Video: Live Long And Prosper—In An Audi S7

Audi tries very hard to be new, and hip, and stylish. Nowhere is this more evident than in its marketing, where it goes to great lengths to differentiate itself from its more staid competitors.

Its latest effort may be the best yet. Starring the incomparable Leonard Nimoy and the talented Zachary Quinto, the two actors that have portrayed everyone’s favorite green-blooded, pointy eared Vulcan, Spock, Audi demonstrates the difference between old and new.

Quinto, after losing a game of chess to Nimoy, challenges the veteran actor to a race to the local country club for lunch and a round of golf, with the loser buying lunch. New Spock takes to his Audi S7, effortlessly loading his clubs into the back, while loading the directions for the country club into his navigation. Nimoy, meanwhile, struggles to fit his clubs into the back of a Mercedes-Benz CLS, dropping a four-letter curse that rhymes with “duck” in the process.

After strapping his clubs into the passenger seat of the CLS, Nimoy proceeds to drive to the club while singing “The Ballad Of Bilbo Baggins,” with Quinto eventually winning the race. Nimoy arrives, parodying his death scene in Star Trek II. Arguing that neither actor is inside the club, Old Spock applies the Vulcan nerve pinch, incapacitating Quinto and “winning” the race.

All told, it’s a spot that’s more entertainment than advertising. We have no problem with this. A cameo with Stanford University’s self-driving Audi TT is the best part, though, with both actors uttering one of Spock’s trademark phrases. Check it out below.