Dodge Magnum commercial promotes fullscreen over widescreen (1 Viewer)

[Wayne Bundrick]

If you haven't seen this commercial yet, it starts out letterboxed until the driver stops the car, gets out and removes the "black bars" from the screen and puts them in the back of the car.

I've just seen this commercial twice in about fifteen minutes, ironically during the NHL Playoffs in HDTV on ABC. So there are still black bars on the sides because their commercial doesn't fill the 16x9 screen.

 

[Clint B]

Let's boycott Dodge! :wink:

 

[Wayne Bundrick]

Can't boycott a company if they don't have a product I'd want to buy in the first place. I'm not impressed by a station wagon with a Hemi.

 

[Andy_Hamric]

Hemi is a marketing gimmick as far as I'm concerned. Maybe technically the combustion chamber is slightly more powerful in a hemispherical configuration. Of course I'm not really into cars much.

It's probably like picking between to comparable receivers the one that has THX vs one that doesn't. Is it really better? You decide.

 

[Scott Strang]

Funny. I'd expect to see this on a Chevy spot before a Dodge one.

 

[Garrett Lundy]

Why are they putting the HEMI in a sedan and a wagon but not a sporty muscle-car? Ford doesn't sell umpteen-billion mustangs a years because people think they're enviromentally friendly.

 

[Scott Strang]

I read somewhere that Dodge will bringing back the Charger with that Hemi V-8 and rear drive.

That should be interesting.

 

[Eric_Connelly]

I just feel the need to comment.

Ford sells umpteen million V6 Mustangs, small share V8, plus the Magnum, or 300C will run down a 4.6 liter Mustang, save for the Cobra, any day of the week.

The idea that the Mustang is a performance vehicle is probably the greatest marketing job in the world, when since the advent of the 4.6 liter Mod motor, the only saving grace of the 30 year old platform was the old 5 liter.

Early 4.6 liters ran mid 15's, hardly a break neck speed, new ones run low 14's, still slow enough to be bested by a huge hand full of cars, including the high 13 second 300C and Magnum at quite a weight disadvantage, not to mention they STILL run on their ancient Fairmont chassis.

Andy, if you do not understand the reasons why a hemispherical combustion chamber if better, then why comment on it? Sure part of it is 'gimmick', but there are real advantages to the setup over a more common used design.

 

[John_VI]

To any car-savvy person, "Hemi" is much more than a marketing ploy. It is genuine performance. Period.

Dodge is reintroducing the Charger with a Hemi, probably in '05 or '06. And Ford is reintroducing the "old" Mustang. I can't remember the specifics, but I've seen pictures in Car and Driver. It looks like an early-70's Cobra, and is supposed to be a screamer. And let's not forget the reintroduced Ford GT. Wow, what a hot street-legal retro vehicle THAT is.

Regarding the commercial, I haven't seen it. But why would Dodge do something so lame?

 

[Eric_Connelly]

Dodge does things like this because of this post.

People talk about Chrysler commercials, that drives brand recognition and gets people talking.

If you've ever seen the "Concorde" Commercial you know what I mean.

 

[Malcolm R]

Always have, so I'm doing my part!

What was the point of the commercial? Are they trying to promote some film or DVD release?

 

[Jeff Bamberger]

Beyond the Palace hemi-powered drones scream down the boulevard.................

 

[WillG]

Yes, but the way the commercials are, the ones I have seen. They never explain what "Hemi" means. So they must be thinking they are going to throw the word out there and Joe and Jane SUV are going to say to the dealing, "we want this Hemi thing"

 

[Brent Bridgeman]

Yes, especially with the price of gas skyrocketing. Cost my wife over $40 to fill up our truck (luckily, my other vehicle is the Civic Hybrid) a couple of days ago, and gas in the Atlanta metro area is about as cheap as anywhere in the country. Unless the prices start falling again, I wonder if we'll start to see fuel efficient cars being marketed more heavily. Personally, I'm starting to get very curious about the Ford Escape Hybrid coming out this summer.

