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

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    suvshopper4suvshopper4 Member Posts: 1,110
    I agree with orcinman, above.

    I see nothing exciting about the re-designed Camry. Yet they are hawking it as if seeing it makes us feel that we have to have it. Strikes me as something right out of Orwell's "1984". Tell us something often enough, and we'll believe it? Do they really think we are that suggestible?
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    ateixeiraateixeira Member Posts: 72,587
    Really, you prefer the Vibe, even with the cladding? I think it'll be the last Pontiac to get so much cladding (see Solistice).

    ES300 is differentiated from Camry more than most platform-mates. The engine is a lot more powerful, and the seats and interior feel quite different. Outside they look familiar, with the Lexus having a peeled back eyelids sort of look.

    Compare that to, say, a Taurus and a Sable, which only differ in nose and tail. They feel like the same car.

    -juice
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    speterson1speterson1 Member Posts: 228
    While I was watching TV this weekend I saw the same Volvo XC wagon commercial about 3 times in a half an hour, and noticed something funny. Most of the shots during the ad are from outside the vehicle, showing it cruising through some arctic landscape while the voiceover touts it's AWD system. But there is one brief shot of the interior where you're looking at the dash and center console, with the driver steering, and if I saw correctly, it appears that the speedometer is reading 0. The even weirder part is that it appears the tachometer is reading something, it appears to be at roughly the 10 o'clock position.

    Just one of those details I found amusing, that I don't think you would notice unless you saw the ad over and over like I did.
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    ateixeiraateixeira Member Posts: 72,587
    Nice catch.

    -juice
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    tj_610tj_610 Member Posts: 132
    Nice pick up. I saw that same ad a lot while watching college basketball this weekend. Makes one wonder -- if you're foot is off the gas, and you are simply sliding uncontrollably over an ice field, does the speedometer read zero? Nyuck nyuck. The tach reading is probably at idle. Hey, you need the car turned on so the traction system can tell you it's trying to engage.
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    crkeehncrkeehn Member Posts: 513
    What is the connection between Chevrolet and Maytag. That ad makes no sense to me

    Unless it's that the Maytag people are so bored that they can't think of anything to do but ride in their chevy?
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    ateixeiraateixeira Member Posts: 72,587
    They try to get you to think both are dependable. But the ad has me thinking the Maytag is, the Chevy isn't. The wording is off if you ask me.

    -juice
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    usaf52usaf52 Member Posts: 70
    I think they meant "keep General Motors rolling"
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    tj_610tj_610 Member Posts: 132
    ...in the isles, with yet another laughable ad campaign. Chevy - Like a Rock. Except a rock oulasts its warranty.
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    toyotas1toyotas1 Member Posts: 134
    Whenever I here that I say "Rock this!".....
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    Kirstie_HKirstie_H Administrator Posts: 11,150
    I'm disturbed by the new Mitsubishi Eclipse ad that's got the chick doing some Euro-dancing in the car to a really bad Euro-remix. First, I don't know what appeal dancing in the car should have, and second, no one should Eurodance.

    kirstie_h
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    tincup47tincup47 Member Posts: 1,508
    It may be, I find that ad (and almost all Mitsubishi ads) totally ridiculous.
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    andys120andys120 Member Posts: 23,420
    finds Bill (Wm. Clay)Ford's ads for FoMoCo annoying? Here's this guy who says he's going to "green" Ford and what's he pushing gas-guzzlin'
    trucks and SUVs. Oh please!

    2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93

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    crkeehncrkeehn Member Posts: 513
    gas guzzling trucks and SUV's.
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    ateixeiraateixeira Member Posts: 72,587
    He's talking about future products, like the Escape hybrid.

    Though I still find them silly - he even mentions a certain grandfather, a Firestone! DOH! Will you shut up?

