Chevrolet is probably still doing their touchdown victory dance. Leading the pack with the most commercials and one of the most talked about ads, "Happy Grad," in which the young man thinks his graduation gift is a 2012 Chevrolet Camaro Convertible. To view this commercial, click here. In analyzing the cost-of-ownership for the Camaro, we selected the top-of-the line trim level, assuming that Mr. Johnson, the Camaro's real owner, was probably going through a mid-life crisis when he purchased this car. Of course the Happy Grad might not have known the Camaro probably has higher fuel and insurance costs than he is used to, and at a total cost of 73.77 cents per mile to own and operate, he might want to let Mr. Johnson be the proud owner - at least until he gets that first high paying job out of college.
The Chevrolet Sonic was the focus of three Super Bowl advertisements and had the lowest cost of ownership compared to the other vehicles advertised. The 2012 Chevrolet Sonic LS Hatchback played multiple positions on the field Sunday that featured the theme song "We are Young." Whether the Sonic was a stunt car learning kick flips or just part of a journey to find your inner child, the total cost of ownership for this vehicle earned a victory dance, with about 42 cents per mile. The 2012 Sonic LTZ Hatchback was also a key player in Sunday's Big Game with a commercial featuring bugs, which you can view here. With this trim, the cost to own is a few cents higher than the LS trim level, but with low fuel costs a marketing message touting low ownership costs is likely to resonate with its target market.
The Chevrolet Volt also had some air time along with some extraterrestrial life which you can view here. These aliens were intrigued by the plug-in electric vehicle and on-board gasoline generator. The Volt has a higher market price in comparison to the other Chevrolet vehicles advertised, but the cost to own is still much cheaper than the Camaro. Most hybrid vehicles will cost more initially, but the cost-of-ownership is the stat to place your bets on because it could save you money in the long-run.
Of course we can't review Chevrolet's advertised vehicles without a quick cost-of-owership look at the 2012 Chevrolet Silverado, which was the star of the Mayan Apocolypse commercial. And because there was a direct mention of Ford, we figured it made sense to see how the pickups from these manufacturers stacked up when comparing ownership costs.
As you can see below, the Chevrolet Silverado beat the Ford F150 by 2.25 cents per mile, mostly due to lower fuel costs for these vehicle trims. One thing to point out - for this analysis, we have selected the 6.2 L engine. Why? Because if you are going to make it through the end of the world, you're going to want the biggest, strongest engine you can get.
And finally, if you saw the "Miss Evelyn" spot, which you can view here, in which she drove her Camaro past the apocolypse survivors, you know that it isn't only the men and their Silverado trucks that prevail. Does that mean Mr. Johnson is still cruising around in his Camaro, listening to Barry Manilow?
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