When was the last time you saw a Toyota Prius drifting? A snowy parking lot and the D1 drifting series from Japan don’t apply. As fate would have it, Toyota proves that the Prius is able to slide its wheels off at full opposite lock in a Super Bowl commercial titled “Heck on Wheels.” Best of all? The Prius can be seen drifting on a patch of dry asphalt. Thank you, low rolling resistance tire primer, thank you very much!
For the 2016 edition of the Super Bowl 50, 30 seconds worth of commercial costs a staggering $5 million. With an average of $166,666 per second, airing a commercial during the Super Bowl is a rather expensive thing to do. For “Heck on Wheels,” Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc., has to pay a mind-boggling $15 million. For that kind of money, you could buy the holy trinity of hypercars (LaFerrari, 918 Spyder, and P1) plus an extremely nice house in Los Angeles.
Developed with the aid of Saatchi & Saatchi LA, Toyota’s Super Bowl commercial was designed to bring into focus the most unexpected features of the 2016 model year Prius. The drifting scene is augmented by the lyrics used in the song that plays for the full length of the 90-second commercial.
Some of our favorite lines include “Never thought a Prius could feel so badass,”“It’s hybrid mayhem on the road,” and “It corners like a boomerang.” While we can’t deny that the commercial oozes amusement, some Toyota Prius owners are offended by it. YouTube user “Harold Krnylak, DO” says that he owns “a 2010 Prius and some Toyota stock,” yet “this ad is an embarrassment and am sorry you wasted my money on it.”
The left-field nature of the commercial was bound to divide opinion among the Prius crowd. But even the haters agree that the 2016 Toyota Prius is the best Prius there ever was. As a brief reminder, the 2016 MY starts at $24,200 for the entry-level Prius Two model, which is rated 52 mpg (4.5 l/100 km) combined.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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