Monday 23rd December 2013

Jaguar against Magic Body Control: PH Ad Break

Liked the Mercedes chicken ad? Here's what Jag makes of it

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There's nothing to beat a car advert that takes a swipe at a rival. Hopefully you've seen Mercedes Magic Body Control adthat uses a chicken and Diana Ross to demonstrate how the latest range of Benzes deliver 'optimum driving comfort'.

This is Jaguar's riposte. In fact, it's from Jaguar USA, which may explain the slightly dramatic conclusion and #GoodToBeBad hashtag. Let's just say Jaguar believes it has a better system than Magic Body Control. You suspect it's not quite cricket for a British ad campaign, but that doesn't stop it being rather enjoyable nonetheless.

This was nearly run as a Time For Coffee? but it's been a few weeks since our last ad-based feature. However, should you wish to enjoy it with a hot caffeinated beverage, perhaps supplemented with a dash or two of festive cheer, we certainly wouldn't object. 'Tis the season and all that

Enjoy!

[Light n Hairy]

About time Ze Djermans got a kick in the Xmas baubles.

Their techno-superiority mantra does impress the geek in all of us, but sometimes their precision droning grates on the old jodhpurs, no?

GrAAAARR!
Burp.

[Vocal Minority]

That Mercedes ad is the most perculiar thing I have seen in a while.

[Veeayt]

Looks like a poor excuse for a dated tech to me

[davepoth]

Veeayt said:

Looks like a poor excuse for a dated tech to me

The thing is that there's no need for "Magic Body Control" if you design the suspension properly. Getting electronics and pneumatics to sort out problems caused by lack of suspension travel, under-damping, over springing, too much weight and excessive wheel sizing is a lazy design solution and adds even more weight.

Jaguar have gone the right way - reduce weight (on the XJ at least) and make it ride properly.

[bencollins]

erm, its a leopard.

[Krikkit]

davepoth said:

Veeayt said:

Looks like a poor excuse for a dated tech to me

The thing is that there's no need for "Magic Body Control" if you design the suspension properly. Getting electronics and pneumatics to sort out problems caused by lack of suspension travel, under-damping, over springing, too much weight and excessive wheel sizing is a lazy design solution and adds even more weight.

Jaguar have gone the right way - reduce weight (on the XJ at least) and make it ride properly.

Up to a point, I agree - out on the open road there's no replacement for well-designed systems and lightweight tech.

In town, with horrid speed-bumps and potholes the Magic ride thing makes sense: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQsMfHg6jIE

I'd still have a Jag though!

[LuS1fer]

bencollins said:

erm, its a leopard.

You're lion!

[E65Ross]

davepoth said:

Veeayt said:

Looks like a poor excuse for a dated tech to me

The thing is that there's no need for "Magic Body Control" if you design the suspension properly. Getting electronics and pneumatics to sort out problems caused by lack of suspension travel, under-damping, over springing, too much weight and excessive wheel sizing is a lazy design solution and adds even more weight.

Jaguar have gone the right way - reduce weight (on the XJ at least) and make it ride properly.

You couldn't be more wrong in my opinion. The magic body control just updates the suspension system with modern day tech, and makes it better.

[Light n Hairy]

bencollins said:

erm, its a leopard.

No it isn't.

But nice try at Djerman pedantry, even as a humorous punchline- I kinda wish they got the cat wrong too because it would have exptended the banter opportunity between the marques. But they didn't.

Jaguars vs leopard from a coat point of view- Jaguars have rosettes with black dots in the centre. Leopards never do- their rosette patterns are smaller and without central dots.


Back to school with you! What has this country come to? Perhpas its a good thing Indians bought Jaguar, we would have killed them all by now.. /rambles off into distance.

[shake n bake]

Veeayt said:

Looks like a poor excuse for a dated tech to me

huh?

[bluerainer101]

England - 1 Germany - Nil

[E65Ross]

bluerainer101 said:

England - 1 Germany - Nil

Hardly. Germany come up with tech which gives a car with a better ride quality than the Jag does. Magic body control is absolutely outstanding.

[bluerainer101]

E65Ross said:

bluerainer101 said:

England - 1 Germany - Nil

Hardly. Germany come up with tech which gives a car with a better ride quality than the Jag does. Magic body control is absolutely outstanding.

In terms of advertising and the witt / humour behind it England wins this one, regardless of how good or bad the technology of each manufacturer is.

[Light n Hairy]

E65Ross said:

Hardly. Germany come up with tech which gives a car with a better ride quality than the Jag does. Magic body control is absolutely outstanding.

Yes, but Jag have done the equivalent of this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DzcOCyHDqc

It's just cooler.

And cool, is what gets you out of the school and into the bed of ze lovely fraulines, who, once you are done with them, spend their post coital moments telling you they feel so disconnected from their engineer husbands, who blither on about yaw control and such.

[davepoth]

E65Ross said:

You couldn't be more wrong in my opinion. The magic body control just updates the suspension system with modern day tech, and makes it better.

The technology for the suspension is hydraulic, not pneumatic as I thought. So essentially it's a rip-off of the 1962 vintage Hydrolastic system as featured in the BMC 1100, but with an ABS system grafted on top to distribute the fluid (from the late 60s) and all controlled by an Xbox Kinect in the windscreen.

So the technology is not exactly state of the art, although it's a very tidy piece of systems integration. However, it does add an awful lot of electronics and hydraulics to what is already a very complicated car,

And that's before we think about how it would affect the driving experience. Being able to feel the road surface is quite an important part of it.

[lotus116tornado]

Very odd advert for Mercedes to be using. Why you would want your £50000 Mercedes to be associated with a chicken, I don't know?

Would you rather drive a car that handles like a chicken?

or

Would you rather drive a car with cat like reflexes.

Fantastic advertising by Jaguar North America, put a smile on my face anyway.

[bluerainer101]

lotus116tornado said:

Very odd advert for Mercedes to be using. Why you would want your £50000 Mercedes to be associated with a chicken, I don't know?

Would you rather drive a car that handles like a chicken?

or

Would you rather drive a car with cat like reflexes.

Fantastic advertising by Jaguar North America, put a smile on my face anyway.

Agreed

[cptsideways]

Is this not active suspension as seen on the 1992 Toyota Soarer UZZ32 with some more road reading electronics thrown in for good measure.


Would appear to be a very very similar set up technically

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Soarer#Z30

[yorkieboy]

Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah, I couldn't care about the differences between the two company's! I'd take a Jag any day of the week. Plus It's a cool advert from Jag USA.

[Tango13]

lotus116tornado said:

Fantastic advertising by Jaguar North America, put a smile on my face anyway.

I was in the US last year when Jaguar were advertising the XF and they weren't fking about with that TV ad either, it was 30-45 seconds of powerslides, smoking tyres, whining supercharger and screaming engine!