wanted to let you know we have them so you can't use them."

Odie
Odie's Carspace

explorerx4

pretty soon mercedes is going have a feature that when it detects lexus sonar invading it's space, will make the parking space seem too small for it to fit.
actually, that does make me wonder how the 'lex figures out if it WILL fit? :confuse:

ateixeira

That would be hilarious. Send mixed signals so no Lexus could park in front of or behind a Benz.

Remember - Mercedes had their own issues with the radar cruise control, two Benzes crashed right in front of hundreds of reporters in a failed demo attempt. They blamed some metal in the ground, IIRC. As if bridges and road seams don't have metal parts.

-juice

lemko

No, better yet, Benzes should have a chaff dispenser to confuse Lexus' parking radar so it ends up smashing itself against the cars in front and back of it!

I finally saw the Lexus 8-speed transmission commercial. They should've shown a bunch of guys surrounding the strip wearing shirts with patches on them reading "AAMCO," "Cottman," "Altrex," etc. singing "Hallelujah!" as Handel's "Messiah" plays in the background.

john_324

Though I'm not really a fan of the Honda Civic personally, the new "Tron" ad for the Si is great...it'll strike a chord with every Gen X-er for sure.

gregger1

Hey everybody,

not sure if I'm even in the right spot, but it sounds like you guys have the low down on car commercials, so I have a question for you:

Does anybody remember the commercial where the car is driving around the city, and every other car is mimicking it's actions? (i.e. the car backs up, so all the other cars on the road back up, everybody walking on the sidewalk begins to walk backwards, etc)

I don't think it was more than a few years ago.

Any help would be appreciated.
-Thanks

anythngbutgm

Wasn't that one for the Mazda6?

lemko

...the Lexus' automatic parking commercial with the stacks of champagne glasses. I'd have to see this feature for myself someday.

Karen_S

This Saturday, AutoScoop will be talking about cell phones while driving. As you know, we have a busy discussion on this "Should Cell Phone Users be Singled Out" http://townhall-talk.edmunds.com/direct/view/.f0f6321

Tune-in to your local station - http://www.autoscoop.com/index_map.php or go to the AutoScoop site or listen live on the web https://www.radiomat.com/register.php?action=register&station=KLSXFM

The show is from 8am-1pm EST. Call-in toll-free at 1-877-444-1994 to sound-off about this issue on the radio. Be sure and mention your Forums username!

i_luv_toyota

The Lexus December to Remember ads are back.

Time to cringe!

fintail

Phil Smart Mercedes has a small run of very annoying ads right now. They feature a lower-end cgi of a talking S-class and C-class. They talk to each other in boring prattle...in one episode they sing, which is very annoying. The C-class seems to be either a male or female, the S-class is a male. There's one spot where they give catcalls to a passing car, which strangely enough appears to be a Porsche Carrera GT. Odd that they didn't use a MB model of some kind. Strange ads.

The Lexus ones have infiltrated this area too, even in print.

british_rover

Saw my first one today.

Ughhh

Have you seen the new Range Rover commercial with the sand drawing??

Very neat.

i_luv_toyota

"Have you seen the new Range Rover commercial with the sand drawing??

Very neat."

I'm afraid I haven't seen that one yet. I'll definately be on the lookout for it.

Sounds pretty cool.

british_rover

Ahh just click Here and then click on the Range Rover

Will bring up a documentary on sand drawing and the commercial.

Also check Youtube... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOrxNDDYQKM

ateixeira

Not sure I like it. It's too long, for starters.

More importantly, the art work doesn't match the car. Rovers are boxy and the art was mostly circles. OK, the headlights, but that's about it.

Plus the artist doesn't look like he could even afford a Rover.

-juice

british_rover

That was the documentary about the sand drawings. I can't find the actual commercial online anywhere. The commercial it self is only about 30-45 seconds long and they use the Range Rover to get up to the top of the cliff so you can see the design.

ateixeira

Is the actual ad in one of the links above?

-juice

british_rover

Eehh I thought it was but the only show bits and parts from the ad and not the whole thing.

fintail

I don't care for the concept, honestly. I don't see what the art has to do with the cars. Of course, those who blow 90K++ on a S/C RR probably blow similar money on pricey questionable art and see themselves as art enthusiasts, so I am sure there's a target market there.

i_luv_toyota

Finally saw the ad on an NYC TV station (WPIX). Have yet to see it on a CT station.

At first the ad didn't make much sense, but after looking at the documentary, it's definately makes more sense now.

Overall, I felt the ad to be a good one. I also thought the sand drawings were pretty cool, too.

odie6l

I just saw the H3 commercial where the thing drives into the water and becomes a sub. Kinda neat.

Odie
Odie's Carspace

john_324

Saw the "in my day" Lexus ad for the first time the other day.

Clever ad concept to be sure, but it makes me dislike Lexus and Lexus owners even more. "Yeah, I can't believe I once had to have actual driving skils to operate a car..."

I can't recall who said it, but the comment about Lexuses being for people who hate cars is spot-on...

stickguy

Thanks to Lexus, I won't forget!

