I can't stand it anymore - and it's only been two months. Fuccillo Hyundai commercials are insanely bad. Not just bad, but insideous. Part of the problem is that they're on all the time. Frankly, if this guy from Syracuse wants to pump thousands of advertising dollars into the local economy, that's great. I don't mind our region walking away with this guys money - particularly from Central New York, an area not exactly known for economic prosperity (OK..OK... Rochester isn't that much better, but this was Smugtown, afterall... so I'm going with it.) In fact, I've got to guess that the amount of dollars spent on advertising is almost a wash - given the relatively low margin on the sale of a new car. But how many years do we need to see this same crap on TV, again and again?
Let me be perfectly clear.... I will NEVER buy a Hyundai. I don't care if it was third in initial quality behind Porsche and Lexus. And what the heck IS initial quality anyway? Well, here you go:
"IQS measures a broad range of quality problems, heavily weighted toward defects and malfunctions, quality of workmanship, drivability, human factors in engineering (i.e. ease of use) and safety-related problems. Among these categories, the area that accounts for the greatest product improvement since 1998 are defects and malfunctions, down from 61 PP100 to 40 PP100. Further, those that are related to safety show a 44 percent improvement—from 25 PP100 down to only 14."
What does that mean? It means that Hyundai's cars have few problems up front. How many problems 3 or 5 years from now? God only knows. Maybe none. Maybe lots. I'll admit, the initial quality of my Honda Civic is a lot better than my Audi A4. But while I love the Honda... uh... it's a HONDA. I have images of Principal Skinner after the "H" on his Honda was stolen, "That's how they know it's a Honda!"
I drove my dad's Audi TT a few weeks before we turned it back in, and after that the thought crossed my mind that I'd made a horrible mistake with the Honda. It's not nearly as fast as the TT or the A4. It'd doesn't have the same overall solid feel. There was no moonroof option. It's automatic. It also gets 45-50 miles-per-gallon, which is fantastic. But if I make a million dollars, guess what... I'm buying a Porsche. And not because John Holtz ran a million annoying commercials every hour, or because Porsche has the highest initial quality ranking.
