More on Cars

One of the things I was most impressed by during our stay in Victoria was that two of the cab companies (Empress and Bluebird) are using Toyota Prius hybrids to ferry folks around town. I'm still very enamored by the Prius (both its fuel efficiency and its good looks), and I'm going to have my first stab at driving one when we rent a Prius during a trip to San Diego in a few weeks (courtesy of Fox Rent A Car, which offers a 5% discount coupon). But Mrs. F and I are still more likely to buy a used VW diesel in the next year or two so that we can take advantage of the growing biodiesel market here in Seattle.

Speaking of diesel, Salon's How the World Works blog (written by Andrew Leonard) points to this delightfully animated European Honda advert from a couple years ago, touting their (then) new, quieter diesel engine. It's a risky advertising message -- Hate something/Change something -- that I'm not sure could work here in the US. But it's one of the most creative ad campaigns I've seen in a long time (and it won several awards). It's got Garrison Keillor singing and narrating the ad and I defy you to not continue to hum it after the ad is over. To help you sing along, here are the lyrics:

Here’s a little song for anyone who’s ever hated…
in the key of Grr

Can hate be good?
Can hate be great?
Can hate be good?
Can hate be great?
Can hate be something we don’t hate?
Whistling…

We’d like to know
why it is so
that certain diesels must be slow
and thwack and thrum
and pong and hum
can clatter clat

Penguins on see-saw bring changeHate something
Change something
Hate something change something
Make something better
Whistling…

Oh isn’t it just bliss
when a diesel goes just like this?
Whistling…

Sing it like you hate it…
Hate something
Change something
Hate something
Change something
Make something better

You can also download a 15 MB Quicktime version from the D&AD Awards 2004 winner site (hat tip to Duncan's TV Ad Land blog, which also posted the above lyrics).

But this brings up a question... when will Honda market diesels here in the US?

[UPDATE] The above-noted Quicktime file is pretty good resolution-wise, but if you want a quick-and-dirty view of the commercial, check out this lower-res Flash version from YouTube: