The interstate "highway-biased transportation infrastructure" was inspired by Germany's autobahn and developed initially as a defense tool. Most of us still do most of our driving fairly locally. Our culture made the house with the white picket fence the American Dream, leading to suburbs, sprawl, and long commutes. Our desire for freedom to get where we want when we want drove the importance of the automobile. The car became an expression of us...whether the muscle cars of the '60's-'70's, the emerge an ridiculous popularity of SUV's that prevented some from having to buy the minivan that would have been more practical.
You are asking a rational question. However, in he U.S. buying a car is lesspractical and more emotional. with such low gas prices, fuel economy has usually taken a back seat in the car buying decision.
