QOTD: The Most Superb of All?

Matthew Guy
by Matthew Guy

Yesterday was, in addition to being an excellent palindrome, a pretty big day for sports. With untold million being thrown around by companies vying for attentive eyeballs, our own Chris Tonn offered a roundup of the various and sundry Super Bowl cars ads, leaving us with one questions: what was your fave?

Hyundai seemed to score a touchdown with a good many on the internet with their Smaht Pahk ad, highlighting the Sonata’s ability to worm its own way in and out of a parking spot. It even spurred a MA cop shop to get in on the action.

Quick remindah, that even if your cahh is equipped with smaht pahk, an offisah will give you a ticket if you pahk.

❌ Within 10’ of a Fiah Hydrant

❌ Blocking a Fiah Lane

❌Handicap Pahking w/o placahd

❌ Pahking within 20’ of an Intahsection

❌ Intahfering w/ Snow Removal https://t.co/Wgr4If6CXc

— Braintree Police Department (@BraintreePolice) January 31, 2020

Your author enjoyed the Jeep ad, which latched on to the fact Super Bowl fell on Groundhog Day, dragging Bill Murray out of mothballs to go for (several) spins in the new Gladiator.

How about it? Which of this year’s Super Bowl ads — heck, let’s throw it open to past years, too — was your pick of the litter? Actually, if we’re permitted to go back in time, I’m absolutely selecting the Chrysler 200 ad from a few years ago. That was a great commercial, even if the car itself was somewhat wanting.

Matthew Guy
Matthew Guy

Matthew buys, sells, fixes, & races cars. As a human index of auto & auction knowledge, he is fond of making money and offering loud opinions.

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  • Gearhead77 Gearhead77 on Feb 04, 2020

    In a sea of meh commercials, Hyundai's "cah pahk" was pretty good, at least it was original. The Genesis ad was OK, I couldn't care less. But back in the day, they would have used "stuffy luxury vehicles" and compared them to "the game changer". Like "The LS400 has all the features of the 560SEC and was half the price" " Is "Always Sunny" that much of a thing that people will get the reference to the character? I've watched the show and I like it, but isn't this commercial about 5 years past its peak? (I know, ads trying to be "cool" is nothing new) For the first time in a long time, the game was better than the ads. And I'm not a football fan or sports fan. I can follow the game, but don't ask me who's the better QB or why they should have used Play Z over Play X in that situation. Don't care.

  • Daniel J Daniel J on Feb 04, 2020

    I for one couldn't stand the Hyundai commercial. Thought it was terrible. Didn't think any of it funny at all. I don't think making fun of the accent was special at all. It would be one thing if these actors really did have that thick of an accent. It might be half believable if Donny or Mark Wahlburg did the commercial. I mean, I wouldn't see actors from the south in some southern twang accent doing a Ford F150 commercial appealing at all. I did enjoy the gladiator commercial.

  • Redapple2 Good luck to them. They used to make great cars. 510. 240Z, Sentra SE-R. Maxima. Frontier.
  • Joe65688619 Under Ghosn they went through the same short-term bottom-line thinking that GM did in the 80s/90s, and they have not recovered say, to their heyday in the 50s and 60s in terms of market share and innovation. Poor design decisions (a CVT in their front-wheel drive "4-Door Sports Car", model overlap in a poorly performing segment (they never needed the Altima AND the Maxima...what they needed was one vehicle with different drivetrain, including hybrid, to compete with the Accord/Camry, and decontenting their vehicles: My 2012 QX56 (I know, not a Nissan, but the same holds for the Armada) had power rear windows in the cargo area that could vent, a glass hatch on the back door that could be opened separate from the whole liftgate (in such a tall vehicle, kinda essential if you have it in a garage and want to load the trunk without having to open the garage door to make room for the lift gate), a nice driver's side folding armrest, and a few other quality-of-life details absent from my 2018 QX80. In a competitive market this attention to detai is can be the differentiator that sell cars. Now they are caught in the middle of the market, competing more with Hyundai and Kia and selling discounted vehicles near the same price points, but losing money on them. They invested also invested a lot in niche platforms. The Leaf was one of the first full EVs, but never really evolved. They misjudged the market - luxury EVs are selling, small budget models not so much. Variable compression engines offering little in terms of real-world power or tech, let a lot of complexity that is leading to higher failure rates. Aside from the Z and GT-R (low volume models), not much forced induction (whether your a fan or not, look at what Honda did with the CR-V and Acura RDX - same chassis, slap a turbo on it, make it nicer inside, and now you can sell it as a semi-premium brand with higher markup). That said, I do believe they retain the technical and engineering capability to do far better. About time management realized they need to make smarter investments and understand their markets better.
  • Kwik_Shift_Pro4X Off-road fluff on vehicles that should not be off road needs to die.
  • Kwik_Shift_Pro4X Saw this posted on social media; “Just bought a 2023 Tundra with the 14" screen. Let my son borrow it for the afternoon, he connected his phone to listen to his iTunes.The next day my insurance company raised my rates and added my son to my policy. The email said that a private company showed that my son drove the vehicle. He already had his own vehicle that he was insuring.My insurance company demanded he give all his insurance info and some private info for proof. He declined for privacy reasons and my insurance cancelled my policy.These new vehicles with their tech are on condition that we give up our privacy to enter their world. It's not worth it people.”
  • TheEndlessEnigma Poor planning here, dropping a Vinfast dealer in Pensacola FL is just not going to work. I love Pensacola and that part of the Gulf Coast, but that area is by no means an EV adoption demographic.
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