Hard to believe, but I think the december to remember ads are even more obnoxious than before. And that is saying a lot.

odie6l

I just noticed the new Mercedes add with Santa carving out the MB. I'm glad it didn't have a Giant Red Bow on the top of it.

Odie
Odie's Carspace

fintail

The Kia 'So Long Farewell" commercial is probably one of the worst things on the planet.

seminole_kev

Like every year, put those obnoxious, giving the car as a Christmas gift, Lexus commercials on the list. Grrrrrrrrrrr

fintail

One of the good things about Christmas being over...those commercials are soon to end for awhile.

scscars

The BMW commercial with the obnoxious screaming kids opening their Christmas presents has got to go...and soon! Fintail, we just got the Kia "Sound of Music" commercial in Chicago yesterday. It is truly the pits. :P

Also, am I the only one noticing that with all of the problems that Ford is having, they have commercials with the song "Lets Get It Started!" Subliminal engine issues going on there?

explorerx4

in chicago, replicating a couple of movies. part 'french connection' part(i forget which one), with a car driving out of a parking garage into the chicago river.
pretty much all period vehicles in the commercial. awesome!
found it!

allstate commercial

john_324

That's a great ad! Nice find! :shades:

BTW it's the original French Connection, plus the car plummeting from Marina Towers' parking garage is out of "The Hunter", Steve McQueen's last movie...

explorerx4

i knew it was the original french connection, but i couldn't remember what movie the parking garage scene was from. i wasn't sure if it was a steve mcqueen or steven segal movie. thanks for that.

john_324

What's really cool I think is how accurately it mimics the shots from the French Connection...the detective stopping the car in the middle of the street, the sliding turn.

If I didn't already have Allstate, I'd consider changing insurance...

explorerx4

i appreciated the effort put into that commerical!

smittynyc

There is absolutely no chance that I'll ever "put Mercury on my list." However, I will seek Mercury's advice if I ever need a fetching TV spokeswoman to sell a product.

She is a keeper.

british_rover

That actress was on the Spike TV show Blade.

She was actually very good in that show. Those comercials don't do her justice.

toomanyfumes

I think it's for a Lexus where they drop a car from a helicopter and the car on the ground accelerates toward the same spot. The car on the track just beats the car falling from the sky. The announcer say's, "Faster than Gravity." Finally a cool Lexus commercial. :surprise:

loncray

That commercial was kind've odd - the black Lexus definitely hits the ground (as per the blast wave behind the white Lexus) but there's no other sign - no explosion, no flying parts, nothing. It's wildly difficult to hit a target from high in the air without controls - makes me think they faked it all.

bumpy

Of course they faked it (the landing).

You don't think the Hyundai Challenge guy is really walking between oncoming cars and altering time and/or speed to do it?

ateixeira

That one is wild. Def. gets your attention!

-juice

somuchjackson

The helicopter commercial that people were mentioning earlier flat out lied. It is the commercial where a black lexus is dropped from a helicopter 4000 ft off of the ground. It is supposed to hit the ground 5 seconds later.

Another white lexus stands 4000 ft away from where the black lexus is to land. As the black lexus is released, the engine is gunned on the white lexus. The white lexus just clears the bullseye an instant before the black lexus crashes on the target.

However, with a common equation and knowledge of gravity, the falling lexus simply wouldn't travel 4000 ft in 5 seconds. In 5 seconds, the car would only fall 400 feet. Lexus is off by a factor of 10.

See the first equation on this site

http://www2.glenbrook.k12.il.us/gbssci/phys/Class/1DKin/U1L6b.html

and plug in 32.17ft/s^2 for "a" and 5s for "t" if you want to check for yourself.

Yes I'm a big nerd, but it didn't sound quite right to me.

If anyone can figure out how to make this a lawsuit against Lexus, give me a hollar.

i_luv_toyota

Of course it's fake.

When the ad comes on next, towards the end, look at the background and you'll notice the black car, that supposedly "crash landed" onto the target, in one undamaged piece on the target.

i_luv_toyota

Unfortunately Kia has seemed to revive that awful ad for their January sales event.

Ugh....

fintail

Yes, some channels here seem to air it about 6 times an hour. The worst ad on TV right now, bar none. I wonder how many customers it will cost them.

i_luv_toyota

"The worst ad on TV right now, bar none."

No argument here.

"I wonder how many customers it will cost them."

Hopefully quite a few. That way Kia (and hopefully others) will learn that annoying ads will not bring potential customers to their dealerships.

bumpy

The Toyota 50th anniversary ad complete with confetti, streamers, and party music. Right after that: Ford's 30-year-F150-#1-sales ad "we didn't celebrate with streamers and confetti". LOL.

lemko

Has anybody ever seen the Safe Auto Insurance commercial where the kid in the Plymouth Acclaim is stuck in the snow? He tries to dig the car out with a spare hubcap just as a cop arrives on the scene. What makes the kid seem even dumber than failing to have insurance is that he's digging the snow from the rear wheels of his FWD car.