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Cars have to be 75% made in the US or Canada to call themselves "Made in U.S.A." While a little outdate, here's some info for you on how much of various cars are made in the US.

You also should probably look at it in perspective. Honda does not make that many models of cars. Comparatively, GM and Ford employ a lot more people in the U.S. (directly and indirectly) than Honda.

Perhaps another consideration ought to be where the majority of the price you pay for the car goes. With GM and Ford, that means Detroit. With Honda, that means Japan.

It seems the article on Slate was very misleading... The links to the vehicles weight ratings showed specified the GVRW (gross vehicle weight rating) as being over 6000 lb's, which is true, but not what the road sign's are referring to. The weight on the signage pictured prohibits the ACTUAL weight of a vehicle to be over 6000 lb's. This is not the case, take for instance the first link in the article, scroll to the Performance Section of the Chevy Suburban's specs... http://www.autoweb.com/content/research/vir/index. cfm/vehicle_number_int/1015219/Action/StandardFeat ures This vehicles Curb Weight is 5268 lb's, the GVRW is 7000 lb's, and the max vehicle weight is 7000 as well. Since Curb Weight is dry weight, the empty vehicle without gear or people. That means you can load 1731 lb's of people and stuff and still be under the limit. In that case the 6000 weight rating doesnt seem much of an issue for *most* of these trucks and SUV's, since most people use them for daily driver anyways. Let alone the fact that the police would have to get some kind of scale to determine the weights of vehicles on residential streets like is done on highways with semi's. Other Vehicles Mentioned which this doesnt apply to: Cadillac Escalade: http://www.autoweb.com/content/research/vir/index. cfm/vehicle_number_int/1015393/Action/StandardFeat ures BMW X5: http://www.autoweb.com/content/research/vir/index. cfm/vehicle_number_int/1014503/Action/StandardFeat ures

It seems the article on Slate was very misleading... The links to the vehicles weight ratings showed specified the GVRW (gross vehicle weight rating) as being over 6000 lb's, which is true, but not what the road sign's are referring to. The weight on the signage pictured prohibits the ACTUAL weight of a vehicle to be over 6000 lb's. This is not the case, take for instance the first link in the article, scroll to the Performance Section of the Chevy Suburban's specs... http://www.autoweb.com/content/research/vir/index. cfm/vehicle_number_int/1015219/Action/StandardFeat ures This vehicles Curb Weight is 5268 lb's, the GVRW is 7000 lb's, and the max vehicle weight is 7000 as well. Since Curb Weight is dry weight, the empty vehicle without gear or people. That means you can load 1731 lb's of people and stuff and still be under the limit. In that case the 6000 weight rating doesnt seem much of an issue for *most* of these trucks and SUV's, since most people use them for daily driver anyways. Let alone the fact that the police would have to get some kind of scale to determine the weights of vehicles on residential streets like is done on highways with semi's. Other Vehicles Mentioned which this doesnt apply to: Cadillac Escalade: http://www.autoweb.com/content/research/vir/index. cfm/vehicle_number_int/1015393/Action/StandardFeat ures BMW X5: http://www.autoweb.com/content/research/vir/index. cfm/vehicle_number_int/1014503/Action/StandardFeat ures

It seems the article on Slate was very misleading... The links to the vehicles weight ratings showed specified the GVRW (gross vehicle weight rating) as being over 6000 lb's, which is true, but not what the road sign's are referring to. The weight on the signage pictured prohibits the ACTUAL weight of a vehicle to be over 6000 lb's. This is not the case, take for instance the first link in the article, scroll to the Performance Section of the Chevy Suburban's specs... http://www.autoweb.com/content/research/vir/index. cfm/vehicle_number_int/1015219/Action/StandardFeat ures This vehicles Curb Weight is 5268 lb's, the GVRW is 7000 lb's, and the max vehicle weight is 7000 as well. Since Curb Weight is dry weight, the empty vehicle without gear or people. That means you can load 1731 lb's of people and stuff and still be under the limit. In that case the 6000 weight rating doesnt seem much of an issue for *most* of these trucks and SUV's, since most people use them for daily driver anyways. Let alone the fact that the police would have to get some kind of scale to determine the weights of vehicles on residential streets like is done on highways with semi's. Other Vehicles Mentioned which this doesnt apply to: Cadillac Escalade: http://www.autoweb.com/content/research/vir/index. cfm/vehicle_number_int/1015393/Action/StandardFeat ures BMW X5: http://www.autoweb.com/content/research/vir/index. cfm/vehicle_number_int/1014503/Action/StandardFeat ures

I wanna know why in the mid 1970's one could buy a cheap little Honda Civic that got 50mpg. 25+ years later we've advanced all the way to 70mph for an EXPENSIVE "hybrid" Honda?

There's virtually no value to the Insight beyond it's EPA numbers! No cargo space, only carries 1 (one!) passenger...

25 years of arguably the best automotive engineering the planet has ever seen and THAT's all we got for it?

I smell a rat.



References/Resources:

Historical and current data and abaility to compare vehicles at fueleconomy.gov.

Toyota Prius & Honda Insight stats

Here's all the info I could find at the EPA. They have data going back to only 1978.

Break this .zip file down and you'll find either comma or tab-delimeted files. Import to your favorite spreadsheet and see line 505, column L (or 12 if you've got numbered columns) of the file called 78FG.DAT.

First off I've got to reiterate that you need to check out Edmunds. An amazing resource.

I used www.autoweb.com a few years ago to find a used Miata. The ability to basically grep the classifieds is very cool. I found a long list of the exact car I was after and the price was fair.

More recently I tried www.autoweb.com and www.autobytel.com to find a new car. Within a few months I was looking at Honda Civic hatchbacks and Volkwagen Beetles and simply had a terrible time using both services. None of the local dealers that I was asssigned to ever contacted me. After a few days I would always get a note from the corporation asking if I'd been satisfied with the service. I always wrote back explaining that I hadn't heard anything and even then never was able to hook up with a dealer that was any help. Based on my experiences I passed on their stock when they both went public.

I saw CarsDirect.com at Comdex and it sounds like a good deal. They don't have to dump you in the hands of a local dealer, they control the entire process. I plan on giving them a shot next time I'm in the market to buy a car.

First off I've got to reiterate that you need to check out Edmunds. An amazing resource.

I used www.autoweb.com a few years ago to find a used Miata. The ability to basically grep the classifieds is very cool. I found a long list of the exact car I was after and the price was fair.

More recently I tried www.autoweb.com and www.autobytel.com to find a new car. Within a few months I was looking at Honda Civic hatchbacks and Volkwagen Beetles and simply had a terrible time using both services. None of the local dealers that I was asssigned to ever contacted me. After a few days I would always get a note from the corporation asking if I'd been satisfied with the service. I always wrote back explaining that I hadn't heard anything and even then never was able to hook up with a dealer that was any help. Based on my experiences I passed on their stock when they both went public.

I saw CarsDirect.com at Comdex and it sounds like a good deal. They don't have to dump you in the hands of a local dealer, they control the entire process. I plan on giving them a shot next time I'm in the market to buy a car.