With higher gas prices and “saving the environment” on consumers’ minds, car companies have to use these topics to their advantage. All car commercials seem to mention their EPA MPG ratings now, conveniently always citing their highway MPG rating. (I live in Los Angeles, so “highway MPG” has no real meaning to me because I’m rarely not driving in stop-and-go traffic. And, I’m going to bet that’s the case for most other American city drivers, too.) So, how do car companies get consumers to buy their cars without actually improving their vehicles’ fuel economy? Define what “good” fuel economy means because, c’mon, there wasn’t an official definition anyway.
There’s this GMC commercial where an official suit-type says that most Americans don’t think of fuel economy when they think of a crossover (a term that I had never heard before these car commercials). He says that the GMC Acadia gets better fuel economy than the Honda Pilot (which is not saying much). The commercial ends with the directive, “Look it up,” and shows www.fueleconomy.gov.
So, I looked it up. I see that the Acadia FWD model has a highway rating 1 MPG better than the Pilot’s 2WD model, but that the combined rating is the same. Call me cynical, but is this supposed to be impressive? Is 24 MPG on the highway impressive?
My guess is that part of the effectiveness of this campaign might lie in the authority of the phrase, “Look it up.” It may seem like because they told me to look it up, they’re confident about the answer and I don’t need to confirm it. (The answer being, “The Acadia has ‘good’ fuel economy.”) In fact, my reaction to “Look it up” should be “You look it up, douche bag” or “I already knew that, douche bag” or maybe just “U.S.A.! U.S.A.!”
For the most part, I’ve been living in a bubble about fuel economy. I drive a small car and have only been driving regularly for a few years. Unless I’m moving across the country, I usually drive about half the annual mileage of the average American. I’m lucky, I guess. I tend to live relatively close to where I work and near all conveniences. The gas price increases over the last year have meant sacrificing about one or two take-out meals per month for me. When people talk about how much they’re “hurting” from gas prices, I guess these people have to eat out four times less per month.
16 August 2008 – 11:00 PM
Posted in Blahg, Television | Tags: advertising, driving, GMC Acadia | No Comments »
There’s this commercial for the Honda Pilot where a Pilot driver picks up two guys, and one of the guys is stuck inside cement. The driver calls the Pilot “really fuel efficient” and then the guy in the cement chimes in with “It’s true” and quotes something he read on a blog. Then the voiceover calls the Pilot “surprisingly fuel efficient.”
So, I got curious about what Surpisingly Fuel Efficient™ means to Honda. This is what I found out from www.fueleconomy.gov:
I actually wasn’t surprised. At a combined 19 MPG or 18 MPG rating, the Pilot is only slightly more “fuel efficient” than a Hummer.
29 July 2008 – 9:00 PM
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For the past couple of New Year’s days, I’ve documented how many miles I drove in the preceding year and my most played songs in my iTunes library. Well, I wiped out my hard drive so many times in the past year, that keeping track of my iTunes play counts became unreliable. I also went through a period of listening to music in other formats, or not listening to music at all.
I, however, made a list of what I call definitively, “My Favorite Songs of All Time.” Rather than listing them, I plan to write something about these songs later. I’m not sure how I’m going to go about that plan just yet.
As for the amount of miles I drove, it would be easily calculable, but I’m too lazy to do it. I can say with certainty that I cracked the 10,000 mile mark for the first time in my life. (Which isn’t saying much, since I’ve only been driving regularly for three years.) I probably came close to doubling my miles driven in 2006. (Which also isn’t saying much, as it just means I moved from Austin to Los Angeles.)
Here’s to 2008.
4 January 2008 – 7:00 PM
Posted in New Year | Tags: driving, iTunes | No Comments »
On 1 January 2006, I reset the trip meter on my car, and the Play Count in my iTunes library. However, I switched computers and cars during the year. So, the numbers are composite.
Miles driven in 2006: 7114 (I drove 6154 in the first car, and 960 in the second car, overall 461 more than last year.)
Most played songs on iTunes in 2006:
- Kenny Chesney, “I Go Back,” When the Sun Goes Down
- Kenny Chesney, “Don’t Happen Twice,” Greatest Hits
- Rob Dickinson, “The Night,” Fresh Wine For the Horses
- Kenny Chesney, “She’s Got It All,” Greatest Hits
- Kenny Chesney, “How Forever Feels,” Greatest Hits
- Kenny Chesney, “Back in My Arms Again,” Me and You
- The Replacements, “Can’t Hardly Wait,” All For Nothing
- Catherine Wheel, “Crank,” Chrome
- Catherine Wheel, “Show Me Mary (XFM),” Waydown #1
- Catherine Wheel, “What We Want to Believe In,” Wishville
Out of the 4261 songs in my library (1000 more than last year), I never listened to 2540 of them (on my 2nd computer, that is—I have no data from the 1st computer).
My music tastes this year seemed to narrow, but they also weren’t that different from last year. I attribute the Kenny Chesney spike to seeing him in concert at the Frank Erwin Center (a really good show) and the Catherine Wheel spike to Rob Dickinson’s solo album.
1 January 2007 – 12:00 AM
Posted in New Year | Tags: driving, iTunes | No Comments »
On 1 January 2005, I reset the trip meter on my car, and the Play Count in my iTunes library.
Miles driven in 2005: 6653 (I drove 3970 miles after July 1st)
Most played songs on iTunes in 2005:
- Wilson Pickett, “634-5789 (Soulsville U.S.A.),” The Very Best of
- John Hiatt, “Only the Song Survives,” Crossing Muddy Waters
- The Louvin Brothers, “In the Pines,” Tragic Songs of Life
- The Louvin Brothers, “Alabama,” Tragic Songs of Life
- Sam Cooke, “It’s All Right/For Sentimental Reasons (Live),” One Night Stand: Live at the Harlem Square Club
- Charlie Robison, “El Cerrito Place,” Good Times
- Emmylou Harris, “If I Could Only Win Your Love,” Pieces of the Sky
- Sam Cooke, “Bring It On Home To Me,” The Man Who Invented Soul
- Catherine Wheel, “Wish You Were Here (XFM),” Show Me Mary
- John Hiatt, “What Do We Do Now,” Crossing Muddy Waters
Out of the 3261 songs in my library, I never listened to 746 of them (in full, at least).
In general, I listened to a lot of Louvin Bros, Sam Cooke, and Catherine Wheel in 2005. I also listened to a lot of Kenny Chesney, although no one song of his cracked my top ten. The fact that I listened to “634-5789 (Soulsville U.S.A.)” the most in 2005 is probably a fluke, as I like Wilson Pickett, but I liked that song disproportionately to his other songs, mostly because it’s the younger brother to my perennial favorite “Beechwood 4-5789″ by the Marvelettes.
1 January 2006 – 12:00 AM
Posted in New Year | Tags: driving, iTunes | No Comments »
