Harley Davidson -- forget the MPG and RIDE!

[Bruce Nunnally]

Harley Davidson is taking an interesting approach in this new advertising campaign.

Don't buy a hog for the mpg; buy it for the love of the ride. Gotta love it.

[Cadillac Jim]

The Harley Evolution engines get amazing fuel mileage for their size. I haven't checked in the last few years but I've heard from quite a few riders that 50 mpg isn't uncommon. I have no data on the Revolution (OHC) engines.

I once had a Honda 125 cc that got 90 mpg city, 90 mpg highway, and would -- and did -- hold its own on the Interstate at 75 mph for hours at a time, still getting 90 mpg. The only other data on Honda MCs that I have is the old SOHC Honda 750, which gets 38 mpg highway. The first one got 38 mpg city and the later once get 29-32 mpg city. I had three of them over the years. My 1999 Suzuki Bandit 1200S gets around 32 mpg highway. I don't have a city figure because it sits so much lately that it evaporates more than it burns. Mine is carbureted, the newer ones use FI, and I expect that they get better gas mileage.

[Bruce Nunnally]

I think that is the beauty of the ad - it both claim/endorses the good mpg while encouraging Harley as a lifestyle choice.

Translated to Cadillac:

Please don't buy a new Cadillac CTS-V just because it is the quickest sedan 0-60 mph, or in the quartermile, or is the fastest sedan ever recorded around the Nurburgring race track.

Buy it because it is a Cadillac, and you want to embrace over 100 years of tradition in performance and luxury.