Like most people, I spent my Sunday evening at a Super Bowl party. Gorging myself on wings and cocktail shrimp, and half-watching the game. I also managed to half-watch the commercials, and since this is an automotive enthusiast site, we’re gonna take a look at the eight automotive commercials that aired. Let’s start with Audi.
Audi
It’s called “Daughter”. The daughter is in a soapbox derby, and she’s the only girl in the field. The voice-over is the father asking himself what he is going to tell his daughter about her value, because she (and the rest of us) live in a world where women, on average, make less than men. It’s not selling a car, although they show an S5 sedan at the end. It’s promoting them being committed to equal pay for equal work, which is a very noble thing. As a car ad, it’s not that great. Considering that they showed off a sedan version of one of their coupes, which means that they’ll be making sedan versions of their coupes, which makes me irrationally angry. As a PR piece, it was ok.
Buick
Buick is still trying to convince people that they’re not building transportation for the elderly. An admirable goal, but Buick is always gonna have that stigma. The ad is funny: Cam Newton destroys pee-wee football players, and Miranda Kerr shows up. I still think Buicks are sleds for the elderly, and this ad doesn’t really change that.
FCA
They came out with two 1 minute spots, and a 30 second spot for the Alfa Romeo Giulia. One is about returning to greatness, Riding On The Backs of Dragons, another is about predictability, Dear Predictable, and the last one is all of the cliches you could want when talking about an Alfa, Mozzafiato. It’s pretty hard to make the Giulia look bad, and it’s a trick to make the Quadrifoglio sound bad. Thankfully the car looks and sounds amazing in the spots, and I want one even more now. The spots show off the car really well, and hopefully this means we’ll see more of them running around in the wild.
Ford
Like Audi, Ford didn’t show off any particular vehicle. This was them showing off how they’ll help you (or whoever) get around in the future. Bike sharing, Transit vans on call, vehicles that can hard park themselves. The future is looking bright for the Blue Oval! Or whatever. All I know is that they’ll be pounding out F-Series trucks until the sun expands and engulfs our little, blue marble. Did anyone else relate to some of those bad luck scenarios in the first half of that commercial? A few of those hit too close to home for me…
Honda
The Honda ad, which was slinging the new CRV, was inspiring and creepy. Using technology, they animated various celebrities’ year book photos. That was the creepy part. The inspiring part was what the celebrities were saying. And I’m not sure the CRV, while a decent little crossover, is not the most aspirational vehicle they could be pitching… Meh, it still works.
Kia
Melissa McCarthy, a treasure, keeps trying to defend nature. And nature absolutely wrecks here. Up to this point, this is the ad that is the most cohesive. It’s pitching the Niro (pronounced Nee-ro), which is apparently the most fuel efficient crossover. It fits with Mrs. McCarthy trying to be an eco-warrior, although hopefully it doesn’t fail like she did. The Niro looks pretty good, and I’m curious to see what the interior looks like.
Lexus
Lexus showed off the LC500, a damn fine looking vehicle. There was something about emotion in there, but all I remember is hearing the glorious engine noise. And the dancing, but mostly the engine noise. Again, damn fine looking vehicle.
Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz knows that your dad and his golf buddies are probably going to buy the new AMG GT Roadster, so they got Peter Fonda to reprise his role from Easy Rider for their ad. They also know that you’ll be watching this along side them, so the tapped the Coen brothers to direct it. It’s not a bad ad, has some humor, and Peter Fonda is still pretty bad ass. And odds are that if you were on board for the AMG GT, then you’re on board for an al fresco version.
And that’s the lot of them. Let us know which was your favorite, which you hated (I’ve got an idea where some of you will go with this), and if you’ve made it this far you deserve a treat. So, here’s the Logan ad:
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A healthy chunk of us watched the Super Bowl on Sunday, and some of us watched for the commercials. I watched because it involved going to a place where there was awesome brisket and hominy dip, but that’s neither here nor there. Since this is an auto enthusiast website, let’s not discuss the game but instead talk about some commercials! Specifically the commercials from the auto manufacturers. This year we had commercials from Kia, Hyundai, Honda, Acura, Mini, Buick, Toyota, Audi, and FCA. What were each of these manufacturers pushing, and who (or what) did they get to push whatever it is? LET’S FIND OUT TOGETHER! And then let’s rate them on a scale from 1-10. Sound good? Great!
Full Disclosure: I missed the first quarter, and was far more concerned with wolfing down food than with what was going on on the screen. With the exception of Kia, Mini and Honda, this is the first time I’m seeing these commercials.
