Kia TV ad: Spectra is so fuel efficient, you will forget which side the car the gas tank is on
Fuel efficiency is becoming more important to cars buyers. Ads are starting to reflect that and the best one I have seen recently is Kia's ad for the Spectra. The commercial's music is just a piano and the folksy voice of Joe Purdy singing "I just can't seem to get it right today." The visuals are a variety of melancholy people struggling to remember something from so long ago. What is this thing all these people have forgotten to do? How to fill a car's gas tank! The commercial explains "with fewer fill ups, you just might forget which side it's on." In one of the funnier parts of the commercial, one Kia owner refuses to re-position his car and tries to see if he can drag the gas pump nozzle all the way around the car. You can watch the commercial below the fold.
[Source: YouTube]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
ale 9:46PM (1/26/2008)
@kt
"(they were the same lever, you pushed to get the fuel door to open and pulled for the trunk)."
That makes a hell of a lot of sense... i can understand that one.. nothing like innovative engineering...
I support the diesel thing, if Kia brought that 5 door C'eed diesel here for ~15K, hello... first car..Or better yet, get Honda to sell a diesel Fit.. :]
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Tim 8:45AM (1/21/2008)
32mpg Highway? BIG DEAL! I get 30mpg highway in my 1998 Buick Park Avenue.
I don't want to use ANY liquid fuel for my daily commute. I want an E-REV-(20-40) but I WON'T PAY ONE PENNY MORE THAN $30K for it!
Hear THAT GM?
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Lascelles Linton 8:46AM (1/21/2008)
Tim, GM just can't seem to get it right today :D
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kt 9:17AM (1/21/2008)
I always forget which side my tank is on in my Insight. It's on the opposite side of my last car, a Civic hybrid, on which I popped the trunk instead of the fuel door more than once (they were the same lever, you pushed to get the fuel door to open and pulled for the trunk).
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Mort 9:30AM (1/21/2008)
They used to hide the fill up in strange places. Behind the license plate, in the grill, if you were driving someone else's car you had t ask before you left, no cell phone in those days. The horror...
Anyway, the sheep are obviously easily led by the brain washers on the teevee, let's get working with us in this thing. When fuel efficiency becomes cool again, like it was last time around, we should be able to shave 5 - 10% a year. They aren't even trying now, anything is an improvement.
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Dad 10:06AM (1/21/2008)
"1. 32mpg Highway? BIG DEAL! I get 30mpg highway in my 1998 Buick Park Avenue"
I get 30 in town and 35 on the highway in my 2007 4 cyl Malibu (I am a very gentle driver). The Malibu has a little arrow pointing (next to the fuel gauge) to the side of the car that has the filler pipe on the car. Very nice touch. Maybe KIA could do that?
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Michael Hippenhammer 10:51AM (1/21/2008)
32 mpg? No matter how hard I try I cannot get 32 mpg! Jack rabbit starts, burn outs, driving 80 mph on the highway or pulling a trailer with a half cord of wood and I still can't get 32 mpg. But that's what I get for driving a VW tdi Beetle that averages 42mpg, with out trying. My best was 48 mpg. Sorry that Kia gets such bad gas mileage.
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Mattias 11:05AM (1/21/2008)
Is this still the old Kia that was called "Cerato" here? Wow, since about one year they sell the "c'eed" with really nice common rail diesel engines.
The 115hp version gets a combined 50mpg in the EU standard cycle.
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mike 11:14AM (1/21/2008)
Mattias, thanks for the laugh.
The 115hp version, like we'll ever see that...
My Dad used to tell me about the good-old-days when you could buy a car that "only" had 100 horsepower.
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Mattias 11:33AM (1/21/2008)
#8: Even the 115hp Common Rail Diesel has plenty of torque starting around 1800¹/min -- compare it to a small V6. So "this" 115hp should suffice even for Americans.
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calebe 2:01PM (1/21/2008)
Mattias, In America we sometimes get older models for a longer time than Europe. We had the GM Jbody Cavalier for 20 years. While it received body changes the chassis stayed the same as the 1982 model. I doubt Kia will update to the newer C'eed in the USA while the Spectra/Cerato is still selling well. Diesel is just starting to become more accepted. Things change very slowly here.
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Davigan 2:37PM (1/21/2008)
32 mpg? THAT would be welcome news. My current Kia Optima barely eeks out 23 mpg (combined). I regret my purchase every day. For the same price, I should have bought a Yaris or a Corolla.
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Bill 8:45PM (1/21/2008)
Diesel, baby, diesel.
Drooling over the new diesel boxer engine Subaru will have in Europe (just over 40 mpg U.S. combined cycle), considering my gasser Subaru gets barely 20 mpg city.
Only in the diesel-deprived U.S.A. could 30 mpg highway be considered "fuel-efficient"
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typhoon5000 10:02AM (1/22/2008)
I hate this commercial. All new cars I've been in have had an arrow next to the fuel gage to tell you where the gas door is for idiot drivers like KIA owners.
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