Autoblog

We've grown pretty cynical towards the moribund car adverts populating the airwaves. There have a been a few notable exceptions in the past, but the vast majority do little to stir our emotions and inspire us to go for a drive. Volkswagen's new Golf campaign does just that. Night-Drive.com is the creative hub for V-Dub's product push, and is far and away one of the cooler sites we've frequented. The minute-long TV spot is the tip of the inspired iceberg, serving to set the mood with darkened scenes, an ambient background and a Burroughs-esque spoken word piece.

From there, you can piece together your own video with a multitude of angles and audio clips, which isn't anything too revolutionary, but has already wasted away a good half-hour of our time. However, the real fun begins with an embedded Google Maps app that provides detailed routes of VW's choice four-wheeled excursions around the world. Even better, you can submit your own by choosing a start point, and then plotting a route to create your own ideal Night Drive.

We've always liked the idea of a vast drivers' road resource (Pashnit is a good one, primarily geared towards bikes), and Night-Drive.com is a soothing step in the right direction.