Let’s start with
Kia:
They’re pushing the new Optima with Christopher Walken and sock puppets! OOO, look how shiny and not like any other mid-sized sedan it is! Except it kinda looks like a Camry, and that interior doesn’t look THAT amazing. But I do appreciate the dig they’re taking at everyone else. Buying a mid-sized sedan is a lot like choosing socks: you just pick something that won’t stand out, and go on about your day. Some options are more boring than others, but at the end of the day we’re talking about socks. The things that keep your feet warm and dry, and comfortable in your shoes. They don’t need to be flashy, and wacky sock guy isn’t a great guy to be. I EXPRESS MY PERSONALITY THROUGH MY SOCKS! ZABOW!!! Please don’t be that guy, or be that guy and let me hurl grapefruits at you. Either or.
And was anyone else hoping Christopher Walken was going to break out his monologue from Pulp Fiction? It wouldn’t have been nearly as marketable, but it would’ve been the best commercial in twenty-years.
Score: 6.5
Hyundai:
They had four ads this year!
In the first one, titled The Chase, a pair of hikers (a guy and a gal) are being chased through the woods by two Grizzly Bears. Thinking quickly, the guy speaks into his smart watch, and the 2017 Elantra fires up. They hop in, and escape the bears. Hooray! But then the bears are given some dialogue, and I am suddenly overcome by the desire to burn whoever green lit that idea at the stake. Why do I want to revive the practice usually reserved for witches? You saw the vegan joke, right? I rest my case.
The second ad is titled Ryanville, and features two ladies driving down a suburban street where every man they see is noted Canadian Ryan Reynolds. He’s riding a bike. He’s giving and receiving a traffic ticket. He’s an entire construction crew. He’s playing five on five football with nine other Ryan Reynoldses, one of whom seems way too aggressive for this being a simple pick up game. I believe this to be the “evil” clone.
The women swoon and gawk, and damn near hit Ryan Reynolds the dog walker. Thankfully for them (the world at large really), their Elantra has whatever they’re calling their collision avoidance and automatic braking system. The world will have more Deadpool appearances, which makes this a much better world to live in.
First Date: Kevin Hart’s daughter goes on a date with a boy who may have nefarious intentions. Kevin is reasonably concerned, so he let’s them take his Genesis 5.0. The Genesis is equipped with Car Finder, which he uses to stalk the couple. He’s at the movie they go to, he’s hiding in a pile of stuffed animals at the midway on the pier, and he shows up on a ladder hanging underneath what looks like an AH-1 Cobra attack helicopter.
Their final spot was titled Better, and revolves around a boy who has a seemingly unique birth defect (condition? abnormality?): he has a V8 that produces a blue light protruding from his chest. We see him go from baby, to toddler, to elementary school (where he knows how many moons Saturn has and can play Galaga like a pro), to high school (where he ignores his friend and talks to some attractive female classmates), to college (where he burns the midnight oil in the library), to post collegiate life (where he enjoys fitness and helping the elderly). And then we see where he works, and who he works with. The where appears to be a Hyundai design studio, and the who are other people with THE SAME ENGINE THING ON THEIR CHESTS! Turns out that the engine is a metaphor. “Better is the engine that drives us,” says Paul Rudd, who did the voice over work in all of the Hyundai spots. We then see the intrepid lad looking at a concept vehicle that he penned. Is Hyundai better than they were before? Definitely. Are they better than most of their competitors? Well, they’re better than enough of them to remain a relevant player.
Score: 7. Blame the bears and the engines, praise Kevin Hart and Ryan Reynolds.
Honda:
In the third quarter is where America was introduced to the new 2017 Honda Ridgeline, which looks like an Odyssey that had everything behind the C-pillar cut off and replaced with a truck bed. In this ad we have a farmer transporting sheep, a handful at a time, to a pasture for grazing. We can hear Queen’s Somebody to Love playing from the truck as the farmer unloads what has to be his twentieth load of sheep. He drives off, and the sheep start singing the classic song. They stop when the farmer, and three more sheep, return. And it’s here that we find out why the sheep are singing Queen: because of the truck bed audio system that’s an option on the new Ridgeline! I can understand how this could be a useful feature, but I’m not 100% sure I get how it went from a note in a focus group to a thing that you can get on your truck. Anyway, the farmer drives away and the sheep begin singing again. Then we see the truck in front of a barn, and hear a voice over talking about the truck bed audio. The camera slides over to reveal that the farmer’s dog is delivering the lines. After seeing this ad, I noticed the four dogs running around the room. I felt a sudden wave of melancholy wash over me, and I went back for more brisket and chicken nuggets.
