OT Michael Jordan is starting a NASCAR team with Denny Hamlin and his first driver is Bubba Wallace.

I was working on saying this, but couldn't get anywhere close to saying it so perfectly.

 

The original response
"Hyped"
Is exactly what this is all about.

 

I just bought an 2020 Honda Insight. Which car should I have bought?

 

Something American

 

I would like to know which exact American car I should have bought in your opinion.

 

To each his own but i posted this on page 2
https://www.american.edu/kogod/research/autoindex/2020-auto-index.cfm

It gives a pretty detailed idea of vehicles and their Domestic Content. You would have to look at what kind of car fits your needs. I don't know what a Honda Insight is so i cannot come up with what would be something you would like and need plus afford. Those are all pretty important issues no?
Then go shopping.
I drive a Chevy Pickup and a Dodge Charger.
The Dodge only scores just over 60% DC on the year it was built but it brings back a 3 score on Profit and 100% R&D. So it's kind of a middle of the road thing.

 

Only two American cars made the top list for Hybrids. Will not go over the Chevy Bolt since it would not fit what I was looking for. It is simply too small. Here is the comparison for the only other option, the Ford Fusion.

https://cars.usnews.com/cars-trucks/compare?trims=14168-407875_14088-408739

My out the door price (with Washington tax) was $23.5k. With the Fusion, it would have been atleast 4k more. Add to that, the trunk would have been smaller (which is a big need with two kids) and the fuel efficiency would be 8 mpg less. The depreciation (which I would not realize since my goal is to drive the wheels off) is huge the first year for the Fusion. First year 9.4k.

https://www.edmunds.com/ford/fusion-hybrid/2020/cost-to-own/#style=401799047

Not seeing a 2021 version of the Fusion. Usually not a good idea to buy discontinued brands. My Camry lasted 18 years and will see how long the parts for the Hybrid hold up. My guess is that at year 10, my Honda will be doing far better than the Fusion. No car payments are a very nice thing. With the money I save, I can spend on other things that help our economy.

I do laugh though whenever I hear "German Engineering" thrown around as a compliment though. Would never consider letting my kids get VW's after my experience with a girl friend and wife with Jetta's.

 

Using these numbers, the Insight was #55 and the Ford Fusion #68.

My Odyssey ranked pretty high too!

 

Difference is the Fords Profit is 100% back to this country. The Honda goes to Japan By the way #55 is not a good rating. 55 is the 109th best on that list.
Then go look at the top 10-20 and look what companies are there. Honda did make it into the top 20 with the TLX, Odyssey and Passport. But again the profit rating all goes back to Japan and they are crushing our auto industry by paying lower wages and working people longer hours to get by.
Then again the same issue as above. If there is a national emergency. Maybe WW3? Can we expect Japan to be on our side? Can we expect them to build our Ships, Planes supply our ammunition? How many times has GM been in the forefront of a new technology or idea. Created it only to have Japan take it and expand it further then have Americans buy the Japanese model? Can you say "Volt"? How about rear view cameras? Hell even cruise control. Every new idea comes from here. But people continue to by Japanese.
Americans are plain idiots for allowing Toyota Nissan Honda Lexus Subaru take our industry from us.

All car makers are Global companies now. No question there. But there are numbers here that car companies would have to respect if Americans would buy only cars made here and only bought cars made by American Companies. If Americans did that they could wipe away the national debt inside of 10 years. Think about that. Automobile companies alone could change the very nature of the way our country was run if we forced them to do it. We buy cars. No other country in the world comes close. All we have to do is stand together and only by cars that run a certain way (thinking climate here) and are built by Americans for a living wage. We could buckle the industry if we would just spend our money wisely.

 

I must have fooled you. I am definitely a stereotypical minivan driver.

Car cost 23500. Not sure what number they go off of for margin but guessing it is far less than that. Highest number I saw was 7%. Will go with the highest numbers, so $1645 of profit went to Honda instead of Ford. However, I already showed the savings and it was well above $1645. Would I rather have that money in Ford's hands in hopes it trickles back down to me or directly in mine?

Hard to find anything American that was ranked above #55 but will compare the Chevy Malibu. Another car to be discontinued. Fuel mileage around 20 mpg less. Year 10, I like my chances with the Insight over the Malibu. Also like that I am consuming less gas, which is good for the environment and our dependence upon oil.

Annual revenue for Ford and GM is around 300 billion. The defense budget is just under 700 billion. If the car makers are that important, the defense department needs to help them make a better car.

I also do not think that the main problem is foreign companies taking our ideas, making them better, then selling them back to us. The problem is both are poorly run and/or that Japan has a much higher per capita engineer/population ratio.

Many things to consider to fix the problem but in the interim I am happy with my choice.

 

I would hope so rather than thinking any of it will ever be seen by you from Japan.

100% of the profit from Ford comes back to the US. That is the point. Same with Chevy.

Every position from 1-18 is American Vehicles made here.

If you are honestly trying to compare a Honda Insight to a Chevy Malibu you will be very unsatisfied.
Your Insight has a 1.5 L 4 cylinder motor that can't accelerate up a hill if you have more than 2 people in the car. Not that you would want more than 2 people because they couldn't fit in most cases. The Malibu pulls almost 80 more horse power out of the same motor.
Of course it's going to get better gas mileage. It's almost 800 lbs lighter and the Malibu seats 5 comfortably.
The Malibu is a Mid Size Family car. Not a commuter car.

Nobody anywhere is disputing the idea that Honda or any other foreign car are good cars. The idea is this country can make good cars. Just as good as theirs and the market is obviously there for them. If you are talking about economy you have forgot everything you ever learned in economics if you think your savings spent here makes any difference at all.
Economy is driven by Jobs and income of the people making a living wage. Make all cars here for a living wage and our economy problems are solved. Both for this generation and all of them in the future. If we continue to let Japan make a couple of their models here undercutting the wages and then pumping the rest of their models into the country (Consider Prius) we will continue to lose the market. Not sure how people can't see that. But sure take your extra 500 bucks you get on resale and spend it at Walmart on Chines made stuff. That will help.

 

In most of the country except PNW NASCAR is a religion.

 

The US was cranking out utter crap vehicles in the '70s and '80s while the Japanese companies stormed the market. The quality being put out in the 2000s by the US is largely thanks to having to step up to the Japanese competition. Buying American all those years would have just compelled the Big 3 to keep the quality acceptably low, most likely.

Where do you think those locally spent savings go? Hint: local jobs and living wages. You're awfully quick to lecture people about economics, when your comments in this thread have shown an alarming lack of "insight" on the topic.

 

You can dumb down any sport, just like you're doing here.

 

I'm not a NASCAR guy, but I'm with you. I've had people ask why I like to watch people throw a ball in a basket.

 

No brother. A thousand dollars in the hand gets spent on goods and services. Goods mostly made in China as it stands now and services that are not "Living Wage" jobs. Being a delivery driver for Pizza Hut or Grub Hub or whatever is not a living wage job. Selling electronics at Best Buy is not a living wage job.
A "Living wage Job" gives someone a thousand dollars in the hand 52 times a year. That allows them to be able to buy American.
If you would like some proof on this go look at what people bought with their "Stimulus" check. The overwhelming amount of people spent it on televisions. None of which where made in the USA. They literally set it up so that brands like Sony had a very nice 65 inch sitting there as the first thing you saw when you walked in the door of the store for ...You guessed it $1199.99. Pathetic. Alarming is the fact that you have been "Duped" into thinking your Honda Insight is a good thing for this country. Sad really.

 

So your argument is Americans should buy inferior products at higher prices because that's good for America?