Acura Integra, Outside of Yosemite, Spring 2025
I have more than a passing interest in classic cars, particularly those of the Japanese Domestic Market (See some “JDMs” here). I inherited this interest from my father, who has raised me in an exclusively Honda/Acura household. His affinity for Acura began in the 1980s when he lived and worked in Osaka, where he purchased a Honda Quint (now known as a first generation Acura Integra).
My father’s Integra was an original model three door coupe, with a four-cylinder engine that displaced 1.6L of standard 87 octane and produced about 91 horsepower at a base weight of 2,000 pounds. In the thin, often crowded streets of Osaka, and most of Japan, that compact size and its modest horsepower was more than sufficient for his needs. This urban sizing use case can be found in the design philosophy of many JDM cars, with the informal gentleman’s agreement capping original JDM output at around 276 horsepower at the wheel.
Acura watch given to salesperson for making quota, Circa 1990s
As anyone who drives on country roads in America would attest, one of the common classes of vehicle on the road today is a full size pickup; think the F-150, the Ram 1500, or the Chevrolet Silverado 1500. Read more about driving in rural spaces on this blog here. ]. Looking closer at the 2024 F-150 as an example, the standard powertrain is a 325Hp 2.7L V6, with the typical model weighing in around 5500 pounds. That is by no means the top of the scale. Many non-commercial super pickups can go upwards of 7,000 pounds.
In many rural contexts, these vehicles serve legitimate irreplaceable needs. Pickups are necessary for anyone who has to haul in day to day life whether from hunting. (Read more about hunting to eat on the blog here) or work and their standard four wheel differential transmission is more suited for off road travel than a FWD or a RWD. However, these justifications simply do not apply to urban environments. Urban roads are well developed; urban spaces do not typically require hauling of loads in daily life.
Correct use of a pickup camping, Lake Tahoe, September 2025
I have a serious interest in limiting these vehicles to urban environments. If vehicle choice was purely aesthetic, then I’d let it rest there, with the only discomfort belonging to my eyes. However, this choice of vehicle is not harmless in an urban environment.
Larger vehicles increase the survival rate of their own occupants while increasing the rates of death for others during a collision (A study about increasing vehicle sizes and lethality here). Increased fuel consumption, wear on roads, congestion are negative externalities that are put onto the public. With every pound that a car carries, its wear on asphalt becomes exponentially greater. (Read more on this correlation here).
Today, addressing pickups and other automobiles through regulation has regrettably become a culture war problem. Current contentions surrounding car emissions and sizing are much the same as the rural/urban divide elsewhere; that idealistic urban elites are intruding on the necessities of rural life. Read more about rural contentions on emissions standards and the adoption of electric vehicles here and here.
Therefore to address this issue in a less controversial way, I propose to localize vehicle regulation. Municipal policymakers should have greater authority to regulate vehicles purchased and used within counties, rather than this power being solely vested in the state and federal systems and resulting in deeply unpopular legislation between rural and urban areas. (One such example involving taxing larger vehicles state wise here). As such, localized vehicle standards would no longer place unnecessary burdens on rural communities. At the same time, vehicle emission standards should remain federal and state as air remains shared amongst both rural and urban areas.
This increased municipal power could come in many forms. The simplest would be a increased municipal tax of some sort on the purchase and registration of larger vehicles in urban areas. The easiest way to implement this would be an excise sin tax on vehicles of a certain size that are deemed unnecessary. Alternatively, or in addition, bylaws that regulate the usage of vehicles over a certain size in some areas such as parking lots and school zones would serve to decrease congestion and potential safety risks.
My final proposal is to allow the local importation of JDM vehicles that are not marketed in the United States. As these vehicles are often smaller, their fuel consumption and negative externalities are similarly smaller. Read about “Kei trucks”, a JDM only smaller pickup, here. Subsidies could also be levied for subcompact automobiles and their drivers, preferably those who drive Hondas or Acuras.
By making these vehicle regulations local, cities can better manage their own safety, infrastructure, and environmental concerns without deepening the cultural divide that often accompanies broad, uniform mandates between the rural and urban. I am happy to report that I have no conflicts of interest in any of these proposals.
Acura Integra, Yosemite, Spring 2025
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