    -juice
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    crkeehncrkeehn Member Posts: 513
    The famous camping outings are a matter of record. Whether they were in fact in the first SUV's they were the most significant industrialists of the early 20th century. Just last week Biography showed a program on Thomas Edison, one of the featured events...

    the camping trips with Henry Ford and Harvey Firestone. BTW, Thomas Edison was not a particularly good camper
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    suvshopper4suvshopper4 Member Posts: 1,110
    "the camping trips with Henry Ford and Harvey Firestone. BTW, Thomas Edison was not a particularly good camper"

    What, they couldn't get him to turn off the light?
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    andys120andys120 Member Posts: 23,420

    2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93

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    rfruthrfruth Member Posts: 630
    Chevy like a rock, when I hear that imagine something sitting there and it won't budge, almost as bad as reminding everyone of the Ford / Harvey Firestone connection .. but the Mitsubishi commercial zero down & zero payments for the first 12 months (isn't the idea to pay for it up front or as quickly as possible) takes the cake, the sad part is it really appeals to some people.
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    ateixeiraateixeira Member Posts: 72,587
    It's kind of like their safety recall program. Zero recalls until 2004, and then suddenly we reveal there were dozens we'd been hiding all along! Surprise!

    -juice
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    orcinmanorcinman Member Posts: 24
    Atex: True, but Ford isn't charging 10k over the Taurus for the Mercury stable-mate :)
    Call me crazy, but I get tired of platform sharing with non-luxury cars. I want a luxury-specific platform underpinning my vehicle, not a tuned bread-and-butter sedan, like the Camry (ES300) or Altima (G35).

    kristie_h: It's not age. Most of my college buddies just roll their eyes at Nissan commercials.

    These days, youth are more cynical than ever (except the middle school set and below, it seems). We get so outright annoyed with manufacturers shoving their product in their face, yelling: "hey ain't this cool! You want it, right? Right? Our marketing people say you like to goof off and dance in cars? Right? RIGHT? PLEASE GOD BUY OUR POS!".

    Three manufacturers are most guilty of these most heinous of insults: Toyota, Ford, and Mitsubishi.
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    ateixeiraateixeira Member Posts: 72,587
    You are right about the Camry and ES300 sharing a platform, but the Altima and G35/Skyline do not. The Altima did get just the rear suspension from the JDM Skyline, but they are on different platforms. The Altima is FWD and has a 110" wheelbase, while the G35 is RWD and has a 112" wheelbase. The G actually shares a platform with the new Z car, but the Z has a shorter wheelbase.

    Some of the press photos showed the bottom side of a G35, and you can tell how purpose-built it is for RWD applications. Check it out, it's pretty cool. The G looks good, and is about the most active topic in the Town Hall. Lots of buzz about that vehicle.

    -juice
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    machiavellimachiavelli Member Posts: 260
    Not to nitpick, but the G35 is a RWD sedan based on the same platform as the Skyline and the new Z350, the Altima is a FWD sedan. They use the same engine, but it makes a little more power in the G35. They do look similar.
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    ateixeiraateixeira Member Posts: 72,587
    Yep, VQ series 3.5l V6 engine. 240hp in the Altima, 260hp in the G35. 280hp in the Z supposedly.

    -juice
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    andys120andys120 Member Posts: 23,420
    LX-300 and it's "Multi-stage airbag". They should have explained the benefits thereof. This ad left me thinking "hell if safety's important, you go for the big 3: Mercedes, Volvo or Saab.
    These are the only manufacturer's who have demonstrated a concern for safety before it became a good marketing posture.

    To be fair a lot of manufacturer's have made great improvements in safety lately but I think Lexus is just one among many, this ad doesn't convince me otherwise.

    2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93

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    speterson1speterson1 Member Posts: 228
    Was watching a lot of NCAA tournament basketball this weekend...

    For the first time I saw the Saturn Vue "ant" ad. So now they have the ant one, the bunny one, and the water lizard one. Their tagline is "comfortable in any surroundings", but it seems to me like another subliminal point is "this car is tiny", lol.

    Also saw the new Joe Izuzu ad for the Isuzu Axiom. I like the ad, it's very funny (especially his line about "the longest, sexiest, warranty of any SUV"). I can't tell if the overall point of the ad is obvious sarcasm or not though, I mean, in my opinion, the Isuzu Axiom is so boxy looking, it's about as sexy as a refrigerator.