Score: 6. Any other song, and this would’ve been scored much lower.
Acura:
Acura was pushing the 2017 NSX, something they’ve been doing for four years now. Instead of having Jerry Seinfeld, noted Porsche fan, trying to get the first NSX (something he didn’t do in the 2012 ad, and something he didn’t do this year), they released a 30 second version of a longer commercial they released a week before! They show the car going from a block of aluminum to a car via all the processed that are necessary to go from block of aluminum to car, with Runnin With The Devil playing in the background. While not a bad commercial, this is another one of the many odd steps Acura has taken during this whole NSX gestation period. Why undercut your Super Bowl commercial by releasing the minute long version a week before the game? I demand answers!
*pounds fist on table*
*Funko POP figures fall down*
OH MY GOD NO!!!!!!!!!
Score: 7 for the extended cut, 4 for this version. Seriously…
Mini
Several celebrities (take that with a grain of salt) hurl labels at the Minis. Tony Hawk, Abby Wambach, Randy Johnson, T Pain, Serena Williams, a little girl, Michael Whinnet, some racing drivers, and Harvey Keitel are all here to tell you that people who defy labels define themselves. And they also want you to buy a Mini Clubman, which I’m gonna go ahead and say don’t. For $29,000 there are better options, ones that don’t include a pillar running through the middle of your rear window.
By the way, does anyone remember Harvey Keitel driving an NSX in Pulp Fiction? Why can’t HE be pushing the NSX? Why, of all things, the Mini Clubman?
Score: 7.5. Who are some of these people??
Buick
Remember when we thought Buick was going to be cool again? While we have the Regal GS, we have to take things like the Cascada to get it. Is it a shorter Murano Cross Cabrio? A taller VW Eos? Whatever it is, it’s at a wedding and it’s criminally under vandalized. Seriously, who are these guests and why isn’t that thing filled with balloons, tissue paper, and other random crap? *annoyed grunt*
Since it’s a wedding, there HAS to be a bouquet toss. The bride throws the bouquet over the assembled women vying for the flowers, and one recreates an O’Dell Beckham Jr. catch. The bystanders remark on how Beckham Jr. like her catch was, then OBJ himself says that she was out of bounds. Adorably hilarious. Where’s that Avista sport coupe? MAKE IT HAPPEN PEOPLE!
Score: 5.5. Could’ve been worse, could’ve been a lot better though.
Toyota
NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO! The only exciting Prii are not even really Prii. The entire time this commercial was playing, I was imagining running those idiots off the road. The day America falls in love from some bumbling idiots, running aimlessly from the cops in a Prius, is the day the fiery gates of Hell open up, and fire and brimstone fall from the sky and finish ruining our shit.
Score: Words cannot express how much I hate this commercial.
Audi
New R8? Good. Bowie’s Starman in the background? Amazing. A son using said R8 to reignite his former astronaut father’s interest in life?
This was the best commercial from the auto makers for this Super Bowl. I felt all of the feels.
Score: 11. IT’S JUST DUSTY IN HERE, OKAY?!?
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles
FCA kept it all about Jeep, and it’s 75 year anniversary. The first one talks about all the things Jeeps have done in those 75 years, and the other talks about all the things they currently do because they’re Jeeps. No model in particular, just Jeep. These two fall short, especially when compared to the three stellar commercials to come out of the FCA camp in years past.
Score: 8. Not great compared to their previous entries, but stellar compared to most of the other ones.
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NASA racers and support crew swarmed Miller Motorsports Park between the 4th and 8th of September for the NASA National Championships. Every class of NASA sanctioned racer were out there, along with your humble reporter/photographer. Well, the teams were there the whole time. I, unfortunately, only made it out on Friday the 6th, but I brought you pictures! And results!
Us Against One Clothing printed up some stickers for the locals to run if they chose to. The locals weren’t going to roll over and make it easy for the out of towners to win.
The American Iron (AI), American Iron Extreme (AIX) and Camaro Mustang Challenge (CMC) guys were taking advantage of the Full Course layout by doing what Camaros and Mustangs do best: go fast in a straight line. There were plenty of straights for them to wring their pony cars out. The AI and AIX classes were dominated by Mustangs that made the trip to Miller Motorsports Park from as far away as Ohio! But it wasn’t all Mustangs (well, the winners were all piloting Mustangs) or out of towners.