 

[Eric_Connelly]

A 'Hemi' stands for Hemispherical Combustion chamber.

Most cylinder heads that are 2 valve per cylinder are either a pent roof or a type of hemi chamber. However their valve layout if side by side, where as a Hemi is opposed giving the ability to run larger valves for a given area and also run dual spark plugs to help more even ignition.

All 4 valve engines are hemispherical chambers.

Chrysler has the patent on the name since they were the first mass production version. A Hemi is more set apart by its valve layout and dual plugs verus just the shape of the chamber.

$40.00 to fill up the truck? What was it? 40-50 dollar fill ups for trucks is the norm around the nation. I doubt you'll see any increase in fuel efficient vehicles, you'll get the snap buyers but never really enough to move the market anytime soon. The Escape will probably never see the light of day, delay after delay.

Diesel is where its at, wait till you see Hybrid prices. Diesel's are cheap either but they make tons of torque and are a blast to drive. I'd take a modern diesel over most gas engines in a daily driver. For those that balk at that, you've never driven a REAL modern diesel as none are really sold here in the US except the TDI which is on the lower end of the market.

Have driven some large SUV's with diesels, like the ML400 turbo diesel V8 that knocked down 28mpg with over 400ft lbs of torque its awesome.

The Tourareg will come here with a V10 Diesel, 355hp and 555ft lbs of torque, albeit at a 55K price tag.

Once you do the math however, Diesel's or Hybrids are just playing with numbers. At today's prices taking into 15K miles per year it would take 9 years to pay off the difference between a V10 Diesel Tourareg and the V8 4.2 Liter considering that large price difference.

That will change once diesel is more popular and prices start to fall. Its already like this in Europe and hopefully the trend will continue here.

I would like to try out the new RX400 from Lexus and see how it performs, its a new Hybrid but again the price tag is gonna be high.

Jeff,

Had me going for a minute, because until I looked up that line on Google I wondered if you were from the area. The DaimlerChrysler Headquarters is about 1 mile from the Palace of Auburn Hills

The Concorde ad was great but pulled due to complaints, this is the jist of it. A mother and daughter are driving around in their Concorde and the daughter asks "Where did Phoenix get his name", and the mother says "Well, we were in Phoenix when we had/conceived him(forget which", she goes "Is that why I'm named XXXX?(forgot)..."And my new brother Concorde?", then she looks over at the dash and see's Concorde on the dash and says something "Ew gross" or something to that effect.

Great commercial, but too many complaints.

BTW, last comment on the gas mileage, a 5.7 Liter Hemi V8 gets 25mpg with MDS on the new Magnum/300C.

 

[John_VI]

I'm going to be boycotting my Dodge Durango as soon as the lease is up (Feb 2005) because it is a gas hog. I'm going to be getting the most fuel-efficient, 4WD/AWD, >105" WB, 4Door,

 

[Eric_Connelly]

John,

All SUV's get poor gas mileage, although when the new Durango gets MDS it'll pick up over the 20's.

Your driving a brick, and a heavy one at that. You either put in a big V8 that makes alot of torque with relatively low gearing, like the new Durango and if your nice to it you'll get more than acceptable freeway mileage, but because of the gearing you might need to tip into it a bit more to get the acceleration you like.

Or you go with a smaller displacement and less torque, but higher gear ratio. Nice snappy performance but it runs out of steam pretty quick and buzzes at a higher RPM on the freeway killing gas mileage.

Diesels sit in the middle, you can go with a low rear gear, makes tons of torque to make up and barely spins at freeway speeds.

I *believe* the Diesel Liberty will get around 28mpg and that will be available in about 5 months, compared to the current 17mpg I see in our 3.7 liter Liberty.

I don't know what the premium for it will be, but at current prices, 1.69 for diesel and 2.02 for regular you'll break even in as little as 2-3 years if my guess on the diesel premium is there.

 

[Dave Miller]

Ya know, I've seen this comercial a couple of times and it never occured to me as a knock against widescreen...until now. Wayne, you may be on to something.

Peace,

DM