Most places in the US are limited to 55MPH? Um... Nope. Almost all States in the United States have maximum speed limits on Interstates (presumably we are talking about highways and not rural two-lanes) of 65MPH or greater. Have for many years. And the limits are gradually increasing to 70MPH in a increasing number of states, with some going even higher. Some states even allow greater than 55MPH on rural two lane roads! Your information is several decades out of date. Check: http://www.motorists.org/speed...

The trend with electric and hydrid-electric vehicles has been to build them with higher trim level features as base, or even offering them as premium models (ie Tesla). Do you have any intention of stopping this practice and offering less "well equipped" or "well optioned" vehicles at more reasonable prices?

Ford's current Fiesta and Focus are actually quite good cars. Actually, the Focus has been a good car since it was I introduced. The Fiesta has the sorrow of having a been a previously used name for an abysmal car...but the current one is decent. I ended up stepping up to a Fusion for ergonomic reasons but every time I've driven a Focus I've had a blast with it. Fun car considering the power and cost.

And I wondered about the camera. The staff said they thought maybe they would try unattended checkin right from the car. And I believe Hertz . That much that they have no intention of using the cameras. I'm just shocked there isn't a forward facing one too.

I came here to say just this...I had one of these systems in a car I rented from Hertz in October. Aside from the fact that they wanted you to check in via video conference and the system was down yet the staff didn't want to help... And aside from the fact that I actually asked for a car without GPS... The most annoying part of the experience was this damn system. It had an off switch/brightness switch that was deactivated, and it was positioned in this particular car in such a manner that it completely blinded me at night to the right side. No right sided vision and no use of the rear view mirror, because all I could see was this god-awful 100% on LCD blasting like a friggin spotlight at me. It didn't help that it was raining, so the light was also reflected off the car windows. Seriously, Hertz...let us turn them off or at least turn down the damn brightness.

Um... Unlocking my AT&T iPhone 5 took me all of five minutes on a website and a few days of waiting for it to process. Not difficult at all.

Exactly. There is actually an excellent book on the topic: Once Upon a Car by Bill Vlasic. In fact, GM even approached Ford for a potential merger. Ford, realizing that GM was screwed and they were, in fact, not...thought it over for the night...and then flatly rejected GM.

I see the focus was on Apple, but has Amazon weighed in?

The manner in which you speak of "zoom" and added in cell phones cameras suggests to me you know nothing about serious photography. All of what you have said is true for consumer snapshots. For serious photography, it is nonsense spewed by someone who knows just enough to be dangerous and not enough to be useful in terms of giving advice to consumers.

Wow... You are wrong on almost every count in this post. Impressive.

I cannot commend this post enough. OC was completely and totally off-base.

I don't disagree that we're getting ripped off...I've already stated I don't think I'm getting a great deal. My point is the America-bashing commentary was uncalled for and rude. Also, your own plan tends to refute the argument we're all getting ripped off. And in my case, since I have only managed to use my full 1GB allotment twice (both time on vacation, whoop-tee-do-day a $15 overage) and I live in a spot where coverage aside from Verizon and AT&T is crappy (I have one of those free 200mb deals on my iPad with T-Mobile that barely can connect outdoors), I haven't had much incentive to change carriers. Frankly, I'm tired of hearing about it. We get that many if not most developed countries have cheaper service. Doesn't mean we're a nation of idiots.

And wouldn't it be nice if an American could make a perfectly factual statement without being accused of being stupid, ignorant, or arrogant for a change? Sheesh.

No, I don't consider it a great deal, but it is certainly not as bad of a deal as was initially portrayed. The data allotment is puny, but paying to receive text messages is pretty rare these days.

Um... I pay around $70 for 1gb with unlimited texting and calls with one of the two major telcos. Your math is off.