    My favorite ads of the weekend were not even really car ads, but two Midas ads. The first one with the Yugo owner who wants to jump the bridge cracks me up every time, and the other one with "Mr. AC" and his frozen arm mishap is also hilarious, love how he starts waving with his other arm after the first one falls off!

    Steve
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    loncrayloncray Member Posts: 301
    Saw an interesting ad this weekend - Dodge truck passes a large boat on a trailer rolling sans tow down a mountain road the other way. Truck whips around, gets in front of the boat, and actually gets it hooked up while still speeding down the mountain road. Of course, I was wondering why I couldn't get a trailer to hook up that easily while sitting in a nice level parking lot, but I digress. Anyway, the truck pulls to a stop with the boat, preventing said boat from careening off a cliff. Then a Chevy with a camper goes by, and the lady in the passenger seat says "Hey, they've got a boat just like ours!" You then get to see the loose tow chains dangling from behind the Chevy. The ad bends reality, but seemed pretty cool!
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    ateixeiraateixeira Member Posts: 72,587
    The Yugo-over-the-bridge cracks me up. There was a movie that had a lot of Yugo humor, I forget the name now, but Bette Midler was in it. Anyone?

    That Joe Isuzu ad makes me chuckle.

    -juice
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    kgallant46kgallant46 Member Posts: 12
    Drowning Mona...hilarious!!
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    ateixeiraateixeira Member Posts: 72,587
    Correct, thanks.

    -juice
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    kenjabikenjabi Member Posts: 76
    There's another ad that I've seen during the Tournament that I find interesting. It's the one with the two Volvos "playing" one-on-one on the roof of a skyscraper. It's pretty cool, the bodies of the cars move up and down to simulate breathing and a bead of sweat drips down one car. One thing I found interesting was when the two cars slightly bump head on, their grilles cave a little and then pop back to normal, like the doors of a Saturn would do. Is that a true feature, or just computer enhanced?

    GO TERPS!
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    ateixeiraateixeira Member Posts: 72,587
    Another Terp fan? BS class of 1990, MS class of 1992.

    Kentucky won't be easy.

    That Volvo ad was interesting, certainly a bit on the edge for Volvo.

    -juice
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    kenjabikenjabi Member Posts: 76
    BS in 2000 here.

    Should be a great game on Friday.

    In keeping with the subject...I don't get the point of the Chevy ad with the bouncing cars (popular among the hip-hop crowd). Can only Chevys be rigged to do that weird stuff or something?
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    rickabtrickabt Member Posts: 34
    For the last several weeks, I've been noticing a change in the musical direction of ad agencies. There has been a recent inclination towards heavy 70's rock in commercials. In the underground, the popularity of 70's rock started to spike up about seven years ago, and now it seems poised for a big breakthrough.

    First I got a big kick out of Anheuser-Busch using Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Simple Man" for their Busch commericals. Later, General Motors rolled out Grand Funk Railroad's "We're an American Band" for their all-inclusive ad for their many brands.

    One day, all of the stars and planets were aligned just so that both of those commercials appeared back-to-back on my TV during a basketball game. Had I not been watching the TV, I would've thought that I had just turned on the classic rock radio station or that the rednecks next door were having a big barbecue.
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    implicitimplicit Member Posts: 41
    Where GM compares Malibu to the Nissan Altima and Toyota Camry. Just shows how pathetic they are and how better those car are.
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    ateixeiraateixeira Member Posts: 72,587
    Chevy is implying that its cars last a long time, long enough to be restored/customized. But I don't buy it - Chevy is near the bottom of CR reliability surveys.

    It's not enough to make a claim - you have to back it up with hard facts.

    -juice
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    tj_610tj_610 Member Posts: 132
    Wasn't that bouncing car trick popular, oh, about 15 years ago? Maybe I'm out of touch. What's next, breakdancers selling Camrys? Anyway, I'm sure installation of the bounce stuff would void that critical GM warranty...