Gary Free in his RaceCo prepped, South Towne Storage sponsored FR500S took fourth in AIX, besting two other competitors. Corey Weber and Todd Davis brought out some classic American wheels to compete with. Weber took fourth in AI while Davis took tenth.
TTU, 1, and 2 were dominated by the home team. Kyle Schick ran a blistering 1:55 to take TTU, while Shawn Murphy and his full interior STi took TT1 with a 2:03. Smith-Burke Racing took TT2 by two tenths of a second! Their 2:01.039 was just barely quick enough for the title, while Greg Valdez missed out on the podium by four tenths. He still managed to out run a twin turbo 911 and a 911 GT3 by four and six seconds respectively.
George Smith took the fight to the STR-1 crowd and emerged with the title in the JDP Motorsports/Smith Marketing Services C5 Corvette. Corvettes appeared on the podium in ST2 (won by Smith-Burke Racing), ST3 and SU, with outright wins in ST2 and 3!
SU field was the most exotic. A pair of prototype-esqe cars, a pair of Thunder Roadsters, a Viper, a Honda S2000 and a Corvette all vied for the title, but when the checkered flag dropped the #7 Elan DP02 of Jon Van Canegham emerged victorious.
Also, the Brits were represented.
Spec Miata was arguably the most action packed field. Most of the packs were at least four cars deep, and dueling pairs of Miatas and lone Miatas were more the exception than the rule. Blinkers were left on, doors were smashed, it was one of the more fun groups to see tear it up. When the dust settled Matt Schultz climbed atop the podium. He represents the NASA Northwest region. The best the hometown crew could do was 13th (Chris Bond, 007). Can’t win them all…
If Spec Miata was the most action packed, most fun group to watch; then the GTS group was the prettiest. Porsches and BMWs running hard lap after lap. The sight was glorious, and the noise was epic!
Out of a possible twenty-eight championships, MMP locals took six. Nearly one quarter of your NASA National Champions call Miller Motorsports Park home… Well, not literally, but you get my drift. The number could’ve been more just as easily as less. Brendon Stewart’s Evo was still in pieces, Jason Smith sold his very quick Civic, Travis Williams’s FR500S was still down from the endurance race, and I’m not sure where Dave Dingman disappeared to. Sally McNulty’s WRX was dealing with a bad head gasket, Jordan Priestly was doing support work for some of the drivers. Those are six locals who could’ve competed for, if not taken a championship. And we’ll just gloss over the Snows and John Potter, because we know how well they usually do.
The championship trophies may have been handed out, but the racing isn’t over for the season. The final two events are in October: 4th-6th on the West track and 25th and 26th on the Outer Loop. Still plenty of good times to be had, and for the TT guys, faster laps since it *should* be cooler out.
A full list of winners, placers, show-ers, just missed its and also rans can be found here. BUT since you’re here, I present you with a list of the Champions, their class and their home region:
Alec Udell, American Iron, Texas
John Miksula, American Iron Extreme, Midwest
Aaron McSpadden, Camaro Mustang Challenge, Texas
Matt Schultz, Spec Miata, Northwest
David Schotz, TTB & C, Arizona
Sonny Watanasirisuk, TTD, California-Southern
Jason Kohler, TTE, Great Lakes
George Smith, STR1, Rocky Mountain
Michael von Quilich, Super Touring 1, California-Southern
Team Smith-Burke Racing, Super Touring 2, Utah
Kenneth Smith, Super Touring 3, Great Lakes
Jon Van Caneghem, Super Unlimited, California-Southern
Tyler Palmer, 944 Spec, California-Southern
Dick Hunter, GTS2, Texas
Tony Colicchio, GTS3, California-Northern
Michael McAleenan, GTS4, Northwest
Peter Spencer, GTS5, Utah
David Schotz, PTB, Arizona
Dennis Holloway, PTC, California-Southern
Need Speed Orozco, PTD, California-Southern
Jason Kohler, PTE, Great Lakes
Walter Carlos, PTF, California-Southern
David Dirks, Spec Z, Rocky Mountain
Shawn Murphy, TT1, Utah
Team Smith-Burke Racing, TT2, Utah
Christopher Mayfield, TT3, Rocky Mountain
Kyle Schick, TTU, Utah
And there you have it. See you in a a few weeks, and because I told them this is where to look, here’s a picture of this AIX Mustang:
-Words and Photos by Michael Chandler
*Article and Photos are copyright of CAMAutoMag.Com and their respective owners.