    Anyone see the new G wagon Mercedes ad where it flies through the crash test wall? Pretty funny, although that is one overpriced, ugly truck.
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    svevarsvevar Member Posts: 160
    Those commercials with Bill Ford are really starting to annoy me. I laugh every time I hear him say that Ford makes the best SUVs. And the pickup truck commercial is equally ridiculous. "People come up to me and say they'd like to buy an old Ford truck, but they can't find one in good condition. That's a good thing." I dunno... to me that just sounds like a funny thing to say in a commercial. What do you think?
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    andys120andys120 Member Posts: 23,420
    I think young Bill's point is that trucks are made to be used and used hard. He's right about that! This business of using a truck as a substitute for a car started coz they used to be cheaper but now it's silly. Bash that truck, bang it around, abuse it!

    2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93

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    ateixeiraateixeira Member Posts: 72,587
    You mean hydraulics. It's a small aftermarket niche, but it's been around for a while.

    I find at least one logic fault in every one of those Bill Ford ads. He mentions his grandpappy Harvey Firestone in one (after a severed relationship with them), and "quality" in most others. Ford is bottom of the barrel, last in quality among the former Big 3 now. They should not even mention quality.

    -juice
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    dpwestlakedpwestlake Member Posts: 207
    "Bash that truck, bang it around, abuse it!"

    Then buy a new one from us next year.
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    rickabtrickabt Member Posts: 34
    I've been pretty bugged about the recent batch of advertisements from GM touting the reliability of Chevrolet despite the obvious fact that they trail nearly every other brand in that category.

    The most suspect of all of these ads is the one that portrays a Hollywood filmcrew trying to capture a chase scene involving a new Impala following a getaway car. The getaway fails (not a Chevy), causing a halt in production. All of the "actors" look disappointed and sigh, as if to say "Not again!"

    Then some smug jerk in the Chevy says "We'd have this scene wrapped up by now if they had a better car!"

    Have you noticed what kind of car that getaway vehicle is? It's a 12-year-old Alfa Romeo! Yeah ... what car isn't more reliable than that?

    That just goes to show that Chevy knows that they're not really that reliable.
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    ateixeiraateixeira Member Posts: 72,587
    Not to mention - the car gets a flat tire. That has absolutely zilch to do with reliability.

    So Chevy doesn't even know what the word means.

    -juice
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    andys120andys120 Member Posts: 23,420
    Me like! Some SLs are better than others but they're all in this commercial. Nice heritage theme.

    2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93

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    target3target3 Member Posts: 155
    I love the Pontiac ones, you know, "what would you do if you were given the keys". What a joke! Let's see, I get keys to a car - I am going to go skydiving, bungy jumping, and whitewater rafting. Give me a break.

    Actually, give me the keys, I will take the car and sell it.
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    ateixeiraateixeira Member Posts: 72,587
    I like the SL ad too.

    -juice
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    rickabtrickabt Member Posts: 34
    At one time, Pontaics sold like hotcakes. Then, they didn't sell quite as well. So Pontiac came out with cheap financing or rebates. Then that wasn't enough, so they had cheap financing AND rebates. Then that wasn't enough, so they came out with zero percent financing. Then that wasn't enough so they had to give the keys away to get people to drive the car.
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    a_l_hubcapsa_l_hubcaps Member Posts: 518
    Has anyone seen the Mercedes ad that shows the beat-up '70s Mercedes going into the crusher? It plays through a bunch of moments from the car's past, and then shows a new Mercedes coming off the assembly line. That was one of the coolest car ads I've ever seen, but it didn't quite have the desired effect on me...it makes me want to go rescue an old 300D from the junkyard :-)

    -Andrew L
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    tj_610tj_610 Member Posts: 132
    I do love the new SL "heritage" ad, but then again the SL is my dream car. Got no response before, so I'll mention it again -- I loved the MB G-wagon ad where it goes through the barrier and wall during crash testing.
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    ateixeiraateixeira Member Posts: 72,587
    LOL, Rick. Lutz agrees with you, and believe me he's doing something about it. Solistice looks like a good start.

    Saw the G class ad for the first time, finally, and thought it was pretty funny. They start so serious, you're waiting to hear about safety, and it turns humorous.

    Mercedes is classy with their ads. Leon Mandell passed away and they bought a full page ad honoring him, with only a tiny logo at the bottom. Very classy.

    -juice
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